More moaning about Twitter....

[max_tranmere]

Here is another installment of my ongoing moaning about Twitter, how crap it is, and to further question exactly what the point of it is.

It is basically just a poor imitation of Facebook, a rip-off, but done differntly so as to make it look original (even though it hardly does). In the same way that Pepsi ripped off Coke and Burger King ripped off McDonalds, Twitter has basically just ripped off Facebook. The differnce with those two examples is that the plagarising companies created a similar, but also high quality, product. Twitter is just a limited version of Facebook where, for some odd reason, they restrict you in how much room you have to write text (Facebook is unlimited, like emailing is) and also the photo feature on Twitter doesn't have 'albums' just a load of miscellaneous photos thrown together - unlike Facebook where you have 'albums', a book of 'profile pictures', and so on.

How Twitter has taken off I do not know. Clever marketing is the only thing I can think of. You spend more time trying to shorten your message after you've typed it than you did writing it in order to fit it into the limited space. "Would you be in favour of that?" becomes "wud u b in fava of tht". Why the limited room for text? Totally pointless and stupid - just done to be 'original' compared to other social networking sites - compared to Facebook in other words. I think people originally Tweeted on their PC, and text-ed from their mobile phones. Now people Tweet from their phones, and text from their phones too, so basically Twitter is now even more pointless because it has stopped being what was effectively a computer texting service to being a mobile phone one (like traditional texting).

Twitter must have employed the best marketing people in the world to launch this thing and to make it such a sucess. I use it only where the person I'm contacting does not have a Facebook page. I found this picture on Wikipedia, of the notes and ideas of Jack Dorset, Twitter's founder, and as you can see he just tried to come up with something a bit differnt from the others, but what he did was hardly revolutionary. If anything, Twitter is a step backwards because of the limited room for words (unlike on Facebook):



Right, rant over. People's comments please. Can anyone shed any light on why they think Twitter has taken off like it has?

[one eyed jack]

Moan away young man. Its your divine right. I have no problems with it personally and think its a fast track way of updating my various profiles. It does what its meant to do:

Communicate what you are doing at the moment ...and to inform those who give a damn what you are doing at the moment.

Obviously these things are no interest to you so dont bother use it then

You can still moan about it though !happy!

[max_tranmere]

*Communicate what you are doing at the moment ...and to inform those who give a damn what you are doing at the moment.

*Obviously these things are no interest to you so dont bother use it then

Not sure what you're on about there. I have great interest in those things, and can do them on Facebook (as I mentioned) in a detailed way - or do them in a very limited way on Twitter.

[pornoshop]

I also thought this before giving it a chance.

Points I have found which could explain the popularity:

You can have a conversation with someone who you admire very easily / you can tell someone you hate exactly what you think.
You can spend you idle minutes reading a little something which makes you laugh (a long rant would become irritating I think).
Some people post funny pictures - simple but effective

After using it I see it and Face Book as completely difference. Face Book is social networking, but Twitter is more pick up and put down - low maintenance

[andy at handiwork]

Less is more.

[pornoshop]

explain...

[andy at handiwork]

Simplicity and clarity can get a point across far better than reams of verbiage. In essence, why use 100 poorly chosen words when 10 thoughtful ones can say it better?

[Sam Slater]

I don't know where to start with this.

Twitter is like having a goldfish. You just feed it every so often and clean it's bowl once a week and you're good. Facebook is like having a puppy. You have to feed it, play with it, teach it not to chew the chair leg or shit over the rug....then you have to take it for it's inoculations and scold it for begging at the table. There's nothing wrong with puppies or goldfish but they're different types of pet. You wouldn't buy a goldfish and then complain when it doesn't fetch the stick you just chucked down the garden, would you?

Twitter frustrates you because you're using it like it's facebook, an email client or forum. Twitter is for sharing a thought or feeling. I take a picture at the top of Mam Tor on a summer's day, upload it to Twitter and say "Look at the view!" I do not use twitter to have a discussion about the geology of Mam Tor and the different species of fish one can catch throughout the Derwent Valley.

If my pets analogy isn't to your liking then think of twitter as a party buffet and facebook as a 3-course meal. At a buffet you dip in and out as you please. At a sit-down meal is more organised and people's expectations of you change.

If that analogy doesn't work, how about the difference between a wife and a whore? You see the consistent theme throughout my analogies now, Max?

[pornoshop]

lol - I was joking!

[max_tranmere]

I hear what you say, but everything that can be done on Twitter can be done on Facebook too - it is possible to submit short answers and bullet points on Facebook if one chooses. I've sent one word responses to things people have said on there in the past. Twitter has become trendy, therefore people see positives in it - really it is just a poor man's Facebook.