In the past I've made no secret of my dislike for this narcissistic, celebrity and politician laden, rapid burst social networking and communication application but with many of the recent revelations about the apparent stolen Iranian election coming out of that country via this service (the government there has censored a vast swath of websites and other media outlets) I am forced to give Twitter my grudging respect. I still think that most of it's potential has been fairly useless to date (I'm looking at you, Ashton) but the fact that it has helped to facilitate the dissemination of information about a stolen election from within an oppressive police state can not be overlooked.
I did sign up with the service a while back just to lay claim to the "BrainRage" appellation before it was snatched up by someone else and a few people have even signed up to follow me although I have not yet uttered a single tweet. You're welcome to do the same but I'll warn you now: even if I ever do start to Twitter it will most likely be in a largely ironic capacity without much real substance or relevant commentary. Hey, that's just how I roll with the new, bitches.
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Redemption Of Twitter
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2 comments:
Nothing especially wrong with Twitter as an application. It's how people use it that matters. Yes, people use it for narcissistic reason. But the same is true of most blogs out in the ether today, too.
FYI, Iran isn't the first event for which Twitter has been used this way. The Mumbai Bombings last year were also a good example of people using Twitter and other social media to quickly relay information passed over in mainstream sources.
Twitter also becomes an interesting way in which blogs can gather all kinds of info on subjects like the Iranian elections and disseminate to a wider audience, thus doing what blogs love to do -- further subvert the MSM. Twitter and Youtube have been way more informative on all of this than CNN or the like. Check Andrew Sullivan's site as an example.
I wrote about on my site, too:
http://ohioriverutopia.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/weird-convergence/
I won't lament the loss of any of my Twitter followers, Philippe. Good to here from you and I hope all is going well.
I hadn't heard that about the Mumbai attacks, Dave. I was pretty much unplugged whilest visiting friends over the Thanksgiving holidays at the time. And I actually link to one of Sullivan's Twitter feed round ups in my post. His blog has been invaluable as I've followed this story over the past week.
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