I occasionally blog about Twitter because I started this blog when I started using Twitter. Some folks use Twitter for microblogging, but I don't. Also, I don't use Twitter as a way to access conventional "news"; I still read a newspaper every day and I listen to NPR. I do use Twitter to get "micronews", which I define as news for a topic area that is not normally covered by conventional news outlets (particularly news about science).
I'll Follow You If...
I've seen it stated authoritatively that it is best for people to tweet several times a day. Moulton's Twitter account dates back to 2008 and he has 197 tweets. You do the math. I think the world would be a better place if most Twitter users tweeted less.
Twitter balances on a knife edge and often tips users into an abyss of noxious self-promotion. It is always nice to find folks (
example) on twitter who have interesting websites and who are self-confident enough to not have to constantly tweet about their website. Also, anyone who takes the time to use an image other than a generic photo of themselves for their Twitter "profile photo" has my respect.
Sometimes people who I have followed for years on Twitter suddenly evaporate and just stop tweeting. I suspect that some people are
happier without social media, so that is my default assumption: if you stop tweeting then I want to think you are happy in the real world and don't need Twitter.
However, there are some true ghosts on Twitter (
example); people who once shared their interesting ideas via Twitter, but who are now gone from our world. It makes me wonder... I would not be surprised if Twitter went out of business and the entire Twitter database got dumped. However, another possibility is that the electronic records of Twitter will live on far into the future. Think about Isaac Asimov's story, "
The Last Question". I like to imagine that in some sense the electronic imprint of this age might be kept for eternity.
There are also a large number of ghostly twitter accounts that are historical remnants of failed experiments (
example). It makes me wonder: what if I wanted to start using a handle like "
tweetfic"? Would that be like walking on a grave?
Some of these little Twitter experiments last longer (
example), but I'm worried about @VeryShortStory, an account which stopped tweeting about six months ago. {May 7, 2018 update: 4 tweets in the past 5 months,
1 today}
Nothing Unusual
Some people who I have followed for years on Twitter simply provide a steady stream on on-topic tweets (
example). Thank you for providing me with evidence that Twitter has a useful function in the universe.
Some people who I follow might not be a geeky as I am, but they are funnier and/or more clever.
Anti-Social Networking
The fake "follow bots" constantly come and go. Typically, for a short period from 24 to 48 hours these bots follow my Twitter feed, then they unfollow. As a scientist, I care about numbers and truth. Why doesn't Twitter automatically show how many accounts you have unfollowed, blocked and muted and how many tweets flow from your account each day on average?
I love arbitrary numerical milestones because they remind me to grab an opportunity for critical analysis, reflection and introspection. I drop into Twitter for a few minutes each day because I have carefully collected a select group of 186 accounts to follow. I'm guaranteed to see something that will transport me out of myself and into another mind in such a way that it makes me adjust some little dangling aspect of my mind. If I'm really lucky, I get to see a tweet that adds something new to my brain, a new rivulet of thought that might grow into a wide river.
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| betwither |
Betwither
I tell myself that I don't actually use Twitter. Instead, I have created my own little {what-I'm-forced-to-call} anti-social network of people who ignore the capitalistic game that social networks play. We can call this anti-social network "Betwither": it accidentally slipped into a crack that was inadvertently created in the Twitter user interface.
 |
I hope you read all 32k
of the tweets from each of the
4,979 accounts you follow |
There is biology at work here. The human brain evolved so as to allow efficient tracking of social interactions with about 200 people. Most of those people are your family, friends and other acquaintances in the real world. With effort, we can accommodate a few other online acquaintances, but beyond that it just becomes a forest without trees. Oh, so you follow 4,979 Twitter accounts? That's what it says, but, no, you don't. Not the way I follow my carefully selected 186 accounts (and remember, some of my 186 followed accounts were created by people who died several years ago).
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| Hey, since this is fantasy, I'll send it out as science fiction spam (source). |
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| strike! |
Baseball
When I was a kid, I enjoyed playing baseball, a team sport where you could compete against yourself and your inability to get a hit most of the times when you went to the plate. Following a baseball game via Twitter is an odd experience. First of all, you have to block all of the annoying robospam accounts that are trying to sell you fake autographs and all those baseball-related products that are made in factories in distant countries where the workers/robots don't even know what baseball is.
And you have to block all of the accounts of the internet trolls who have no interest in sport, they just want to tell you that "your team sucks". Finally, what remains is a small group of fans who come online to share their enjoyment of a game. It is very sad and annoying that Twitter makes it so much work to find those "good folks" among the noise.
Still, I prefer to listen to fans talk tweet about a game rather than watch a baseball game on television. With modern T.V. it is too easy to see the bad calls made by umpires, the loafing players who make million$ and the idiotic behaviors of those millionaire players such as sliding head-first into first base. Listening to a radio account of a game while following the tweets of fans is fun and informative. Let's continue to celebrate new technologies that allow us to expand our opportunities for learning and entertainment.
Related: the end of Twitter.
Next: In search of a new narrative structure
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