I'm officially dropping out of the Twitter gab fest

Back from vacation and it's grand to see that the blabosphere's obsession du jour with all things Twitter remains as rabid as ever. For a while, at least, I suppose it elbows aside the other obsession du jour--the truly distressing state of newspaperdom--at least until word of the inevitable next bankruptcy hits the wire.

Twitter again?

(Credit: flickr user johnc24)

But with all due respect to the armchair commentariat, I'm sure there's something more interesting to write about in the wider world of technology. You wouldn't get that impression after randomly scanning headlines on the tech news aggregation sites. That's where the usual suspects are again cluttering up the transom with their latest random brain farts about what Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone ought to do with their amazing little toy.

And I'm not letting us off the hook, either. At one point on Friday, CNET had five--count 'em, five--posts on Twitter (and unfortunately, I'm No. 6).

I can understand why certain folks might be drawn to Twitter--even to the point of pondering the existential import of Oprah's tweets, but come on already. Twitter's a terrific conversational and research tool. Still, can we get a grip?

I'm so thoroughly bored by the mandatory wide-eyed wonder that now accompanies any news event where the story is that people actually post updates on Twitter. "Wow, they're tweeting about the earthquake;" "they're tweeting about the airplane in the East River;" "they're tweeting about the bunion on the president's left toe." Blah, blah, blah.

Despite the outpouring of attention, not everyone is so enamored. I was recently at a dinner hosted by venture capitalist Bill Gurley, whose company, Benchmark Capital, is an investor in Twitter. The person sitting next to me that evening was only a few weeks into her Twitterhood. She didn't get what all the fuss was about. I did my best to convince her that Twitter was a game-changer but she wasn't buying.

Maybe in time her opinion will change, but her lukewarm response offered a reminder. A lot of serious, smart people take a more sober view of Twitter, viewing it as one (possibly useful) technology tool among others in their daily routine. They're not close to drinking the Kool-Aid, and that's something the media forgets.

Well, if Ev & Biz ever do figure out how to harness Twitter's financial potential, wonderful, that would rate as news, and at that point, I'll give a damn. Until then, I'm leaving the daily hand-wringing to others.

[tdaloisio]

So how long does the statute of proclaiming silence on a topic last for a columnist? If someone were to hold you to the "dropping out", how would it be measured?

[terminalblue]

i hope they all follow along...this has been the best news on CNet all day.

[ofmyony]

Just did a Twitter Search on Charlie Cooper, all the Tweets said RIP Charlie Cooper. Ironic isn't it.

[terminalblue]

@ofmyony

i did th same search and found that ONE "tweet" said that, it was from FIVE DAYS AGO and not even about the same C. Cooper....it seem like you are now doing a much research as Don Reisinger.

[ofmyony]

@terminablue

Why So Serious?

[joythemechanicalboy]

i'm sorry... is this article ABOUT something?

[Perry_Clease]

Seinfeld

[MadLyb]

Wait a minute. A voice of rationality...on a Web 2.0 app? Say it isn't so.

While there are some true values to the social networking phenomena, the majority of it (like twitter) is simply a symptom of mentality of the Look at Me generation.

Fortunately, they also have the attention span of a hummingbird, so hopefully we will be on to more useful technology shortly.

[ulric2]

drama queen.

writing about how you won't talk about twitter is just as tacky as talking about twitter.

[gsekse]

Heh... Heh... excellent reply, I couldn't have said it better or with less words. Plus, it's small enough to be twitter message. 8)

[canberra_photographer]

cry baby

[jhoff33]

You got that right.

[ofmyony]

Twitter is only a year or two old. I am a fan of how Twitter is changing and becoming more relevant and useful.

I am concerned, Mr. Cooper should not stop gabbing about Twitter. It would be similar to saying I am not going to gab about Google because they are only a search engine, when they were in their first couple of years. And maybe he did, who knows?

I have to say this, write about what is important and relevant. Relevant companies like Twitter are important. Sitting by a person and writing about a discussion you had with her isn't.

[terminalblue]

twitter is neither relevant or useful.

[edhudson]

I agree 100%, and for the reply that says "twitter is neither relevant or useful"... that's showing your ignorance as well. Twitter is changing the way people do business... and those who choose to ignore it will simply get left behind. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been raised (ALL BECAUSE OF TWITTER) to help fight Malaria. Tell those who might survive that dreaded disease that it's not useful or relevant!

[Random_Walk]

Charles: Thank you. Thank you. 10,000 times, thank you!

I thought I was going slowly mad, watching world+dog get a never-ending series of geekgasms over Twitter. Screw Twitter. I got better ways of occupying my time when I spare it.

[cidman2001]

"Twitter is only a year or two old. I am a fan of how Twitter is changing and becoming more relevant and useful."

How exactly do you define relevant and useful? I'm with Cooper on this one....nothing to see here, move along. Twitter is a huge waste of time and it wont ever make a dime.

I'm all for one less writer blabbing about Twitter...

[Cheese McBeese]

Finally, people are starting to see the light. Twitter is junk food for people who are mentally challenged and hungry for informational table scraps from people they idolize.

Does this mean Ashton Kutcher is mentally challenged? NO! It means YOU are if you follow him.

[gkeramidas]

you'll never see me on titter. i could care less and people could care less about me.

[gefitz]

Twitter is for people who think everyone gives a damn about what they're doing. Or for those whose only interest is to know what everyone they know is doing, so that they too can be part of the "in" crowd...

In other words, it's for the segment of society with the lowest IQ and the lowest sense of self-esteem. There's probably some money ito be milked from that group, I guess....

[stereocilia]

great point. twitter is awesome, but get over it. what helps make twitter and other like it popular is that they are the new, cutting edge thing. Let's keep looking for the next thing and not get stuck on twitter, which is just basically a mass texting program. p.s. do all of you really give a **** about all the little small things that happen in each other's world, or do you just like typing about yourself?

[indiemixer]

Is this a CNET article or a MySpace bulletin?

[bwrobertson2]

L8R Coop.

[JimmyNeutrino]

Twitter is the obsession of those who have nothing better to do with their waking hours...doesn't email and WORK take enough of our time??? Get a life! I tried Twitter and I found I was innundated with useless details about people that was way more information than I needed or wanted...I don't care that you are digging ear wax out of your ear at 11:27AM!!! Life's too short to spend it absorbed in such trivial crap...

[sebastien.kalonji]

I hear you cooper. Havent been using twitter for weeks and after seeing the 1.000.000 followers battle on cnn I decided to unfollow every celeb in my list as the outcome of this celeb craze on twitter will only ruin it for all non-celeb tweeters. Looks like Twitter is becoming the next second life.

[mjconver]

Twitter == Pets.com

[loose_screw]

Finally, an article about Twitter that I agree with. I tried Twitter, and just didn't find anything about it that was worth my time at all. Maybe it's because I don't give elevated statuses to celebrities, or have any interest in what their opinions or daily lives are like. I'm much more interested in what my family and friends are doing, so Facebook holds a much dearer place in my heart.

[bourgtai]

Depressing experiment! Do a Google News search on "Twitter."

Now do a Google News search on "9/11 OR September 11."

[t8]

Did that. Now what?

[nicmart]

I'll bet there is an inverse ratio of people who Twit and people who read books.

[john55440]

I don't care what [Insert Name] had for lunch. What a bore.

[bwrobertson2]

It's happening...
"The Twitter Revolution"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124000817787330413.html