I'm already tired about this Twitter business......

[FrenchieCat]

as the Newsfolks are exhausting me with this fad.

Are they being paid to push it, because if so, they are overdoing it.

[Fresh_Start]

1. I actually thought it was helpful during the wildfires in CA

news was slow coming about specific neighborhoods but twitter was right on top of it

[rvablue]

6. I'm no fan of Twitter, but like all new technologies, the pros and cons must be weighed

and this is an excellent observation.

I hadn't thought of it in terms of an emergency like this.

People could quickly share info on where the fire is going, open roads....hey! it might even help fire fighters and law enforcement in some cases.

Interesting input. Thanks!

[Fresh_Start]

7. here's a story for you

that kinda supports my observations
in addition to telling which neighborhoods were under attack (by fire), twitter was giving regular updates on what supplies shelters needed and which shelters were overflowing

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/10/the-twitter-rev.html

[rvablue]

14. It's not my thing, but you've really made me think about the useful/good parts of Twitter

and I don't know if you saw the thread the other day, but a DUer wrote about how they were twittering with Shuster during his show and then they posted what he said here.

Can't remember the subject, but it's wasn't something mundane or fandom, but of some importance.

That's one thing about my opinion: I actually really like to have it changed if there are good reasons to do so and what you've shared has given me a new perspective on what I thought was some inane, navel-gazing fad.

It does seem to have some practical use.

:hi:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

31. Seems like it could be used by campaign field workers too.

To communicate which neighborhoods have been canvassed already in a given day's session etc.

[NYCGirl]

9. Also the first reports and pictures of US Airways 1549 that landed in the

Hudson were posted to Twitter.

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/01/twitter_spreads.html

Today was yet another indicator that Twitter is the way we're going to consume breaking news in the future. I learned about the US Airways Hudson River plane crash before it was on CNN.com, NYTimes.com, and FoxNews.com.

First there was an earthquake over the summer. Then the downed jet fighter in San Diego. Today, Twitter was the source I first saw reporting the US Airways flight that crash-landed into the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey.

Twitter represents the power of people to communicate events in an instant. Silicon Alley Insider's Dan Frommer was the first I saw to report news of the crash. I quickly checked all the major news sites and saw no coverage. Since I live in the NYC metro area, I ran into my living room and turned on the TV. News channel WNBC 4 in NYC was just interrupting local programming to report news of the crash.

Within minutes there were hundreds of Tweets about the crash, complete with pictures from eyewitnesses and even one person who was on a NYC ferry headed to the crash site to pick up passengers.

That's amazing power, all thanks to the mobile phone and a social networking tool called Twitter. News spreads like wildfire when you can tell 100, 500, 1,000 people at once with a single Tweet.

Results are showing up here, here, and here, faster than Twitter can keep up.

Expect to see more news breaking via Twitter rather than traditional media outlets.

[Fresh_Start]

11. I agree

while I would not even consider twittering my own daily life, I see the value in twitter

[question everything]

33. Yeah, I've heard that someone on one of the boats first took a picture

and then started helping passengers.

People do not "twitter" or taking photos to help anyone but themselves.

[JuniperLea]

16. When my sister's neighborhood burned down...

We didn't have Twitter, and we did fine between the local news blogs and a community organizer blog.

I think the thing that bothers me about Twitter is the "stalking" feature... and that so many people I know are absofreekinglutely addicted to it.

[NYCGirl]

17. FYI, you can block people from following. NT

[JuniperLea]

18. That's not the point, really...

People are getting addicted to this... we even have a Korean Taco Truck in Los Angeles that posts its daily location... many times the police have to be called in for crowd control... and people have been making threats... it's just really getting out of hand.

Two young guys in my office have been fired because they could not keep themselves off that site... at the expense of their very cool jobs. It's really sad. And both have really horrible relationships where once they were fine, because they can't help but follow their girlfriends all over the 'Tubes.

There is this great book, and I wish I could remember the title... it was about how the mass media of the time helped to brainwash Germans during WWII... it makes a lot more sense to me now than it did when I first read it years ago.

[NYCGirl]

19. Damn! Before we know it, people will be watching TV all the time and never

go out of their homes. And what about those kids and their comic books?

[JuniperLea]

20. Not quite the same thing...

Straw man even... but whatever.

There are actually good reasons to use cocaine too...

[NYCGirl]

21. Accuse me of strawmanning and you bring up cocaine? Eh?

BTW, check this out:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8580/kefauver.html

[JuniperLea]

23. I was talking addictions... eom

[JuniperLea]

24. You're addressing a woman...

Who watched the first British Invasion, and all her male comrades suddenly pulling their hair down over their foreheads. I know I wrote here somewhere today about Elvis' hips and that damn heavy metal.




I've been exposed to plenty of stuff that society deemed inappropriate or a hazard to my well being.

I'm not confusing any of this with Twittering and the social hazards therein.

No, the weed is not a gateway drug... I'm well aware. That doesn't mean one shouldn't avoid heroin.

When people are losing their jobs and relationships because of an addiction, it causes one to pause. Pardon my pause.

[NYCGirl]

29. People lose relationships because they eat too much. Should we ban food

because there are some people who have addiction problems?

[question everything]

34. In the San Deigo fire last year, they used a reverse 911

You can be sure that many will pay more attention to twitter and texting and, of course, taking pictures instead of paying attention to the fire.

And what about those who do not twitter?

[olkaz]

2. I'm sick of cold weather.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8231230&mesg_id=8231230

[nichomachus]

4. Me too -- it only got up to 78 today brrrrrr

[nichomachus]

3. It's just the latest reincarnation of CB radio

which was itself a reincarnation of the 10-party line (which we had growing up)

[Posteritatis]

15. I read that as "CBC Radio" and got really confused for a moment (nt)

[beac]

5. So, you are not all ... um... atwitter about it, then?

Me neither.

Though I must admit I am enjoying a little how often desperate-to-be-relevant GOPers are making asses of themselves using it. But only a little. ;)

[EraOfResponsibility]

8. twitter's no longer cool now that everyone's talking about it

lol

[WorseBeforeBetter]

25. Was it ever "cool"?

I occasionally check out personal pages (glutton for punishment) and feel as if my head is going to explode. It's like little crumbs tossed out...zero substance.

But listening to Diane Rehm promote it and E.J. Dionne respond with "tweet tweet" is rather amusing, in a dweeby sorta way. Why all of a sudden is it being promoted so heavily? I think I stumbled upon it December 2007 -- that's over a year ago!

[leveymg]

10. Another distraction. Mental Coca-Cola for the wired brain generation twiddling their Blackberrys

Anything to avoid thinking too deeply about anything in particular.

[NYCGirl]

13. Damned kids and their comic books and TV! Now they'll never get an

edjumacation!

[Occam Bandage]

28. Because a constant diet of information is bad for your brain.

Those kids, they'll never learn.

[WinkyDink]

37. "Information"? Oh, Twitter is the new Britannica? That's what I perused along with my "Superman".

[damntexdem]

12. I don't have time to answer you now -- I'll twitter you later.

;-)

[Baikonour]

22. Being anti-Twitter is, too, quickly becoming a fad.

[fujiyama]

26. At least on this board it is hip to bash twitter

I don't understand why people are so bent out of shape over this . The damn thing is free. If you think it's stupid, don't use it. No one is forcing anyone to use the service.

I personally get annoyed with "text talk", unless you are actually texting something quickly on a phone keypad. I just find the abbreviated language irritating in general (and see no need for it when using a full sized keyboard). But to each, their own.

[Occam Bandage]

27. Those kids with their twittering and their blogowhatnots, with the hippity-hop musics...

[SemiCharmedQuark]

32. Kids? The news about twitter lately has been exclusively about old men using it.

See: John McCain's Twitter.

http://wonkette.com/406664/we-really-should-never-look-at-twitter-for-anything

[arcos]

30. I'm tired of bloggers!

They are just, as Sarah Palin said, "bloggers in their parents' basement just talking garbage"!

:sarcasm:

[PfcHammer]

35. We all managed without PDAs, cells, twitter, facebook, etc

These are manufactured demands created to establish
new venues to... sell more crap to the peasants. :eyes:

[NYCGirl]

38. We managed without the printing press and the telephone, too. Damned

evil machines!

[WinkyDink]

36. I simply don't understand some people's need to be all 24/7 with others. Is no-one left who can be

content with solely their own thoughts for a minute?

[ejpoeta]

39. i like it in the sense that some shows are using it to be more interactive with

their audience. so you can ask questions of guests via twitter or facebook. i haven't quite figured this twitter out myself, but I do like it for that interactive purpose. I do think that there is this want to be cool factor so everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. that's a bit much.