Point/Counterpoint - Twitter

This month, Kyle and Bill go toe to toe on one of the hottest Internet waves to hit in recent memory.
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Kyle Rankin is a systems architect; and the author of DevOps Troubleshooting, The Official Ubuntu Server Book, Knoppix Hacks, Knoppix Pocket Reference, Linux Multimedia Hacks, and Ubuntu Hacks.

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news media and the point?

Anonymous's picture

I agree with Kyle, simply because I don't see the point to it...There's nothing new it provides, except that it's more streamlined than facebook/etc.

One thing I've been thinking about lately Kyle mentions, about the news media. I've seen them promote it so much lately that I've started to wonder if they're being told (read: paid) to use (read: advertise) it and talk about it on the air. The only other thing that could explain it is that the reporters are somewhat celebrity (and we all know how retarded many people get over celebrities) and so they probably have a bunch of followers (read: groupies). It's possible that it makes them feel special in a way that most reporters don't usually get, as they aren't the typical celebrity, and so they indulge. Other than that, I cannot find one bit of rhyme or reason as to why they'd advertise the service so much. Even if it was the most useful piece of software/service on the planet I cannot see why it would be advertised so much -- I mean, where's all the linux advertisements and coverage? (I may be presumptuous in assuming most of us would agree linux is more useful than twitter).

The only real usage I can see for this service is corporate status messages to (potential) clients. It sounds like another means of advertising...one that is actually opt-in, opposed to slammed in your face even though you really don't want to see it. Is that what we need though, another means of advertising?

Sure, it's around, it's everywhere, it's got it's fifteen minutes. Eventually it will go the way of myspace and people will wonder what it is or why they bothered...or maybe, they'll still remain interested in the kind of sandwich you ate yesterday at 3pm.

As for me, I don't understand the interest.

Twitter vs IRC

Annette's picture

I find it hilarious that I can see both points of view. I have also done /me more times than I would like to admit on twitter, but only a handful of my followers get it.

Frankly, despite the time-delay on twitter and people's availability, I like twitter more. And when the service goes down, I switch to FB and IM.

Laconica

Aaron Toponce's picture

Laconica is the savior right there. Federation is the future, not vendor locked-in services, where you don't control your data. Email and Jabber are two fabulous examples.

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