Friday 30 November 2012

What a twit!

Now, it's not that I haven't tried .
I just don't get Twitter!
I am interested in it...not particularly its content, which seems rather like the rest of the internet.
Often partisan, inaccurate, bigoted; and sometimes just plain wrong!
I suspect part of the problem is that we are just not at all clear where Twitter is pitched, and who and what it targets.
We are told that the future lies in social media. As if that somehow answers a question.
But it is strange that serious TV news shows have Tweets sprinkled across their screens. Music stars and TV and film personalities  have thousands of followers (noticed this being referred to in a Michael Buble interview the other day).
World leaders appear to have Twitter accounts, and State and Federal Parliamentarians.
But do we for a moment such folk actually service their Twitter comments 24 hours a day...or at all?
I would be interested to know how it works...and whether or not it is worth even thinking about as meaningful communication

3 comments:

Philip Newey said...

Hi Stephen,

I have been using Twitter for the past few weeks, but I have only a few followers, and follow only a few myself. I don't see how anyone could follow thousands of people, as some do - the Tweets would just disappear down the timeline in a flash. As it is, I can barely catch up with Tweets that appear overnight (not sure I really want to, but I might "miss" something). As far as I can see, from the people I tend to follow, Twitter is about promoting things, whether it be books, music, events. I can only observe that when I Tweet about my own Blog, there is an immediate peek in visits, so I guess it at least serves that purpose for me <>.

Stephan Clark said...

Yes I am aware of the little blips you can create with cross platform fertilisation
But this doesn't actually answer my question...probably because I haven't articulated it really well
My kids don't appear to be in Twitter at all.
I wonder what the demographic issues are?

Philip Newey said...

Well, most of the people I follow (or who follow me) are connected in some way with the literary world; most tweets are informational: this just came out; that is happening now (or in a minute, or tomorrow); so-and-so is being interviewed on the ABC right now. So it does have a communication function. What following the stars is all about... well I guess that is the same as it always has been - like getting autographs, being touched by a star - a little brush with fame and celebrity