Who says it cannot be persuasive, informative or convincing? It doesn’t necessarily take a full-scale rant to get your point across. How very narrow minded of you (and technophobic). Many great and true statements would fit into approx 140 characters or less eg ‘”All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund Burke or “Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain” – Homer J Simpson.

New media spring up all the time, and if millions find this expresses them, then why should you judge. Think of it like haiku, capable of saying much in a little space. The fact that you have to conform to a restriction can paradoxically increase your creativity. Sometimes I think a word limit would make you more interesting or bearable, Reuben

I disagree, Reuben. You’re analysing Twitter as if it were purporting to be a contribution to the blogosphere. It’s not. It’s primarily a social networking site, a stripped-down facebook, where people answer a simple question: what are you doing now? Not, what is your grand treatise on historical materialism? The result is incredibly mundane, a lot of people spouting a lot of bollocks, loads of updates about things you don’t really care about by people you don’t really care about. Pretty much like any other social networking site. It’s not a step back because it’s entirely independent of the blogosphere. It is, however, another reminder that, for all the positive things that have come about through the democratisation of media, democracy has one central flaw. Stupid people are allowed to participate.

Pwned!

Salman what have I warned you about apologising for self-publicising phenomena into which you wholeheartedly fling yourself in order to eventually become friends with Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Monica Ali and Ian McEwan and to become part of the Groucho Club/Tate Modern crowd? Just because you do something yourself does not make it acceptable. I’m the first to admit this, with my blind and pointless devotion to a stupid football club.

Well yeah, microblogging is 140 characters of self indulgence. I completely admit to that. Its a great way to “build a buzz”. But, why not use that to promote the more serious blogs you or others write. I definately can see using twitter to yield out into the internet anything you have to say. In fact, I created a blog to do just that. I have opened up and is using every social media networking that is ‘trendy” at the moment to get my brand out and SEO whatever it is I have to say, including your blog, my brand and my clients work.

One of my twitter entries was “De-Objectifying 9-11 through Art http://tinyurl.com/cvxgbj” from my blog. A well known multi-media artist is now “following” this artist and has direct messaged him about his work. If we work this right, he could get an art exhibit backed by her, and could end up with a New York show and all the potential that goes with that.

Twitter gives me and my client exposure we would never have gotten elsewhere. Being able to pack in a very suggestible 140 character message to entice the reader to pick your link is gold and takes not only a well written word, but creativity at its best. Theres an art to enticing the American brain that only hold a thought for 5 seconds. How do you make them stop and look? Especially when you get over 1200 tweets a day and they flash up from the deck? You have 4 seconds to read it, you better know how to write to catch the eye. Who is to say, being able to do so, doesnt rival a serious blogger? They go hand in hand.

When has any of the coolest internet social media programs stayed on top? Myspace is old and boring now, I never use yahoo msg anymore, they all go to die and should be considered future flash in the pans. Its like software development. No one still programs in DOS. You have to keep moving, put the irons in the flame, be willing to leave the comfort of the familiar, to make serious use any of any of them.

So Reuben, you write the blog that will change the course of mankind, and I in return will make sure you get 500 more readers through twitter.

That’s a good point Debora. Unlike my Luddite friend, I do use Twitter to promite articles on The Third Estate.

Oh well please add me then. http://twitter.com/deboraaaro I would love updates via twitter, and in return you would receive revleft.com newswire feeds from me.

Oh and Reuben, it will be interesting to see how many hits you get to this blog update, seeing I’ve tweeted it.

Though there are some online tutorials, I had a mentor I met on twitter who took me under his wing, to teach me the basics. I’ve received more than a few requests from friends and comrades to instruct them in the art of twittering, I will make a blog entry to that effect and notify you of it when its completed. But until then, make that first step and create a profile, search out key words of interests, and follow those that you like. I hope to see you there. Cheers.

“it is a prodoundly self-centred medium for engaging with others”
Personally I think it’s more like being in a large room full of people with whom I’m connected, allbeit through x degrees of separation, and overhearing things they’re saying to each other. It’s like somebody shouting something brief through your open door. It’s returning a bit of serendipity and connection into lives increasingly spent hunched over keyboards peering at screens. http://celtrecord.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/what-educators-educationalists-and-pundits-have-said-about-twitter/

I also disagree.

my friends and I mainly use Twitter to communicate our politics. I hate all the ‘i’ve just had a sausage sandwich’ stuff. Eventually, people will get bored with that and will hopefully begin to use it for more usefull purposes.

I guess it is like a mass advertising board but that is what is good about it-it allows us mere proles the chance to get our message across without having to pay for advertising.

As a tool for organising political activity it has also proved very useful. In Egypt where the government regularly crack down on journalists, a friend of mine sent an urgent ‘ARREST’ to his account by which his comrades knew what had happened to him. They went down to the police station and got him out within 45 minutes of him sending it. In fact the egyptians are way ahead of us with Web 2.0 organising. http://arabist.net/arabawy/2008/04/24/the-revolution-will-be-twitterized/comment-page-1/

On the demonstration against the attacks on Gaza a short ‘don’t go down the tunnel-it’s a trap’ would have possibly prevented thousands of protesters getting beaten up by the police.

Feel free to add me if you want political updates.

http://twitter.com/solomonsmfield

Happy tweeting-vive la revolution

Not as epic as your whale fail…