It just seems to be getting more and more prevalent, to the point where I’ve been hearing it in serious newscasts now (things along the lines of “<famous person> tweeted that he will be doing <project>” or “A local Japanese family were relieved when relatives in Japan tweeted that they were alive and well” or “The prime minister’s press secretary sent a tweet to verify that the women’s underwear found under his bed were most definitely not his.”)
It’s just a stupid term. I get that the service is called Twitter. Great. I don’t use it, but I get that a lot of people do. But every time I hear “tweeted” I want to kick a baby. Or a bird. Or a baby bird.
Meh. Although I really don’t understand the appeal of Twitter, I don’t think it’s strange that many people do. New service, new word. I’m not about to buggy-whip someone for using the word “tweeted”.
You know, I could get behind “Twittered.” If you look for something using Google, you “google” it. You don’t “geeg” it or “googify” it. Same with Digg–you “digg” it or, in the past tense “dugg” it. I’m fine with those. I really don’t mind made-up internet words. There’s just something about the words “tweeted” or “sent a tweet” coming out of serious people’s mouths that make me cringe. At least “twittered” fits with the name of the service. And doesn’t make you (the editorial you) look quite so much like a twit.
My cats, by the way, do not have their own Twitter accounts, nor do they have Facebook pages. I have instructed my spouse to shoot me if I ever set these up for them.
“A Japanese family was relieved to discover via the social networking site Twitter (or just “via Twitter”) that their relatives were unharmed” or whatever.
Correct me if wrong, but I believe Twitter has referred to individual tweets as “tweets” since early on if not day one. Twitter is the name of the service, tweets are the product.
I’ve actually heard people say “twittered” without raising any eyebrows. They’re neologisms, “rightness” doesn’t apply until a right way is established. “Tweeted” sounds a little sillier, but it’s also two characters and one syllable shorter. For a service based on brevity, I can see why “tweeted” would win.
There certainly needs to be a term – it seems to be turning out Twitter really is its own thing, and there’s a reason it has a vocabulary.