I joined Twitter in the summer of 2007. I was an early user, so early that I actually got my name "ophelia". I played with it for a while, lost interest and went onto other networking sites. Then in 2008, I rediscovered it and went back and "tweeted" from dawn to dusk. I have met the most inspiring people on Twitter and those relationships have passed from online to offline.
It was fun, I made new contacts, got the latest news, got in on the closed betas; I loved the low level of noise on my desktop because I felt connected, since I work from home. I even downloaded the Adobe Air based application called Twhirl to have Twitter on my desktop with realtime streaming of all the tweets. Even when the famous "fail whale"* appeared because of technical difficulties I was patient, like a person who kept using a beloved appliance that only ran if you held it on a 30˚ angle while shaking your left leg.
Then the mass media got a hold of Twitter. That spelled the end for me. Once I started hearing on MSNBC, CNN, even my local plumber telling me that they all have Twitter accounts and to follow them, I knew my sweet little world was upended like a rolled over log. Now the outside world had invaded my safe little world of "real people" and was putting up 140 character billboards over my Twitter pages. Even if I didn't follow them, they appeared in my stream courtesy of other Twitter users that I followed.
Imagine having a conversation with a friend and in the middle, a stranger would pop their head in and tell you to buy a low flush toilet to be green, and then disappear, all the while your friend is speaking to you. Not only did my head explode, I was unable to stem the flood washing over the flimsy barriers I had put up; a popsicle stick dam is useless against a tsunami.
I still "tweet", but only once a day to say Good Morning. I dragged Twhirl to the trash and emptied it, a bit of melancholy but with no regrets. It was like saying good bye to a good friend that became an overnight pop star with a posse fueled on Red Bull and low fat Frozen Yogurt. I was exhausted from separating the wheat from the chaff.
I have to go now, I have to go check my Facebook updates.
"I've been tweeting about the pork barrel..." Sen. John McCain
CNN on Twitter
Al Gore on Twitter
MSNBC on Twitter
Illustration: Ophelia Chong with a nod to the original illustrator of the Fail Whale, designer Yiying Lu.
Footnotes:
*Fail Whale: When Twitter crashes during technical difficulties, you are redirected to a page with a cute blue whale. Twitterers came up with the name "Fail Whale".
Twitter on wikipedia.
Jumping the Shark on wikipedia
Then the mass media got a hold of Twitter. That spelled the end for me. Once I started hearing on MSNBC, CNN, even my local plumber telling me that they all have Twitter accounts and to follow them, I knew my sweet little world was upended like a rolled over log. Now the outside world had invaded my safe little world of "real people" and was putting up 140 character billboards over my Twitter pages. Even if I didn't follow them, they appeared in my stream courtesy of other Twitter users that I followed.
Imagine having a conversation with a friend and in the middle, a stranger would pop their head in and tell you to buy a low flush toilet to be green, and then disappear, all the while your friend is speaking to you. Not only did my head explode, I was unable to stem the flood washing over the flimsy barriers I had put up; a popsicle stick dam is useless against a tsunami.
I still "tweet", but only once a day to say Good Morning. I dragged Twhirl to the trash and emptied it, a bit of melancholy but with no regrets. It was like saying good bye to a good friend that became an overnight pop star with a posse fueled on Red Bull and low fat Frozen Yogurt. I was exhausted from separating the wheat from the chaff.
I have to go now, I have to go check my Facebook updates.
"I've been tweeting about the pork barrel..." Sen. John McCain
CNN on Twitter
Al Gore on Twitter
MSNBC on Twitter
Illustration: Ophelia Chong with a nod to the original illustrator of the Fail Whale, designer Yiying Lu.
Footnotes:
*Fail Whale: When Twitter crashes during technical difficulties, you are redirected to a page with a cute blue whale. Twitterers came up with the name "Fail Whale".
Twitter on wikipedia.
Jumping the Shark on wikipedia
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Love it:
"It was like saying good bye to a good friend that became an overnight pop star with a posse fueled on Red Bull and low fat Frozen Yogurt."
I listened to some old fogies on NPR try out twitter. Time for the digital nomads to pull up the stakes and find a new pasture!
Dear Alberto,
The moment I saw an anchor comment about Sen. John McCain's tweets and her reply in tweets, I knew it was time to run for the comfort of my bed and a good book.
:O) ophelia
very upsetting indeed. Change isn't always good. But money talks I guess. Sucks.
Dear Daphne,
Its all about the level of noise. I met amazing people on Twitter, and that's what it is all about. But how do I turn down the noise without missing out on a gem amongst the weeds?
:O) ophelia
Just as I finally caught on and get to know the Twitter community, my favorite person (you!) took off! You have all the valid reasons. You got what you took from it and now resuming what you do best and that is to be creative and influential in your own ways.
I hope to see you return in the future... or maybe I'm going to hit that twitter wall as well. I miss your humor and your charm. I always look forward to your morning tweets and I hope to catch you on FB or... simply e-mail.
Sooooo agreed. I have had a love hate relationship with Twitter over the past several months. I keep forcing myself to update, but it just all feels like one big sales pitch gone awry.
I have met interesting people and when I actually give it the time, I am still able to suss out some good contacts. I now am advising a client to utilize it....not for the good ol' fun that was had, but because they need to convey a message, feed and connect to everything social media-esque, plus the search engines(outside of the twitter search engines) I am sure will be capturing it as it is connected to your on-line kingdom.
I think we are in danger of the internet becoming one BIG traffic jam or orgy of people in different arenas, but the same messages. It will be like trying to find an article in Vogue or another magazine with too many ads.
Sorry, I am now exhausted by the the thought of wading through more minutia to keep my life simple.
Good piece O!
dear tracy
You are so right. I love your description "Traffic Jam", how true. We need to get outside more. First we told the kids to get away from the TV and xBox, now we are guilty of doing the same thing by hanging out online in all our social networks. "Did I update?"...will I be relevant if I don't?
thanks for stopping by and commenting. :O) ophelia
keep trying to send my objctions to Sandra Tsing Loh--wish you could be rid of her--but message keeps not being shown.
Oh noes!! But you'll still hang out on Twitter, just to a lessened capacity, right? And we'll still hang out in "real time," right? *anxious*
-ATG
DearATG
I will still be there, just not as obsessive as I just to be. :O)) And how are you?
I need to catch up on your Tweets. *mwah* :O) Ophelia
I never got into Twitter, but if they have it on Doonesbury, then you know it's gotta be big. I know other people love it though, but I know how Facebook takes over my life. I can't imagine what Twitter would do.