THE STASH APRIL 19, 2009
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From the Journal's Saturday interview with Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone.
"It's pretty bizarre," says co-founder Evan Williams, 37. "At least once per day we look at each [other] and say, 'What the hell?'
You and me both, buddy.
Anyone I've ever talked to about this knows I'm a real Twitter* curmudgeon. I figured I'd take this opportunity to explain what my beef is.
What I find useful about Twitter are the social-networking applications. Like this stuff from the Journal interview:
The real Twitter revolution may prove to be much more everyday. When I stop for a latte at Peet's Coffee on the way to the interview, the manager tells me that he plans to start sending out tweets to let regular customers know when a table is open. He isn't alone. A Manhattan bakery twitters when warm cookies come out of the oven. "It's those small stories that really inspire us," says Mr. Stone. "Those are the things that transform people's lives." ...
"It took us a while to figure out that it really was a big deal," says Mr. Williams. It was at the annual South by Southwest tech conference/music festival in Austin, Texas, in March 2008, that the social power of Twitter came home to the co-founders. "I found myself watching groups of people twittering each other to coordinate their actions -- which bar to go to, which speech to attend -- and it was like seeing a flock of birds in motion," says Mr. Stone.
Right. So, setting aside the massive devaluation of the word "revolution," I won't disagree that there's some utility here, albeit marginal.
What I find completely maddening about Twitter is the idea that it's some new journalistic medium--which is to say, that it conveys information more meaningful than "warm cookies out of the oven." ("Twitter--for people who think live-blogging's too thoughtful...") There are a large number of ways you can arrange 140 characters. But, so far, I'm aware of very few that clear the "warm cookies" bar.
Not that I'm opposed to journalists tweeting, mind you. I just don't think they should pretend they're practicing journalism while they do it.
*For those not familiar with the application--are there any such people left?--Twitter allows people to send out "tweets," which are basically text messages that can be read online by large audiences, not just a single recipient.
--Noam Scheiber
12 comments
I dunno, I think there's a lot of news that is noteworthy enough for 140 characters but shouldn't be inflated into a 5 paragraph monster. For an example of what I mean, see The Economist's World This Week:
www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm
Half of those aren't written up in a full article, and don't really need to be. I guess it'd be bad if someone was ONLY using Twitter for news, but that'd be true if they were only watching TV or reading blogs for news too.
- Simon Greenwood
April 19, 2009 at 5:04pm
I'm 54, Tw***** is the first gadget, gizmo or technical leap that I've not cared one twit to try. I probably spend too much time upgrading apps that are too bloated, may be slower and have features I don't need. But I've not even been curious about this rage, I'm not saying it's bad or useless and I'm vain enough that it might be rewarding to force myself upon people. Maybe I prefer a narrower target and e-mail and blogs are a more efficient way to bug someone. No, I really don't care to hear what thousands may think about what I think. SPAM is bad enough and I don't want feedback from a mob I don't know.
I did have a moment of panic when I wondered if I was done progressing. Will I not adopt the next tool and then the next toy? Will I look back to '09 and realize that's when I stalled? Nah, I've chosen to keep climbing the geek ladder since I took a pass on tw***. I didn't get stuck.
Come to think of it I did skip disco in the '70's and my conscience is still clear.
.
- michael
April 19, 2009 at 5:57pm
reading TNR blog, about tweet. join the fun
- blackton
April 19, 2009 at 6:03pm
Twitter may well be the most amazing technology yet for communicating the lowest common denominator to the highest common denominatee.
Only the mass media rivals it, I'm sure.
Twitter curmudgeon? Is that like Andy Rooney without the paycheck?
Noam: "I won't disagree that there's some utility here, albeit marginal."
Hey, lest we forget: Osama bin Laden, blockbuster movies, Fox News and Gilligans Island started at the margins too.
But I do agree with you about the devolution of journalism. We once thought that network television alone would destroy it. Now, alas, network television news broadcasts are the Founding Fathers compared to cable news, the political blogospere and talk radio.
Noam: "Not that I'm opposed to journalists tweeting, mind you. I just don't think they should pretend they're practicing journalism while they do it."
As compared to....what?
Journalism is the aggregation of news collecting and news reporting. It involves mastering certain skills---beat sweetening ass kissing, logrolling, depositing and withdrawing from the favor bank, memorizing all the secret inside the beltway codes....and getting invited to the White House Correspondents Association dinner.
I know I'm not a journalist because I'm not proficient at any of those tasks. Well, that and the fact I pillory what does pass for "journalism" today every chance I get.
george walton
- iambiguous
April 19, 2009 at 8:53pm
I agree, Noam. And what I hate is that Twitter gets so much attention while literally nobody I know uses it. Businesses, politicians, the media -- all the grown-ups -- are trying to reach out to us kids by being "hip" and tweeting, but it really comes across as condescending more than anything else. The grown-ups have decided to ruin Twitter before it ever even becomes something people "must" use -- unlike Facebook, which at least had a good run before selling out.
- rozenson
April 19, 2009 at 9:23pm
I don't tweet, I don't plan to, I don't lose sleep over it. Is that fewer than 140 characters? Because the important thing, as we all know, is not actually doing something but knowing we can if we want to.
Of course, some people will Twitter and some won't, and maybe those of us who don't will become some new strain of Negro. They (the Twittering crowd) will even talk to us at the coffee machine at work or if we happen to sit next to them at the game, but it's unlikely we'll get invited to dinner, let alone clued in about the hottest SXSW bar.
When I drove a cab and the dispatcher on the radio said, "6th and Geary," half a dozen guys would call in "Bingo!"--by definition, they were within a block of 6th and Geary, even though they were almost always lying. Then everybody would drive like mad and the first to 6th and Geary would get the fare, regardless of how Bingo or not Bingo he or she was. So: the bakery guy sends out his tweet about hot snickerdoodles and everybody replies, "Bingo!" and hauls ass to the bakery. Meanwhile I've just walked in the door and I ask, "Say, got any snickerdoodles?" Who do you think he's going to sell his cookies to? Take your time with the question, I know it's a tough one. Meanwhile, I suppose we can be grateful that merchants have discovered a new way to separate us from our money even faster.
So, yeah, Twitter. Today I hand-fed several of our birds in the aviary, then tossed leftover peanuts to visiting squirrels. For some reason I didn't have to Twitter birds or squirrels; they just showed up, happy for the free meal. (One of the squirrels was even paralyzed below the waist--poor little thing dragged itself around on its front legs. Aside from being a bit smaller than the others, though, it looked pretty healthy. I tipped it an extra peanut, just for being such a little hard-ass.) Then I did absolutely nothing for over an hour, nothing except sprawl in a lawn chair with my feet up, sipping a Diet Coke, watching the birds and squirrels and listening to the cooing of the mourning doves and watching a lizard skitter sideways across the back of the aviary. Overhead, hawks patrolled. I noticed that two of the perches in the aviary need repair. Also that some more bulbs have come up along the road up to the water tank, that the rosemary bush is covered with the most beautiful, tiny blue flowers, and that my car needs a bath.
There really is a lot to notice, when I slow down enough to do so. I have a feeling Twitter won't help me much in that regard.
- williamyard
April 19, 2009 at 9:44pm
"So, yeah, Twitter. Today I hand-fed several of our birds in the aviary, then tossed leftover peanuts to visiting squirrels. For some reason I didn't have to Twitter birds or squirrels; they just showed up, happy for the free meal. (One of the squirrels was even paralyzed below the waist--poor little thing dragged itself around on its front legs. Aside from being a bit smaller than the others, though, it looked pretty healthy. I tipped it an extra peanut, just for being such a little hard-ass.) Then I did absolutely nothing for over an hour, nothing except sprawl in a lawn chair with my feet up, sipping a Diet Coke, watching the birds and squirrels and listening to the cooing of the mourning doves and watching a lizard skitter sideways across the back of the aviary. Overhead, hawks patrolled. I noticed that two of the perches in the aviary need repair. Also that some more bulbs have come up along the road up to the water tank, that the rosemary bush is covered with the most beautiful, tiny blue flowers, and that my car needs a bath."
Twitter could never show talent like this. It's a real tragedy. Time to get good with verbs, folks, or just wipe out your maps right now.
- dylanposer
April 20, 2009 at 1:22am
Here's why this doesn't add up:
(1) Twitter *seems* really useful for *marketing.* This includes journalists marketing their content.
(2) But I know very few people who actually spend much time on it. Everyone who wants to send out little messages about what they're doing uses Facebook instead. (I'm 28.)
(3) Don't you think Twitter has this huge number of users who are all trying to pitch their stuff? Is anyone genuinely using it in their day-to-day life?
The one exception is: it seems like maybe the Facebook for an older generation of people who find Facebook too complicated. Twitter is so extremely simple that anyone can grasp it. This is also probably why the MSM is obsessed with it. They report on it because it's easier to report on. Which makes you wonder: what else is the MSM distorting based on how simple it is to report on?
- jaltcoh.blogspot.com
April 20, 2009 at 7:49am
Excellent post Mr. Scheiber.
- luispc
April 20, 2009 at 2:30pm
"And explain to me again why car industry execs get fired by the Obama people but bank execs keep their jobs? Why one has deadlines but the other doesn't?"
Because according to Summers and Geithner ideology (embraced by Obama, it seems) the financial market is the mother of all markets and everything "trickles down" from it
And, of course, according to the same, actual jobs and production are unnecessary. Everything can move to China. How good it will be when everyone gets rid of those distasteful employees and their Unions. They could move to China as well. Being genetically inferior and all.
Profits, not production. Rates, not work. Statistics, not awareness. Illusion, not truth. Votes, not citizens.
Production and work can move to China. Awareness, truth and citizenship can drown in the Ocean. Or in Lake Michigan. Whatever.
- luispc
April 20, 2009 at 2:33pm
Twitter would be useful if it were built around IM functionality like presence, permissioning, privacy. The public spam aspect is largely useless and just adds to the already astronomical noise:signal ratio of the social web.
- teplukhin2you
April 20, 2009 at 2:38pm
+1 for yet another journalistic cliche about how you don't like this new thing all the kids are talking about.
So you don't like Twitter. BFD. Thanks for taking 408 words to tell us that.
I tweet. I'm 35 and making a transition from affordable housing to solar development. Among the people I exchange ideas with are the creators of LEED, owners of apartment portfolios, attorneys, lenders, construction experts, and any number of industry-focused journalists.
Is there some "drinking wine at French Laundry" nonsense? Yes, that's why I don't follow or bother with them. I follow people with something to say about the things I'm interested in. It's links to articles I didn't find on my own, it's summaries of conferences I can't attend, it's connections made to people who introduce me elsewhere. I've created three lender relationships through Twitter I would not have made otherwise.
Is there a bit of overly serious nonsense about Twitter? No more than there is in the MSM.
Hand wring away, but at least be more concise in your complaints.
- wbc5
April 20, 2009 at 11:28pm