What's the deal with Twitter?

[Z of the Na'vi]

Twitter is just Facebook's "status update" feature.

Nothing more.

I don't see how it got so popular, when Facebook can do so much more

 

[Plurralbles]

because its a way for people to catch up with what each other is doing, without having to call them

status update your facebook. And oh shit how much MORE can you do on that site? A ton.

I don't see the point of twitter like a lot of people.

 

[Iampringles]

I'm not a big fan.

It's practically the Facebook status update feature with every thing else removed...

 

[Sir Kemper]

For some reasone Twitter always reminded me of a child sitting in a corner, randomly blurting out bits of trivial information, but never actually talking to anybody.

So, really i have something of a meh feeling towards it.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

Best I can tell it's a combination of Stalker: the Website and Status bar: the Website.
I can stalk people on the Escapist just fine, so what's the point in that?

To each his/her/is/er own I guess.

 

[EspoNation]

Twitter: "Hey everyone! listen to me at 400 characters at a time." All of the other social networks are just as bad... Its like they want you to have ADD and blurt out things everywhere.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

I haven't touched the damn thing, and neither have my friends.

I'm still not sure what it even really looks like. The only incentive is Stephen Fry, and I have him on lots of lovely DVDs.

 

[Umberphoenix]

I got a Twitter account because Yahtzee got one. That was the only reason why. Now I can see that his life is very dull and uninteresting, just like mine.

 

[Magnalian]

You know, I've wrestled with this Twitter ideal since it launched. Only in the past two months have I finally gotten hold of the mass appeal of Twitter. But let's break it down to understand my point a little clearer.

1. You can only post around 180 characters in a Tweet.
2. Tweets can be followed basically by anyone in the world.
3. You can Tweet on damn near any modern cell phone in any place with a decent cellular reception.
4. Nothing intelligent has been found in a Tweet.

You know what all this adds up to? This is a next-gen version of text messaging. You can't write a damn novel in a text message, nor a Tweet. Twitter is like a mass text message anyone can pick up. They have funneled this tech down to cell phones so that people can post messages while sitting on a Wal-Mart toilet eating a Twinkie. Why? Apparently the correct question is, why not? Because people want a shot at being popular, they flood Twitter daily with stupid updates about being at a store, the movies, a fast food place, or the bank. Why? Does anyone care if Courtney Love is scratching her ass outside of Starbucks? Britney Spears just stubbed her toe at the free clinic? Topher Grace just landed another movie that sucks? Nobody cares, but people like having boring crap to talk about. Talking about celebrities and their Tweets makes lonely people feel connected to celebrities and celebutards to make them feel important. "I just subscribed to Jessica Alba's Twitter account... we are like best friends now!" No... no you aren't. Twitter is like an app for a digital public relations person. Nobody's life is that important or interesting that we have to know where they are and what they are doing at any given moment in the course of a day. If you feel that you need to announce to the world that you just ate at Burger King, you're pathetic. Twitter and text messaging are two things that I've excluded from my life because they are both pointless. If you want someone to know what you are doing, CALL THEM so they can tell you they don't care.

The only pleasure I get from Twitter is when shows point out how bad celebrities are at spelling when they post some lame Tweet about going to Pinkberry for a strawberry douche and spell at least half the Tweet wrong. It's the equivalent of a digital posse to rival M.C. Hammer's former posse he had circa 1990. If you feel the need to have so many people involved in your life, you are seriously desperate for attention and need to get over yourself.

I'm willing to make a prediction here, so hold on to your hats. In our lifetimes, we will live to see Twitter get shut down and/or outlawed due to the stalker factor and multiple abductions/rapes/murders start to happen because idiots tell complete strangers where they are at any given moment and what they are doing. I would not entirely be surprised if this sort of behavior was already happening. People want entirely too much attention lavished on their pathetic existence on this planet, and it will generate the wrong kind of attention down the road. Twitter is a stalkers' GPS wet dream come true, only that it is voluntary and updated personally. People who Tweet = retwarded.

You seem a bit... angry. You do have a point though.

 

[dasUnbekannte]

It's pretty much a forum in your pocket. Nuff said.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, all those sites are nothing but a place for 13 year old girls and middle aged housewifes to talk about EVERY FUCKING THING that happens in thier day.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

You know, I've wrestled with this Twitter ideal since it launched. Only in the past two months have I finally gotten hold of the mass appeal of Twitter. But let's break it down to understand my point a little clearer.

1. You can only post around 180 characters in a Tweet.
2. Tweets can be followed basically by anyone in the world.
3. You can Tweet on damn near any modern cell phone in any place with a decent cellular reception.
4. Nothing intelligent has been found in a Tweet.

You know what all this adds up to? This is a next-gen version of text messaging. You can't write a damn novel in a text message, nor a Tweet. Twitter is like a mass text message anyone can pick up. They have funneled this tech down to cell phones so that people can post messages while sitting on a Wal-Mart toilet eating a Twinkie. Why? Apparently the correct question is, why not? Because people want a shot at being popular, they flood Twitter daily with stupid updates about being at a store, the movies, a fast food place, or the bank. Why? Does anyone care if Courtney Love is scratching her ass outside of Starbucks? Britney Spears just stubbed her toe at the free clinic? Topher Grace just landed another movie that sucks? Nobody cares, but people like having boring crap to talk about. Talking about celebrities and their Tweets makes lonely people feel connected to celebrities and celebutards to make them feel important. "I just subscribed to Jessica Alba's Twitter account... we are like best friends now!" No... no you aren't. Twitter is like an app for a digital public relations person. Nobody's life is that important or interesting that we have to know where they are and what they are doing at any given moment in the course of a day. If you feel that you need to announce to the world that you just ate at Burger King, you're pathetic. Twitter and text messaging are two things that I've excluded from my life because they are both pointless. If you want someone to know what you are doing, CALL THEM so they can tell you they don't care.

The only pleasure I get from Twitter is when shows point out how bad celebrities are at spelling when they post some lame Tweet about going to Pinkberry for a strawberry douche and spell at least half the Tweet wrong. It's the equivalent of a digital posse to rival M.C. Hammer's former posse he had circa 1990. If you feel the need to have so many people involved in your life, you are seriously desperate for attention and need to get over yourself.

I'm willing to make a prediction here, so hold on to your hats. In our lifetimes, we will live to see Twitter get shut down and/or outlawed due to the stalker factor and multiple abductions/rapes/murders start to happen because idiots tell complete strangers where they are at any given moment and what they are doing. I would not entirely be surprised if this sort of behavior was already happening. People want entirely too much attention lavished on their pathetic existence on this planet, and it will generate the wrong kind of attention down the road. Twitter is a stalkers' GPS wet dream come true, only that it is voluntary and updated personally. People who Tweet = retwarded.

This guy sums it up pretty damn well.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

I use it to chat with people on The Escapist, as well as keeping up with artists and such.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

It trains you to be a stalker only without the consequences of being arrested and thrown in jail.

 

[soren7550]

I only made my own Twitter account to follow people on G4. (as I've said before, Twitter is the greatest thing ever made for stalkers.)

 

[Deleted]

I found out today that 2 of my friends recently got Twitter accounts. While I do feel a little left out, I don't have any incentive to make an account of my own. Tweets don't have any use for me, not even entertainment value (with the possible exception of shitmydadsays). If something happened that is worth repeating, I will text it, or mail it, or just talk to the person I want to tell it to.

How did Twitter get so big and what do people see in it? Do you have a Twitter account and if so, why? What do you think of Twitter?

First off, remember the rule, most people think they are important.

Now that you know that, they use twitter because they can talk about themselves. They are all screaming with megaphones about what they had for lunch but nobody is listening to each other, its like everyone is trying to become internet famous but not helping anyone else do so.

Though I fully support the use of Twitter for business/advertisement reasons, its pretty smart and preys upon the flaws of the average Joe Sixpack.