I have an apology to all of my faithful readers: You will never be able to follow me on Twitter. Wait, let me insert a caveat: You will never be able to follow me on Twitter unless I become famous in some way and my producers require me to have a Twitter account for which I hire an out-of-college, out-of-work person to ghost-Tweet for me. (I just think it's hysterical to hear the 60 year old news anchor suggest that I visit him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter. Yeah, right. Oh, and Brad Pitt has nothing better to do with his time than Tweet what he just consumed at the local deli.)
Now I'm sure some of you are crushed and wondering why you will never be able to follow me on Twitter. Simply put: Twitter is dangerous.
To begin with, Twitter encourages immediacy. Rather than taking some time to process whatever it may be that you want to communicate, a Twitter culture not only promotes but expects an immediate response. Those of us who were once under the age of 10 have redoubtably heard the words "Think before you speak." How many times have you had to apologize for a word spoken in haste? James 1:19 says "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry [emphasis added]." Sound advice for a Twitter-fied world.
The second danger hidden in Twitter is the 140 character limit. Just to give you an idea of what that looks like. If this post were 140 characters long it would have read: "I have an apology to all of my faithful readers: You will never be able to follow me on Twitter. Wait, let me insert a caveat: You will ne" The first sentence of my post completely unintentionally exhibits why a 140 character limit poses a danger: There is no venue for complete thoughts. In 140 characters one must be short and to the point. This often lends itself to extreme statements and certainly does not allow for explanation or (as my 4th grade English teacher always admonished) support and elaboration.
The combination of these to aspects of Twitter are bad enough: imagine a very short, tersely worded immediate response to a situation. That has trouble written all over it! Proverbs 13:3 says "Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin." brief unfiltered reactionary responses sure sounds like speaking rashly to me!
There is a third aspect of Twitter that I would not have initially predicted. Twitter, combined with its accessibility via our phones, has sparked an marked decrease in civil action. To explain what I mean I'd like to recount an incident that perfectly displays this phenomenon: Bill Nye "The Science Guy" collapsed while speaking to a group of University students. Did people jump and run to his aid? Did people pull out their cell phones and contact emergency authorities? No. They pulled out their cell phones and Tweeted the situation. Twitter has functionally resulted in people desiring to be the one to break the story. We are all now cable news stations fighting to be the first to report an incident rather than act on behalf of those involved!
All in all, Twitter resembles a field full of buried land mines waiting to destroy those that use it without forethought.
What do you know? I could have Tweeted that last sentence but no one would know why I felt that way. Put that on your phone and Tweet it!
4 comments:
I agree that you cannot post long and thought out posts on Twitter, that is not what the platform was developed for. The platform was developed to help people easily stay in touch with other people by letting them know where or what they are doing. The question above the dialog box is "Whats Happening".
It is sad what how the younger generation acts or does not act to things. Your example of Bill Nye is not the only known thing, but it is similar to what many jouralists and cameraman do when filiming in areas that have been hit by storms or wars. In both cases it is unexcuseable and I think that the parents of our current generation were to lazy to teach thier kids proper communication.
MArk! What is the best way to email yall? Will you send me Vanessa's email address to russamoto@gmail.com? THanks!
During the Haitian earthquake, CNN's Solidad O'Brien tweeted regarding the plight of some orphans who were awaiting adoption from US citizens. Some of my friends were among those who were in adoption proceedings for two Haitian kids. Beca...use of the real-time information coming from this reporter, we were able to find out about the current well-being of those children, and many American friends were able to petition the State Department to expedite their evacuation to their adoptive parents.
Not to discount your most excellent points, but simply to point out some beneficial alternative thoughts for Twitter.
Personally, while I do have a Twitter account, I don't update there very often. And I intentionally use both Facebook and Twitter as a sort of public diary -- telling what I've done after the fact -- rather than as an announcement board for what I'm going to be doing. We have to remember that these are essentially public forums and we shouldn't compromise our personal security in the process of trolling for attention... :-)
Great points Marc! I agree with them. I have found Twitter to be insanely useful for myself though. I've been able to promote my brand and advance my business as well as communicate with my team.
I've also been able to communicate in real time with mentors and instructors and classmates from courses I've taken via the web. Twitter can be amazing.
I just don't use twitter like you describe.
Another benefit. I've had a dispute with a company that ignored me until I took it to twitter. Low and behold my problem was solved almost immediately. I've also been able to navigate crowded venues and such as people tweeted the best way to get around the mess.
Again, twitter can be amazing!
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