“Mr. Cody, lemme borrow them monoculars, I think I see a pack of bald eagles.”
“Emir of Qatar Calls for Arab Troops in Syria nyti.ms?zXaVgE”
“get on facebook, realize there’s nothing to do, go wander around apartment, realize theres nothing to do, repeat”
When periodic existential crises would leave me feeling like the illegitimate child of David Sedaris and Louis Black, I would start to think things like “the world is getting smaller.” In my mind, you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting someone who was patently trying to ignore you on their smartphone. And Twitter, the social networking site seemingly created to boost Adderall sales, was another evil little cog in an evil little machine, working at people to make them less likely to shake hands with each other on the street.
The first tweet in this post is from a feed called “GhettoHikes.” The author, a man whose full-time profession is to lead inner-city children on wilderness adventures, functions as a catch-all for everything he overhears during these hikes. The second is a teaser to an article for the New York Times, and the third is from the news feed of a friend of mine who, I’ve been told, “tweets way too much.”
Web/Credit: xkcd.com
In Time Magazine’s “How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live,” the author notes a phrase coined by writer Clive Thompson– “ambient awareness.” The allure of Twitter lies in its ability to offer users an outlet for the innate voyeurism they secretly enjoy. How satisfying is it to see a message by someone talking about how cinematically masterful “Super Troopers” is and relating to that pleasure in some small way?
The “open conversation” aspect of Twitter mentioned in the article is one that also has implications for the way we perceive and even engage in interactions. Johnson uses a conference on education reform to enhance his point; guests were able to continue and even mirror the conversation happening around them in real time through the site. That type of enhancement changes the way people process information, and has implications for other settings as well (including junior-level collegiate English courses.)
Twitter allows for a transcendence of traditional communication. Users can organize their thoughts conveniently through the use of hashtags, enhance them through other convergent forms of media, and have conversations about localized issues on a global scale.
In her article “I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” author Peggy Orenstein reflects on the nature of her relationship with the social networking site, as well as its effect on her life–”The expansion of our digital universe — Second Life, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter — has shifted not only how we spend our time but also how we construct identity.” She notes Twitter’s propensity for attracting all kinds of users, and relates it to the site’s “infinite potential for connection.” By existing as it does, and performing the unique services it offers, Twitter creates a media platform that links users, ideas and conversations in ways that weren’t possible before.