Post no bills, you’re all just overprivileged hacks. December 2, 2008
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: journalism, microblogging, Owen Thomas, social media, Twitter
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“I work my way backwards using cynicism.”
The Glory of Man – The Minutemen
Photo Credit: JoeBehrPalmSprings
There was an article on Valleywag today, by Owen Thomas, bemoaning all things Twitter. He takes shots at their business model and management before moving on to the product itself.
This Mickey Mouse operation is the future of news? That’s not the most frightening prospect. Even if Twitter were competently run and profitable, the end result is an unreadable jumble.
Citing the Mubai attacks on Twitter, he claims that user-generated news sources are useless.
Sitting at their desks in the U.S., most people had nothing to add except to observe that Mumbai used to be called Bombay — the kind of message that makes you wish Twitter’s length limit was zero characters, not 140.
In the eyes of any journalist who cites one example and considers only one use for a service, this is damning evidence. Twitter is certainly new and rough water. We do not yet know how to stay afloat or when the winds will change.
As more users join, the Twitter feed becomes filled with more and more noise; repetitive retweetings, back-scratching praise, and self-congratulation. A set of amateurs celebrating each other not for the quality or insight of their reporting, but its brevity, swiftness, and modish form of delivery.
Right now it is an echo chamber. Though people are searching every day to use it more productively, it is somewhat a luxury and hobby. Twitter is some part Citizens’ band radio, some community bulletin board, and some ticker tape. Because the tool mostly appeals to people who like to research and socialize online, that’s what they talk about.
I’ve recently pondered if the discipline and time it takes to make use of Twitter limit its relevance across social and economic classes. For example, do you know any Twitter users who do not have a college education or at least plans to attend a university? Can anyone not sitting at a computer more than an hour a day make use of the links found in its flood?
The future of microblogging is not clear. Twitter is probably only a gentle trickle compared to the information stream it will become. But be patient with it and it’s users, they are paving the way because it is representative of the future of information. Sitting at our desks, we amateurs are breaking our backs to lay a foundation for you.
Again, I invite you to bring your own thoughts to the table by commenting below. And I want explain up front, that while you may not like attention brought to the haters, these are legitimate symptoms to which they point. The attention these symptoms deserve trump the risk of boosting a naysayer’s ego. This is why I love our little amateur blogs.
Into great whatever-you-make-it November 9, 2008
Posted by Anthony Closkey in Boxes.Tags: jumping in, microblogging, movies, Plurk, tools, Twitter
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I’ve now jumped into Twitter (@anthonycloskey) and Plurk. So far it’s a lot to follow, but to me it is important to keep an ear to what’s happening. I follow sites in my feed reader and that in itself is overwhelming. In just a few days on Twitter I’ve found brilliant articles and another handful of sites I want to follow. More overwhelming? Yes. But I wasn’t finding this important stuff without it, right?
Don’t blame the messenger. It’s my job to navigate the massive cloud of feed. There are tools to help with the tools. Check out Twitip for an ongoing examination.
With the gentlest irony I share Into Great Silence.
This is a fine synopsis. It’s a documentary about the Grande Chartreuse monastary in the French Alps. These silent monks, it’s a lot of movie without talk, are inspiring. It is a simply magical display of discepline, ritual, and the power of prayer. It is also visually stunning.
