The Essence of Twitter (slaps forehead)

Let me first and foremost make a technological confession: I don't much care for Twitter.

It's nothing personal, to Twitter itself or to those who tweet religiously. To each their own. Me and some of my friends are just of the persuasion that at any moment, given the right amount of infuriating circumstance, we could happily liquidate all of our assets and invest in fishing lures and go live on a mountain somewhere. It's really nothing personal.

I've never had news broken to me on Twitter. A colleague and I were discussing the value of Twitter when it broke the story that a plane landed in the Hudson River. We both agreed that the popularity of the social networking device was a bit shameful; It's not like somebody wasn't going to report on a plane crash until — oh crap! — Twitter was on the scene!

But I think Twitter is useful, outside of its best use, that is, of transmitting hilarious headlines from the Onion, or the Ghost of Roy Hobbs.

Twitter is the new blog.

I referenced this briefly in my discussion about the Central Arkansas Champions of New Media. Huzah. Consider what blogs were meant to be when blogs were first created; Simple, quick ways to document a weblog of events or journals on the internet with little to no actual tech expertise.

Now look at what blogs have become. Blogging technology is snazzier. It looks more professional. And it's just as easy. If the news source that feeds the blog is credible, be it the person or business that runs the blog, then boom — It's become a new website and new media outlet. People can use these templates as platforms to get their voices heard and make themselves viable public entities, and spend a lot of time making sure it's well-done and thoughtful.

While wonderful in some respects, it kind of distorts the essence of what it used to be to have a blog.

Now comes Twitter, which limits its phraseology to 140 characters. Barely enough for a headline. Hardly enough for a headline and link to whatever the subsequent story may be. It is, in its most base and analytical sense, necessarily easy. The only thought that must be mustered is to confine one's thought to a mere 140 characters.

But it moves news. The Arkansas News Bureau uses it. The Arkansas Project uses it. Blake's Think Tank uses it. I use it. Lance Turner uses it splendidly. Jessica Dean and Choose Your News uses it. CNN. The Onion. The Ghost. All of these credible news sources are using twitter.

It moves news and it generates conversation and puts people's thoughts out there like the regular blogosphere was supposed to, and still does.

Now if they could just get rid of that danged over-tweeted whale. I've never been so infuriated at an aquatic mammal.