I know what you're thinking "another blogger banging on about Twitter -yawn-" but I'm afraid that I must. I do like new shiny bits of technology so I initially enthused about Twitter. Then, once I got bored, I started to try and assess what it's all about. The tech blogosphere loves it and it's gaining traction in the general media because celebs like Steven Fry, Russell Brand and (-er-) Phillip Schofield are using it.And it's fun.
And it's kind of cute being forced to use no more than 140 characters.
And... it doesn't seem to justify the hype.
In fact its sole general purpose, it seems to me, is the one it was built for. Keeping a team of people spread about the globe losely in touch with each other.
But occasionally there is a little glimmer of a shade of a smidgeon of something that suggests that there may one day be a purpose for the site. Martin Waxman blogged about how he began to get news on what progress was being made on the serious power failure in Toronto by searching for the Hashtag #darkto on Twitter.
Utilities could use it to provide constant updates in a power-failure. It's worth thinking about.
But it's pretty marginal. As a way of keeping people informed it loses out to, oh I don't know, radio, the telephone, a van with loudspeakers on the roof...
Posts
1 comments:
Just saw an article on Channel 5 News (don't ask me why I was watching this) about Twitter and how it's the latest thing don'tchknow, used by Stephen Fry, etc. Featuring an interview with Richard Bacon, via a web cam (!?), who explained what it is.
I am trying to see the silver lining here, which is;
If Twitter provides idiots with a non verbal way of communicating about their pointless lives and opinions, that has to be a good thing, for me.
Post a Comment