Twitter

[Christheblogger]

I'm curious to know how the people here feel about Twitter? I haven't really gotten into it very much. From what little I've seen it seems sort of fun.

I've noticed that people who like books are likely to think that Twitter means the death of the English language. Do you agree with that? If so why, and if not why?

 

[Stewart]

I'm curious to know how the people here feel about Twitter?

I love it. It does depend on how you use it though. If you are just going to update people that you are putting marmalade on your toast this morning or that you are waiting at the bus stop, then don't expect many followers.

It's great for cascading information. One person tweets something to their followers, and many more then retweet it to their followers and so on, until the information spreads very quickly over the internet. Useful in such instances as the chaos in Iran a while back, great for organising campaigns against the UK government last month, and so on. Check out the Wikipedia section for Notable Usage of Twitter.

I follow my local council, my local bus service, the train service and many other services that impact my life. If there's an going to be roadworks somewhere, I'll know about it. If there's a change in bus routes, I'll know about it. I follow the UK Parliament so I know what they are discussing at any time of the day. I follow newspapers to get stories of interest. I follow festivals to get the lowdown on new acts or whatever information or promos they have to offer. And I follow much more, too.

I've noticed that people who like books are likely to think that Twitter means the death of the English language. Do you agree with that? If so why, and if not why?

I love books but I don't see Twitter as the death of the English language, which is something that just keeps on growing and adapting anyway. And what you are likely to find is that, with the demographic of Twitter users being older (late 20s to 40s) than your typical teen user of social networking, there's very little text speak (txtspk?) and that thought actually goes into presenting information within the 140 character limit.

Now, the thing about books and Twitter is that so many publishers are now using it. I review books for my blog and I post up links to my reviews, copying in the publisher should they be registered. My followers get to know about my reviews. The publisher gets to know about the review and will (well, if it's favourable) retweet it to their followers, some of whom may start to follow me. And some of them may retweet to their followers. And so on. Aside from publishers being on Twitter, there's hordes of book bloggers too, meaning that there's a real community of people hungry for information on books that they may not get anywhere else. If I were to review favourably (say, Gérard Gavarry's Hoppla! 1 2 3, which is the nearest book to me right now) then there's little chance many people will have heard of this book and would find it on their own; so being able to communicate and spread appreciation about lesser known books is one of the perks of Twitter regarding literature. That it can open eyes to so much more of what is out there and I would say this is a good thing and far from being the end of the English language.

 

[Christheblogger]

I am inclined to agree with all of that. The people that I know who think that Twitter and instant messaging are destroying the English language don't know enough about books like The Language Instinct to know that it would be impossible to destroy the English Language.

I find trying to express yourself in 140 characters is an interesting exercise, and great for honing one's parsimony. It's not as if length = good anyway (in writing). Remember George Orwell's rules? Rules 2 and 3 are:

(ii) Never us a long word where a short one will do.

(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

OK, so maybe we shouldn't be listening to Orwell's thoughts on language because that essay begins "Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way..." which is precisely the thesis we're arguing against. The authors of the NewSpeak dictionary really should read The Language Instinct so that they might realise trying to impose language on people is pointless. But anyway, limiting the number of characters you use is not necessarily detrimental to either your writing, or the language in which you are writing.

And not only that, the problem of expressing information with a limited number of characters is not even new. Newspapers have been dealing with this limitation for centuries, and the English language managed just fine.

And in case you didn't know, though you probably did, the Library of Congress is archiving all public tweets. It's amusing to think of a historian in 2100 AD, researching the Iranian unrest in 2009, and finding lots of banal information about Justin Bieber.

Anyway, I sort of feel like I'm having an argument with no one. So until someone who actually doesn't like Twitter comes along: Chris out!

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I don't use Twitter. I don't feel the need for this social networking website. I don't have friends pressuring me to join like they did for Myspace either, which lasted a grand total of a week. Although a few of my friends do have Twitter accounts but I keep in touch with them through our connected blogs so it's not necessary that I have a Twitter account.

 

[jaybe]

I don't understand any attraction for Twitter, or even Facebook.

But I am old.:sad:

 

[Peder]

Facebook here (much neglected) but no Twitter, as even ordinary forums are beginning to fall behind in my priorities against other more real-life activities. But I'll definiitely buy Stewart's arguments for Twitter in its niche applications, where it seems to fill its role very well indeed.

 

[753C]

I am a little reclusive and often accused by family and friends of being a hermit. That said, I sort of like the social network stuff. It lets you stay in touch with people without really too much effort. It is all on your time schedule. It is sort of an alternative to genuine interaction. :lol:
Sort of like texting. I never really got the point until a friend shared a story. To keep it short, he was out with a buddy who, every hour on the hour sent one text to his wife. When asked why, his response was "All I do is text her once every hour and she thinks i'm actually talking to her!"

I started texting the day after I heard that story. Sad but true. I think it is a sign of the times. It seems like everyone is so connected but really if twitter and facebook are your main means of communication, it's probably pretty shallow.
I like twitter though for weather, breaking news stories and other stuff.

 

[Christheblogger]

I think it is a sign of the times. It seems like everyone is so connected but really if twitter and facebook are your main means of communication, it's probably pretty shallow.

Yeah, I think that's very true. But, you know, the ways in which people interact with other people is always expanding, and it's not to the detriment of pre-existing means of communication (unless the new technology is better in every way, like how the telephone completely replaced the telegraph).

When the printing press was invented I'm sure there was someone who said "now it is so easy to print a book the quality of books that will be printed is going to go down. Back when we had to transcribe books by hand, we made sure we only wrote the best books!"

 

[753C]

Yeah, I think that's very true. But, you know, the ways in which people interact with other people is always expanding, and it's not to the detriment of pre-existing means of communication (unless the new technology is better in every way, like how the telephone completely replaced the telegraph).

When the printing press was invented I'm sure there was someone who said "now it is so easy to print a book the quality of books that will be printed is going to go down. Back when we had to transcribe books by hand, we made sure we only wrote the best books!"

So true.... but could there have been some truth to the printing press angle? What would Gutenberg have thought of Twilight? :lol:
Seriously though, the depth and quality of the communication is going to depend on the individual.

 

[josephine]

Benefits of Twitter:

It helps promote your content
Networking
Helps generate traffic
Story gathering
research tool

 

[AlexisAyrth]

If this were reddit I would upvote josephine's comment. Twitter can be a useful marketing tool. But for me that's the extent.