-- Me; April 21, 2009
When I wrote that, I had been using Twitter for three days, and I thought that it was the best thing since sliced bread. But that was still during the honeymoon period.
Now, I've had it for two and a half weeks, and in that time, I've really started to get a feel for the complete Twitter experience. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
The thing that I love about Twitter is the ability to stay connected with everyone, and to stay updated on what everybody's up to. I've even gotten a few of my friends hooked on Twitter; they weren't crazy about it at first, but now they're just as hooked as I am. As I've spent more time on Twitter, however, I've found that I now, unfortunately, have an addiction to Tweeting.
Yep. My name is David Hudson, and I'm a Twitterholic.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've Tweeted about everything from waiting forever at the DMV, to having a great brunch at IHOP, and to being appalled and disgusted at sportscaster Craig Sager's wardrobe choice. (Really, any guy that would wear a jacket like this should disgust anybody with any good fashion taste whatsoever. I respect him for not being afraid to oppose society's standards of fashion, but still. That's just not necessary. Neither is this.)
I've also Tweeted sometimes, not even because of a change in what I was doing, but simply because I felt the urge to Tweet. As a result, I would Tweet about trivial things... such as my strong disdain for Craig Sager's apparel.
But wait... is this what Twitter was created for? I highly doubt it. Twitter asks its users one simple question: "What are you doing?" The purpose of the site would then seem to be to keep people updated on what others are doing. In fact, the site itself explains Twitter's origins:
"Where did the idea for Twitter come from? Jack Dorsey had grown interested in the simple idea of what his friends were doing. Specifically, Jack wondered if there might be an opportunity to build something compelling around this status concept."
Did Dorsey then expect Twitter to become what it has today? A web of not only status updates, but people's thoughts and opinions on things such as sportscaster's wardrobes? He probably didn't. But that doesn't necessarily make Twitter bad.
Except for one thing. People don't often change what they're doing every second of the day, but people do have thoughts and opinions all day long. For example, a person who goes to work from 9 to 5 will most likely stay in the workplace for that whole time (except for maybe a lunch break). While this person is in the workplace, however, the thoughts that will go through his/her brain are innumerable. Therefore, the updates that this person could post to Twitter are also innumerable, as Tweets are no longer just status updates, but random thoughts, opinions, feelings, etc., that one may have.
Because of the innumerable amount of Tweets that one could post, one might feel the need to Tweet, and Tweet, and Tweet, to the point where Tweeting becomes a status itself. (The other day, I saw someone Tweet that they were "planning their next Twitter update." Ugh.)
Twitter might as well take a page out of Facebook's book (sorry for the redundancy). Instead of asking "What are you doing?", Facebook asks its users, "What's on your mind?" And that's basically the same question that Twitter users are answering, whether or not the question is worded the same way. Twitter should probably go ahead and fix that question.
Nevertheless, people (myself included) often like to feel important. We like to feel that other people care about what we're doing, what we're thinking, and what we're feeling. And Twitter shows that other people actually do care... but not that much. They don't need to know everything that we're thinking about.
For example, one of the people I decided to follow on Twitter was Ludacris, mainly because I'm a huge fan of his music, and I love the lyrical style he employs in his raps. In a recent span of 24 hours, however, he Tweeted 31 times. Is that really necessary?
No. No matter how famous you are, you're not that important. At least not to me.
So, people, just chill out with the Tweets. Keep some of your thoughts to yourself. They might be funny, humorous, deeply philosophical... whatever. But when you're filling up my entire Twitter homepage because you just can't stop Tweeting, that's not a good look. Just keep it simple and let me know what you're doing. That is why everybody signed up for this thing, right?
P.S. Seriously, though... somebody needs to get Craig Sager a gift certificate to either Men's Wearhouse or LensCrafters, so he can buy either a nice, fashionable, classy suit, or at least some glasses to help him see how awful and atrocious his current wardrobe really is. That mess is ridiculous.
