Perspective: The case against Twitter

perspective Editor's note: CNET News.com is running dueling perspectives on Twitter. To read why staff writer Caroline McCarthy thinks the service adds a laudable bit of randomness to life, click here.

I've never been one to run out and try the latest tech fad. I prefer to wait and watch them vanish like pet rocks or become so culturally ingrained that I'm embarrassed I'm not participating, like with the cell phone.

One of the latest fads is Twitter, the free social-networking service that lets people broadcast up-to-the-minute accounts of their thoughts and activities to their friends either through the Web site, an instant message or a mobile text message.

The premise didn't attract me initially. And after using the service for several days of research I've determined my instincts were right on target. Not only that, my experience has further proven to me that there are bigger differences between me and my twenty-something colleagues than just how fast our thumbs can text.

For one, what is up with this obsession the Twitter generation has with expressing itself and monitoring each others' lives? I don't understand the need to spew out personal information and random thoughts to the world. And that's just what Twitter is designed for: to be a medium through which you can share stream-of-conscious babblings with your friends and with anyone who has time to lurk on the Web site and read inane musings of strangers.

Food seems to be a big theme on Twitter. Glancing at random twitters recently, I found one user who was "drinking beer and 'cooking' fish fingers.'" Another felt compelled to disclose "MUST BATHE." Another was "getting bored." Others took the time to write how late in the day it is and how much work/fill-in-the-blank they have left to do. Well, maybe if they didn't spend so much time, um, twittering, they wouldn't be rushed. But these are strangers and it's obvious why I wouldn't care what they had for lunch. What about my own friends? Actually, I don't care what they just ate, either.

Thankfully, I wasn't able to get Twitter set up to receive messages on my phone, so I was spared that annoyance. And the site was having maintenance issues when I tried setting the service up on my instant messaging, so I twittered via the Twitter page. Users can display whatever background they want on their profile page. Otherwise, everyone shares the same white window showing the twitters of friends in reverse chronological order, alongside the pictures of their friends or whatever image they have chosen. The site asks "What are you doing?" And the answers on the public page, for the most part, read like a bad college poetry experiment in droll dada-ism.

Here is a string of twitters sent by someone with the alias "Duaners" over the course of six days:

1:15 a.m. May 26: 1am and just got back from the grocery store. :)

2:11 a.m. May 25: Tweakin' stuff on the server.

8:15 p.m. May 23: Just farted a huge ol long fart and finished watching American Idol. Congratulations Jordin!!!

3:54 p.m. May 23: Bored out of my freaking skull!!!

10:14 p.m. May 21: Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

I remember the days when people kept diaries to record their trivial thoughts intermixed with their profound emotions. They were private and hidden under beds or in sock drawers and some had locks on them. If you wanted to impress your friends with your clever thoughts or funny anecdotes you passed notes in class or gathered together to share the juicy details. That's not easy to do in 140 characters or less.

Is it me? Am I just crotchety and old-fashioned? I conducted an informal e-mail survey of about two dozen tech-savvy friends to see what they thought about Twitter. One, Web entrepreneur Josh, called himself a "twit" and said he enjoyed the "pointless one-liners" on Twitter. The remainder weren't interested in trying it. "I don't need to be confronted with how boring my life can be on a minute-by-minute basis," quipped Adam, a massage therapist. It's "narcissistic" and "self-indulgent, one-sided IM," said an editor friend. And quite a few expressed disgust at the thought of all of those twits exposing themselves to the world so casually.

Eric Auchard of Reuters eloquently wrote: "The great big science experiment in Web voyeurism strikes me as just another example of the Coyote Ugly dive bar approach to the Web...treating the world as if our lives were meant to be public spectacles at all times."

And this always-on, Web voyeurism does indeed seem to be a generational thing, although you can always find the odd old-timer microblogging on Twitter and the youngster who bucks the trend, snubbing the digital outlet in favor of having actual conversation.

Research conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project backs up my theory. While Pew hasn't yet focused on Twitter, it has studied the social-networking phenomenon, with which there is huge overlap. Its surveys have found that in the United States, 55 percent of all teenagers (ages 12 to 17) have social-network profiles, compared with 20 percent of all adult Internet users. Breaking it down by age, 50 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds have a profile on a social network; followed by 15 percent for those aged 30 to 49; 8 percent for those aged 50 to 64; and only 2 percent for those over 65.

My young colleagues who use Twitter say it is addicting and talk about conducting "twitter-ventions" to get reluctant friends onboard. I just can't grok that. Not only am I satisfied sending e-mails to groups of contacts when I feel the need to share, more importantly, I just don't have the time for Twitter.

I've got to run now. It's time for lunch. Tuna on whole wheat. Yum!

Biography
Elinor Mills is a senior writer at CNET News.com, covering search and online advertising. She has been writing about technology for 13 years, loves TiVo but hates TV and still has issues with her cell phone.

More Perspectives

[pspierce]

the meaning of all this...

narcissism.

[lizbetjane]

shallower ramifications

I think the "lives lived in public" phenom has more troubling effects. Streams of consciousness constantly spewed run shallower and shallower (as Twitter content proves); it's still waters that run deep, as the saying goes. A rich inner life is a prerequisite for great thought and great art, but you can't have much of an inner life if you expose every bit of it to the world in real time. The desperation to make connections evidenced by Twitter seems to come from not a surfeit of ego but its opposite, the terrible fear that a thought unexpressed and an action undescribed do not exist, and by extension neither do the thinker or the actor.

[bobby_brady]

Damn, Elinor Mills is pretty!

Yeah, I'm not surprised about more young people have a social profile than older folks.

Gotta agree about Tivo, it's the best thing!

[auchard]

Don't get me wrong -- Twitter rocks

I have my doubts about Twitter -- I'm quoted in Elinor's piece. And while I stand by my comment about Coyote Ugly -- everyone can use a little rock and roll in their lives. That's when Twitter is handy.

[DanaCat]

Couldn't Agree More!

I've been reading about Twitter for a couple months now and am relieved to find someone else who is not of retirement age who thinks this medium is USELESS. (I am personaly just a few years past being a card carrying member of the coveted Gen Y demo.)

How narcissitic must these people be to think that anyone, including their friends, want to hear their every waking thought?

Not to mention the tremendous amount of time these people waste WRITING about life, when they should be LIVING it.

For heaven's sake people, unplug every once in awhile!

[Chr1st0ph3r]

Rhymes with Twitter.

I'm interested to read the counter argument to this post because I really want to get the perspective of a real live Twit (twitterrer?), and maybe gain insight I'm currently lacking.

Presently however, the 140 characters of a Twitter post seems suitable as communication from only one place, the 5hi!tt3r. When else would one really have the inclination to say absolutely nothing of substance except when presented no other option than to admire the floor's tile-work, ponder the intellectualism of scrawled wall-poetry, or gaze intently at another Andre the Giant sticker? With luck, perhaps the act of putting so much attention to communicating -about- what you're doing in contrast to what you are actually doing will get the just reward of being flushed away along with the rest of the turds.

Don't drop your phone.

[PistachioConsulting]

It's who you listen to, not what

I'd humbly suggest that the crux of your perspective is the word "random". I doubt anyone will find meaningful value tuning into random twitters. If you approached ANY communication medium (TV, phone, email, etc.) by tuning into random chatter from just anyone, you'd say that medium was a waste.

I used to barf on the Twitter idea too until I realized it's all about who you "listen" to.

Before I subscribe to anyone's feed I look at their last 8-12 posts. If they're using it to update me on their pets, menu selections and gripes with the world, I don't care how famous they are or who else subscribes, I just ain't gonna.

I use twitter to network (in a way), to learn about cool new things interesting to me and to stay motivated by "surrounding myself with successful people". It's the oldest career advice in the book, it just happens a different way now.

By the way, how did I come to read your article? Steve Garfield twittered the link. Hmm.

PS - Twitter also has some very fun user-developed "applications" like /darthvader, /stevenwright, /twitterlit and http://www.twitter.com/twitterflix (my own stream of movie quotes)

[chrisbrogan]

Twitter is My Friend

Someone else mentioned that you could follow the wrong blogger, the wrong press person, the wrong radio show people, and get the same feeling.

I use twitter as an Attention tool. I say "I'm listening to Buzz Out Loud" with a link. I say, "Do you think Download Squad are being silly?" with a link. So, I use it to point awareness.

Further, I have found it gives me that nifty gate-jumper access to people that blogs USED to give you back in the day.

Oh, and I don't have to log in, sign up, and jump over things to comment on a twitter.

[Irate_Customer]

LOVE my Twitter!

I'm well over 30 and love Twitter. I've discovered new music, lots of new blogs, "met" lots of interesting people, and have had a lot of laughs with it. Lighten up -- Twitter, like anything else in life, gives back what you put in. Some things are just meant to be lighthearted fun, jeez.

[jwalkernet]

The Value of Twitter

I hate needless banter too but not all Twitter is BS. If someone talks about muffins and bodily problems, stop listening to them. Listening to informed bloggers and analysts and software colleagues is useful. It's a handy way to maintain an arm's length relationship without the frontal commitment of email and phone. And it takes very little time each day to get a payback. The social ROI is good [not great yet]. But it does not fit some people. Just like IM doesn't.

www.radiowalker.com

[michaelbiddulph]

You have my vote

Excellent article Elinor and no competition from the opposing arguement for twitter.

Great read!!

Michael

[koa]

Enjoying Twitter

I am well past 30 as well and I enjoy Twitter. While I actually like the whole stream of consciousness idea, I don't post anything that is too personal nor do I follow anyone that does. I don't need to read anything about bodily functions, people getting drunk or any other ridiculousness. I post information about traveling and other sometimes unbelievable things that happen to me. I post photos of trips that I am taking or experiences as they happen. And I can assure you that I do live my life. The people that I follow are people who seem interesting, witty or funny not base or raunchy. What I have gained from my Twitter experience is exposure to all kinds of rich web content and tools that I would probably not have been otherwise. The 140 characters is great for someone who doesn't have to time to go to every website and read every article because I can focus my reading. Most people (those that I follow anyway) will give a brief description about a site, article, or whatever that they liked with a link to it. As with everything, it's how you use the tool that makes the difference. You can't slam the entire tool because someone chooses to use it to announce their bodily functions surely this can be done with email or even using the comment box on this site. It wasn't too long ago that the internet itself was being slammed by the naysayers yet this article is on the internet and not in a magazine or a newspaper. People were slamming email back as well then but the author finds use for it now. I vote yes on crotchety.

[aintnorainbowdorothy]

twitter et alia meaning social networks

You don't like Twitter? Then have them take Digg, deli.ci.ous (spelling?) and the other kaka off your blog. Or will this eat into advertising?

[Sea of Cortez]

One more useless crap from SiliconValley/SanFrancisco

What Twitter does which is a form of text chat & messaging has been done many times over.
There is NOTHING at all about Twitter that is technologically an advance or new. It is truly one of the biggest pieces of crap that has come out of Silicon Valley/San Francisco recently, only surpassed in how passe it's technology is and how useless it's overall functions are by 2ndlife.
The only reason that you hear Twitter being Hyped by Big media, is the same reason you hear
2ndlife being Hyped by Big media, which is bunch of Silicon Valley VCs and VC connected have
investments in them. If these guys were not in Silicon valley to San Francisco area and had not received VC funding you would never hear about them. Which should make you think how many great
products you do not hear about because they are not in the Internet cartel, which is Silicon valley to San Francisco area AND having received VC funding!

[jailerjoe]

I agree.

I registered with c/net for the sole purpose of agreeing with you. Twitter has to be the most ridiculous waste of time, webspace, whatever, in the history of human kind.

I also have issues with cell phones and am still holding out and not owning one.

[dctechguy]

another web 2.0 waste of time

Twitter just provokes lots of questions. Aren't there already enough ways to communicate and expose oneself in the online world. Where is the business model here? Advertising? Will we have targeted ads from Google placed in our Twitter drivel? Will Twitter logs be used in a political scandal?

[ShadowGryphon]

Just to point something out...

In case this had escaped anyones notice, the first four letters of twitter -are- "twit", this should have been a clue to the usership right off the bat >=-)

[Matt Charron]

Twitter: A Conduit for Democracy

Ok. Twitter can waste time. So can going to Starbucks or the movies. But with Twitter there's some nascent power and learning going on.

Here's how.

1.) People who would normally work isolated, can interact with people all over the globe to get answers to questions, meaningful or trivial.

2.) Twitter provides direct "eye-witness" accounts from independent observers at the same event, occurring in near real-time.

3.) Twitter allows the development of light social bonds to form amongst people from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, geographies etc. It is the social gravity of the web. A weak but important force in this era of "bowling alone".

4.) Finally, we don't know what we don't know about the reverberations yet to emanate from Twitter and other "social network" sites. I for one will bet on the unknown and ascribe to H.L. Mencken's quote - "Penetrating so many secrets we cease to believe in the unknowable. But there it sits nevertheless calmly licking its chops."

[jleon1126]

People have been jumping on the "twitter" thing faster than you can say..

Britney's on the way to another rehab (no ****)

Do you really care..

that joe schmoe is on the way to gym and is late because he can't decide whether to have a protein shake or oatmeal for breakfast?

or billy bob is mowing the lawn?

or peggy sue can't find her favorite dress?

...is having pizza..

... is playing miniature golf..

...is watching a movie..

Seriously... does anyone give a flying f*$% what "you" were doing last sat at 9:23 pm?

Personally, I'm starting a "cleansing program"..

and I wondering if I should sign on to *sh*itter.com every time I'm runnin to the head, throne, toilet..

"i'll keep you posted"!