So it pains me to say this, but today, on Monday, the 26th day of July, 2010, I realized I was wrong. Dead wrong. Twitter is not a passing fad; Twitter is not totally useless. In fact—I can’t believe I’m saying this—but Twitter can even serve some sort of purpose.
From just about the first time I heard about Twitter, I bashed it. Perhaps I should have known better when even the mainstream media, hesitant to accept blogs, universally embraced it. Maybe, I should have realized I was wrong when Medill professors consistently referenced it and many classmates I respect had their own Twitter account. But I definitely should have known I was wrong when I started quoting Kid Rock to justify myself.
Photo Courtesy of Jim Greenhill
"It's gay. If one more person asks me if I have a Twitter, I'm going to tell them, 'Twitter this [bleep], mother[bleep]er,' I don't have anything to say, and what I have to say is not that relevant. Anything that is relevant, I'm going to bottle it up and then squeeze it onto a record somewhere."
Slowly, I did begin to check Twitter. I never went so far as to have an account, but several times a week I would read other people’s tweets. I checked tweets from Kenny Powers, of Eastbound and Down fame, and of Coach_D_Antoni, the unauthentic alter-ego (provided by comedian Joe Praino) of the Knicks head coach that’s since been suspended. And there were hoards of reporters and athletes whose tweets would be quoted in news stories, and comedians whose Tweets were quoted in blogs I read. Still, I resisted.
During the World Cup, Twitter reported that at the height of the action—when some goals were scored—as many as 3,051 tweets were submitted per second. Unbelievable. Still, I was undeterred. Sure 3,051 people had something to say, I reasoned, but who cared enough to read what they had to say?
That's when I realized the truth: it doesn't matter. I had been completely unaware of something so painfully obvious. Twitter is, at its core, a blog. It's only different in that it limits the length of posts, and therefore the expectation that comments must be well thought out. It is successful because it encourages returning users by banking on frequent short posts beating out the infrequent long posting model that blogs, like Blogger, had locked down.
So the Twitter of tomorrow is a lot like the blogs of today. Many users will have accounts, but few will be worth following. And most of those worth following will belong to journalists, reporters and columnists we respect sharing quick scoops, commentary and links; celebrities and company spokespeople who want to engage their fans; and the occasional dark horse who is witty enough to keep users coming back for more.
And you know what? That future doesn't sound so bleak. In fact, sign me up. I hereby declare myself a Twitter follower. Maybe one day I'll even have something relevant to say in 140 characters or less. But for now, I'm old school. I'm just going to bottle it up and squeeze it into a blog somewhere. Twitter this [expletive], mother[expletive].
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