The Twitter Revolution Will Not Be Televised (We’ll Leave That For The Shield)
I continue to be fascinated by Twitter. While I understand why people don’t get the hoopla (I was in that camp at first), I really think that it has staying power. My own use of Twitter has evolved over the last few weeks, for instance. For a spell I enjoyed “listening in” on short thoughts – there’s a kind of beauty and cleanness to seeing ideas and grand notions boiled down to 140 character max messages – from such blogging luminaries as Robert Scoble, Dave Winer, Steve Rubel, and Jason Calacanis.
More recently though I’ve enjoyed taking an active part in “twittering” as a “mini-blogging” outlet of sorts of my own. Twitter is a great place to get outside the “formal” bounds of blogging to just kind of let your hair down to let thoughts fly in short bursts (you can do this via web, SMS, or IM). I can watch the season premiere of The Shield, for instance, as I did tonight and emit such bits of exuberance into the digital void as: The Shield is as great as ever, getting darker and morally fuzzier all the time. Amazing performances, great cast.
While I have neither the time nor the inclination these days to write full length TV reviews, Twitter lets the wannabe TV critic in me shout out in digital delight, giving me instant gratification while tying in to my everyday activities.
I save some of my favorite Twitter “twits” in my Favorites folder. Here are some fun recent ones:
* Steve Rubel offers a stream of great links throughout the day and bits of web pontification such as: Further, I think Twitter has better monetization options than digg. Most of the digg loyal run ad blockers.
* ray (as literate and funny and interesting a twitterer as they come): Music expresses things about the human experience that cannot be expressed in any other way.
* laughingsquid gets the funny-because-it’s-true-award (I lived in the Bay Area for five years): Fuck North Beach in San Francisco. We made the mistake of parking on the street after 8pm and got towed.
* There are a bunch of fake profiles on Twitter. I haven’t bothered with them for the most part, but I’m fascinated by the one for Xander of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. I’m a huge Buffy fan, so it’s kind of bizarre and funny to read about “Xander’s” trials and tribulations throughout the day at Sunnydale High: I wonder who is playing at the Bronze next weekend. I sure hope Cibo Matto plays there soon.
Man, just mentioning the Bronze gets huge points in my book.
Recent OMC coverage of Twitter:
* Starbucks Takes Over Twittervision? It Must Be April First
* Twitter as Communications Platform
* The Power of Twitter Compels You
* This is the End of the Twitter as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Recent Entries
- A Posterous post
- Shake it up
- The end of Internet censorship?
- First came the microstartups, then came the micro VCs
- #CNNFail, Iran, Twitter, and Sunday morning
- China and the webs
- Scientology and contextual advertising
- All the little things
- Congrats to Darren Rowse and ProBlogger: 5,000 posts strong
- Treasure trove for fans of The Wire
April 4th, 2007 at 8:19 am
[...] Televised Twitter tweaking for the ADD adult - Online Media Cultist [...]
April 4th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Twitter is a great place to get outside the “formal†bounds of blogging
There are formal bound to blogging? Oh crap!
April 4th, 2007 at 8:42 am
PS. Loved that Shield episode. Things are looking dark for Shane
April 4th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Mat - I should have elaborated. Formal bounds are those that restrain bloggers who focus on a certain topic, try to gather audience around that topic, and make money from it. There are many of course who write about whatever whenever and however!
And yes, the premiere ep of The Shield was great, and darker than ever. As the viewer you miss the old glory days of The Strike Team, and the show is all the better for it. You know that things are going to go seriously off the rails between Vic and Shane at some point: it’s simply a matter of time.
April 4th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Agreed, I’m finding Twitter a great supplement to blogging. Keeps short, frivolous thoughts off the blog. And yesterday I troubleshot a Technorati problem via Twitter.
April 4th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Right, Webomatica, I think Twitter — often accused of being yet another web distraction — will keep some bloggers (like you and I) focused, ironically enough.
And the ways in which the “Twitter community” is developing are only the earliest stages. I’ve found blogs and links and tips that I never would have found anywhere else, for instance.
April 4th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Glad to hear you are enjoying my Twitters. I was worried that taking it “serious”, staying in character, and not making fun of the Buffyverse was going to go over flat. It seems people like Darth Vader (who are just in it for laughs and not staying true to character) are who get the clicks, while people like Rick Dekard (staying true to his Blade Runner roots) get overlooked.
I love the Buffy/Angel world and wanted to play out part of it. I was tempted to play one of the girls (as Willow is my favorite), but I couldn’t even pretend to get inside the head of one of Joss’ girls. So Xander became my portal and Twitter was the medium. I am glad other Buffyverse fans are appreciating it.
April 4th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Thanks for stopping by OMC, Xander! I must say I’m impressed that you’ve been able to vibe the life-of-Xander via Twitter as long as you have. How much material do you have in the tank, though, I have to wonder? Will you start to follow the plotline of Buffy’s seven seasons?
I love the hanging out at Sunnydale High/Twittering while bored in chemistry class vibe, great stuff!
April 6th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Top 10 Twitter DOs and DON’Ts
If you’ve been thinking about trying Twitter out, these guidelines should help your Twitter initiation go smoothly.
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May 21st, 2007 at 5:24 pm
http://wapurl.co.uk/?CJ8UTOI
good site
March 29th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
As a fellow blogger I like to take the time to let people know when I visited their site. If you could show me the same love at my blog I’d really appreciate it