Twitter Schmitter
by Rebecca Button on May 19th, 2008
I have beef with Twitter. To me, it’s an oddly socially accepted and encouraged form of stalking where the "victims" volunteer themselves.
Aside from the creepy factor, from its inception I have never really understood how thousands of people #1 care so much about what other people are doing that they would subscribe to and check instant updates via a personal feed, and #2 that said number of people actually believe that that many OTHER people care enough about their minute happenings so much that they’d consistently update these feeds.
Twitter’s usefulness has long been debated and I have clearly chosen sides. But I can’t argue with the fact that Twitter’s traffic numbers have nearly doubled in recent months . Looks like more and more people from my side are hopping the fence to join the other "volunteer victims" and "stalkers"…traitors…
Okay, perhaps I’m being a bit harsh on Twitter. But I really don’t see how it can keep up it’s stamina? Sooner or later, it’s going to loose steam right? After all, not everyone can keep up with everyone to that degree all the time and still make actual useful contributions to mankind…can they? Heck, I have enough trouble keeping up with my MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts!
Here’s how I see Twitter succeeding: in the business world. While people can really care less what their best friend ate for lunch today, they might really care what lunch specials their favorite restaurant is having. And while they might ignore that their little brother just beat Grand Theft Auto 4, they might really want to know that Best Buy is putting the game on sale for the next 12 hours for 50% off (that would REALLY be worth "tweeting" about don’t you think?).
If that’s the future of Twitter, sign me up. Otherwise, count me out.
Do you think businesses will be Twitter’s savior or am I completely off my rocker?