The Twitter Battle, and the Genius of John Dickerson
I have been MIA this week, largely due to impending deadlines. At least one of them is still very much impending (and equally very much not complete), so I’ll make this quick and (hopefully) to the point: Twitter is fascinating and addictive and genuinely beneficial, but I see a battle brewing over what its proper use should be.
Quite a few people have begun to use it largely as a mobile locater. You send out a tweet when heading to whatever bar or concert or social event, and everyone who gets your updates on his or her phone knows that’s where you’re at. In a place like DC, where there are often multiple events on a given night and any number of different but still socially-linked groups of friends and acquaintances, this is incredibly useful.
The problem is, the ease of Twittering makes it possible to pester people with it as well. It’s tempting and easy to send out notices while waiting in line at Potbelly’s, while your brain churns on a tough article, while waiting between bands at the Black Cat. But people who sign up for your feed may only want to know your whereabouts, and don’t care at all to be bothered with your latest random downtime snark about the popped-polo frat boy who somehow wandered into a Yeasayer show.
Additionally, there’s a third style of usage that focuses heavily on either breaking news, often with links, or commenting on breaking news. Sometimes this comes from institutions like CNN, but there are individuals too, like Patrick Ruffini, who often do this throughout the day. And then there are the news-snarkers — the best, I think, being Slate’s John Dickerson, whose feed is easily my favorite just to read. Here’s a sample of what he’s put up in the last couple days:
Hillary Clinton is not ready for the coffee maker on day one.
Scarce goods: An economist who thinks the gas tax holiday is a good idea and future Obama book titles taken from Rev. Wright sermons.
Twitter is not going to be able to survive the summer without enacting a fuel charge.
As Twitter goes, this is high literature.
For those who don’t want to get this on their phones, that’s easy enough — don’t subscribe to phone updates. But what about the folks who use Twitter both as a locater and for random comment? How do we both get and broadcast the content we want without irritating people (or being irritated)? I suppose one could set up multiple accounts for different types of tweets, but that seems like a lot of work. I wonder if competing Twitter-like services will eventually find a solution to this.
UPDATE: I should note that, while I’m certain I’ve annoyed people with my Twits, I am, well, Twitterpated, and quite enjoy all of the updates I get. But my guess is that not everyone is, and the etiquette of the technology still needs some development.
This hits the nail on the head. I actually just unsubscribed from one of my friend’s twitters because he sent out for this morning, ranging from “Ohh, new flavor at the Coffee Mill” to “Off to my last class of the day!” I also had become sick of tweets at 1am on a Tuesday.
I really like your suggestion of “multiple accounts for different types of tweets” or something like that. I want to get some of my friend’s twitters, but not 12 times a day!
— EG · May 1, 06:57 PM · #
You have articulated why I am not a Twit. Being regularly bothered with the minutiae of others is sure to provoke a rapid descent into reclusion for me.
Of course, I do update my Facebook status every three days or so. (Gotta stay fresh!) But I take comfort knowing that I’m not spamming my friends.
— Missy · May 1, 07:51 PM · #
It goes against the entire style of twitter, but they could include a tag (not taken out of your precious 150 chars) saying a tweet was a location update. I guess that would also be too much work to remember to do on a regular basis.
— Justin · May 1, 08:49 PM · #
The San Diego Union Tribune recently ran a little story about a college student who got detained while visiting in Afghanistan (I believe—I’m not sure), so he twitted his fellow twits via his cell phone e-mail, and they contacted the proper U.S. authorities who helped get him out.
— Joules · May 1, 09:31 PM · #
Joules — yeah, I saw that. And when Brooke was arrested here in DC, Twitter helped spread the word that night.
— Peter Suderman · May 2, 12:40 AM · #
Though the language is coarse, the joke is funny, and quite appropriate to this topic: Penny Arcade.
— Ethan C. · May 6, 02:16 AM · #