Well it does depend on the celebrity. In the beginning I followed some celebrities to get a glimpse into their life. Then they annoyed me so I quit twitter.
Levar Burton:
-Hey, I’m on a plane.
-Hey, I’m in an airport.
-Hey, I’m at a restaurant.
-Hey, I’m on another plane.
-Hey, I’m in another airport.
-Hey, I’m at another restaurant.
Etc. George Takei:
You can just find new people you like to follow. I’m not sure why a few bad apples spoils people’s bunches so easily, but I guess people’s investment is just too low to bother trying again. I usually go to a person’s twitter feed ahead of time, determine if I enjoy the content and frequency of their posts, and follow only after I’ve decided it’s to my liking. People don’t usually change it up so the past week of tweets is a good indication of what you’ll get in the future. I’ve only ended up de-following one person after using this method.
On a side note, Thailand has some sort of self-proclaimed “Twitter king.” He became locally famous for tweeting just about every single second of his waking hours. During a newspaper interview, he tweeted continuously: “The interviewer just asked me blank.” “Now I’m telling him blank.” And so on.
I honestly would appreciate the people who utilize Twitter all the time and know the ins and outs to start an “Ask the Twitter user” thread. Look, I’m not a Luddite, but I’m a very late adopter for most things.
Here’s the thing with Twitter: when my 64 year old (at the time) father asked me if I followed X person* on Twitter, I realized it was maybe time to give it try. (He’s 66 now.) I follow a few people. (My favorite is pro-bird rights.) I’ve used it to enter a contest or two and especially for entering #Hashtag Wars on the show @midnight.
Like all media of any kind, you can opt in or OUT to your hearts content! I’d read this thread earlier and realized I hadn’t checked Twitter in ages. (I think about 4 months.)
I have read it, and I still don’t see the point for “normal” people. It’s a nice marketing tool, if used carefully, and good for keeping up with news if you follow a small enough number of outlets, put there is just so much clutter.
Only when the number of phone calls and face-to-face visits are so large that one person cannot keep up with them. I have never been that popular, so the comparison did not occur to me.
I’m a big fan of context, and with Twitter, context is only a remote concept. I don’t understand why some Twitter feeds make headlines. They’re just a few words and a couple of hashtags bereft of context, accompanied by a wanking commentary about some kind of drama I’m not interested in, and never gets to the core reason of why I should care. It’s marginalizing our ability to think and limits our expressive ability to 140 characters, just to signal a call for attention.
Ah, now, I’ve always thought that a restrictive format actually encourages creativity, forcing one to invent a way to express within the restriction. Some Tweets are entertaining that way.
I’m not sure if Twitter has a point, as such. It has worth, but it isn’t a necessity. It’s partially an entertaining distraction, and partially a socialising tool. If you find plenty of both in other places, Twitter may not be for you.
I mostly see it as a briefer and more controllable alternative to Facebook. Some people may prefer the lengthier chaos the latter provides. though most probably don’t like either.
You’re not missing out if you don’t have an affinity. But what other people get out of it is also not deserving of anyone’s disdain.
I’ve no interest in twitter or facebook, nor any of the social media.
I don’t have any friends or family that I want to be in contact with constantly. I text them individually or call them/meet them for conversation instead.
I certainly don’t want anyone knowing what I’m doing/eating/saying. Nor do I have any interest in what anyone else is doing or saying. (and certainly not expressed in a limited number of characters)
Twitter seems to exist so that people have an opportunity to broadcast ill-conceived and poorly expressed simplistic banalaties so as to give others an opportunity for outrage and anger.
Someone showed me a facebook page once and it was just a stream of inanity and catty gossip from family members that they were complaining about having to respond to. Boggled my mind.
I’m definitely no luddite, but I do value my privacy and that of my families.
I’m sure people do get enjoyment and benefit from those applications but I’m buggered if I can see the attraction.
Well, yes, #DistractinglySexy, for one, was hilarious, but such Trends are few and fair between. (I do love articles that have the best Tweets on a Trend, though.)
As for socializing, many of my friends and acquaintances got Twitter accounts, but never really used them, so that never happened.
It is good for following organizations, some news outlets (but I had to drop the Christian Science Monitor - too many tweets to keep up with), and celebrities that are good at marketing, but it’s not much fun for me.
You know, I never see those until they have migrated into a news story.
Here’s an interesting article about how Twitter’s neverending pursuit of “growth” is unrealistic. I think the best way to retain users and hopefully grow is to have an Edit button, non-obtrusive ads, and a better way to handle trolls and harassers.
I was on a bus this morning to work this morning and this couple in their twenties were reading out tweets about a recently elected politician. They read out one of mine and I really wanted to turn around and say it to them but I thought they’d think I was a stone weirdo.