Twitter Basher Misunderstands It
It’s (mostly) Rock ‘n’ Roll
Then there is this from Weekly Standard writer Matt Labash who writes a long rant on Twitter and why it is eating our brains. Didn’t they say things like that about Rock ‘n’ Roll? Obviously, they were right. Matt seems like a man off his meds but like many such savants he can make some interesting points sometimes.
Labash’s target is Twitter, and he points out, “Even after seven years of nonstop media hype, only 16 percent of Internet users tweet, the same as the percentage of 14-49-year-olds who have genital herpes. The difference being that the latter are not proud of their affliction, while the former never shut up about theirs.”
I suspect the herpes numbers are kept down by increased condom use, but what about Twitter?
Ok, seriously, I get it. Twitter. One hundred forty chars. Bad.
Maybe I don’t though.
You may have noticed that about the only things I Tweet are blogs like this or pieces from the New York Times. I don’t read my tweets unless they are delivered by email and I hardly follow anyone. When I go to shows they supply me and my buds with tables, WiFi and power in the hopes that we’ll live tweet the event. I write articles and check email. Ever read the tweet stream from a show when the twits reach critical mass?
“Look at Marc’s sox!”
“Stripes gonna be big!”
“Talkin’ ‘bout Marketing Cloud”
“Marketing next big idea”
“You going to the dinner?”
Yadda.
It’s not for any political reasons that I am Twitter agnostic, I am just an introvert. I can go for days hardly interacting with humanity, truth be told. My wife hates it but I think it’s normal and no, I am not shy. When I have something to say, I… you know…say it. There’s a lot happening in my head and I don’t usually have time to check out just to check in. It’s more interesting in there. I suspect most writers are like that, which might explain Labash’s incredulity about Twitter.
But introverts make up only about 25 percent of the population according to Susan Cain, author of “Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking”. Perhaps the paperback might modify the title to include those who can’t stop Tweeting.
Regardless of my habits, I think I get Twitter. It’s a communication mode that unfortunately enables people with a need to know, to inquire as often as they like from the whole world about their status in it. Twitter and some other social media have vast power to amplify our thoughts as well as our insecurities. But look, only 16 percent, according to Labash, are that insecure. And if insecurity is a form of neurosis then we haven’t made much progress since Freud and Jung but neither have we backtracked a lot.
Discussion
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Denis,
Good post. My favorite part of the “Twidiocracy” article was the line, “I hate the way Twitter turns people into brand managers, their brands being themselves.”
I see several former bosses and peers doing this on Facebook. The only posts you ever see from them are things like:
– Really exciting announcement today at…
– About to step into our annual company meeting. Really pumped up…
My first thought is, “Get a life.” Then I realize that they have a life. It’s their work, 24×7.
Cary