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Sunday, January 04, 2009
Hey, Twitter Fans, What Are You Doing?
By Leslie Linthicum
Journal Staff Writer
I have tried to ignore the Twitter phenomenon, hoping that it would die away before I had to understand it or — gasp — adopt it and use it.
I've got big, clumsy baby boomer fingers that seem destined to hold newspapers and magazines and a telephone, not to type on tiny keyboards.
But then a Shaquille O'Neal Twitter "tweet" appeared in the New York Times' Week in Review pages, so it's now a force that can't be ignored.
For the uninitiated, Twitter is a communications tool that asks, "What are you doing?" Its shtick: The answer is limited to 140 characters.
What can be said in 140 characters? The previous paragraphs are examples. Each is just 140. This one too. And that's why it ends right here.
You get the picture. Say a little something and get out. If you try to go over 140 characters, Twitter technology cuts you off in mid word.
Twitter messages are called "tweets." They show up on the computer screens or BlackBerrys or iPhones of anyone who wants to receive them.
While 140 characters is the outer limit, they can be shorter. Like this one.
In 140 characters, you can update your Twitter followers on your mood, what you're doing at work that day or what you're having for lunch.
Let's try it and see how it goes: I'm OK, not great. I'm writing a column about Twitter. And I'm having provolone on whole wheat. With mayo.
Do you find that interesting? I doubt it. I don't either, and it's happening to me. Could it wait until later? Couldn't we skip it entirely?
Other things I could Twitter to you right now that I do not need to: I've never been in jail. I think Buckle would be a good name for a dog.
Oh, and my glasses are bugging the right side of my nose. And I was going to make a stir fry for dinner. But now I'm thinking "big salad."
Are you getting the picture? That most of what we text and chatter on our cell phones is just noise that distracts us from any real meaning.
We don't need new forums or a new technologies to continue this inanity. What we really need is less focus on our every thought and action.
I've tried to give Twitter a chance, mostly because who wants to be like the old farts who groused that the Internet would never catch on?
And because smart people I know are really addicted to it. Tweet Journal science writer John Fleck about something. HE WILL LOVE YOU FOR IT.
John sends out a tweet about the birds he sees in his backyard when he gets up. Then he sends another one about his work plans for the day.
He says it's quicker than e-mail. And because his musing goes out to a public audience, it doesn't come with the expectation of a response.
And John says he likes the 140-character limit because it enforces a challenging haiku-like discipline that e-mailing and blogging does not.
I'm liking that too, now that I'm doing it. What a pleasure in this blah-blah world of unlimited cell phone minutes to actually be cut off!
On the other hand, real communication takes time and care and sometimes — often, I'm going to say — will extend well beyond 140 characters.
Do we want to slice our lives and thoughts into 140-character slivers and bat them back and forth through the air waves like party balloons?
By the way, this is the Twitter example from Shaquille O'Neal, received by 13,439 people who signed on to hear from the Phoenix Suns center:
ABOUT TO EAT DINNER, I PASSED UP 20 MCDONALDS TODAY. I COULDN'T DO IT I'M ON A DIET, BUT MCDONALDS FRIES R THE BEST UM UM UM.
So, if the question is, "What are you doing?" Here is my answer, capsulized in exactly 140 characters:
I'm not thinking about Twitter anymore or worrying I'll be left behind by the world-shaking Twitter Revolution. Now you know what I'm doing.
You can reach Leslie at 823-3914 or llinthicum@abqjournal.com. Read all of her columns at www.ABQjournal.com/upfront.
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