I haven’t been ‘silent’ but I didn’t specifically address the responses to my query for reasons why Twitter is an important platform for journalism because I didn’t really have anything else to contribute. I’ve read the responses—or ‘rebuttals’ as you refer to them—and while I am still not really convinced that the demise of Twitter is a critical blow to modern journalism, I think they all made valid points based upon their experience in the use of the platform, and there were no statements that were objectively false or that I felt required contention on my part. As I noted in my original statement, I am not a journalist and my dislike for the use of Twitter stems from how I see it being used from the perspective of a news consumer, i.e. as a ‘crutch’ to make up for not doing research or independently verifying information, and in the case of CNN.com, to literally puff out their stories to ‘newsy’ length without any real contribution.
That some journalists use the platform as a way to connect to sources is a perfectly valid counter, and while it wouldn’t be my go-to method, again it isn’t my vocation or area of expertise. I would still contend that it has created a culture where (some) journalists shoot from the hip with their comments, often to the detriment to reputation, but you can call that a misuse of the platform rather than an inherent problem with it (although I think it, and to an extent other social media, are purpose designed to elicit that kind of response). I suspect we are going to see what a post-Twitter world will look like (or at least, this version of the platform) and while I personally don’t believe that is going to be for the worse, I understand and sympathize with the disruption this ill-conceived takeover of the platform by a mendacious rich idiot who has made no concessions toward people using the platform for legitimate business or social connections versus as a way to ‘express’ every thought-fart that passes between his ears, and apparently eliminating al controls to prevent its dominance by would-be demagogues and conspiranoists.
Stranger