Twitter - Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting.
That is the official, lets call it "definition", of Twitter, according to the Twitter website. That is Twitter's reason for existing. To discuss matters in your life that you find interesting, or follow the activities of those you are interested in. Interest is the key word here. Twitter themselves emphasise the word, interest. Interest is a state of wanting. True interest is something that is ingrained in you on a subliminal level. When you come across something that interests you, you investigate. You dig deeper. You want to discuss it. Interest is something that is incredibly hard, in some cases impossible, to force upon someone. So being told to Tweet about something you have no interest in, is being told to have an interest in something you don't care about. Is it not?
Blogging is a similar task. It is still rooted in interest. You blog about what interests you. What may interest the people who watch your blog. The difference is the nature of the task. A blog you work on, you prepare, you research. A blog is something that is based on the sudden urge to discuss something, to tell the world. But is something you carefully prepare and unveil.
Tweeting is based on the sudden impulse to tell the world what you've just heard, seen or done. Regardless of the frame of mind you're in, something has sparked your interest and you must tell anyone and everyone who cares. So if you're told to have an interest in something, which you don't, and one day you come across that topic, your first reaction wouldn't be to Tweet it, would it? The natural Tweeter might make the connection, based on logic rather than impulse. But to someone who doesn't Tweet, who would rather have a discussion with the friend next to them about an interest, we don't have that reaction. When we come across a topic of interest, we talk about it, not Tweet it. When we're told have and impulsive reaction based on a forced interest, it just seems like an exercise in futility.
I don't know, maybe I'm just rambling. But to me, this world of new Digital Media and Communications, I feel there should be a choice in the use of technology. That we should be able to use the technology the way we want to use it. The way it was intended to be used.
Hi Chris. Interesting post. I notice that in your post you used the word 'must', as in people on Twitter notice something and "must" tell everyone about it straight away. To me, that sounds as if posting information on Twitter is viewed as a psychological compulsion which must be fulfilled. I don't disagree, on one level. For some people, it seems to be (See: Tyler the Creator's twitter feed). I guess, though, that I think some people really do think through and coordinate their tweets so that they do come through as informative for their readership. hmmmm. it's always a weird phenomenon to watch when there's a bunch of different people approaching the same thing from a binch of different angles.
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