Tweet (verb): slang
for posting on Twitter
Twit (noun): a silly, annoying or foolish person
Is Twitter just filled with tweeting twits or am I
transgressing in this taunting tirade? (Try saying that fast three times.)
But seriously--what is it with Twitter?
Launched in 2006, Twitter, with 330 million users, has
become the place to be heard: to opine, to click on news links, to follow the
lives of the rich and famous and infamous, a setting to raise people up and to
bring people down. Since our President tweets
almost daily to express opinions, announce policy and vent against his latest adversary
(every morning, 6:30 am or so) Twitter rules in 2018. Read a breaking story, watch a news report, hear
a rumor and chances are very good that a tweet is the source.
For now I am still no tweeter, no Twitter user. At least not
yet.
Not because I am a tech hating Luddite. I Facebook and blog, am as tech savvy, I
suppose, as one can be at 57 years old. I'm not anti-Twitter even though it is
filled with "trolls". Trolls are folks who love to trash, denigrate,
attack and even threaten others. Trolls pick fights online just to get a rise
out of folks. Nor am I against social media in general: at their best Twitter,
Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and other online gathering places are this
generations' way of talking over the
fence, connecting, communicating.
We had landline phones, newspapers and the water cooler.
They have cyberspace.
The difference is the global reach of these platforms and
the speed with which a message is shared.
When a tweeter tweets, his or her thoughts are broadcast instantaneously. No one edits the tweets. Censorship is
basically unheard of. If our hackles are
up, if we are angry or overjoyed, and need to respond RIGHT NOW: Twitter is the
place.
Tweeting is the First Amendment on steroids, a chance for almost
anyone to say anything and to reach hundreds, thousands, even millions of
folks. So you can start a revolution with a tweet or share a recipe. Harass a fellow user or lift up another with
care. You can tweet and promote love and peace or tweet about white supremacy and
hatred.
And all in just 280 characters.
The problem is not the tech. It's the users. Twitter et al are just tools that reflect human
nature, both how we can soar to noble heights of decency and virtue, and descend
into the gutter and the mud and reveal our worst and most cruel impulses. God and the devil, heaven and hell, sin and
sincerity: it's all on display. And if you get bored, don't fret. Every second 6,000 new tweets are sent out.
That's 200 billion tweets a year.
So I think I will hold back from entering the Twitter universe. Part of it is tech overload. I've already got way too much information
flowing through my world. My bandwidth
can only take so much. And I'm not much
interested in following the most popular Tweeters, learning what they are
"thinking". (I use that term cautiously.) So no thank you pop singers Katy Perry (109
million followers) and Justin Bieber (106 million), former President Barack
Obama (102 million) and the present Commander in Chief (51 million), or TV icon
Ellen (77 million) or Ariana Grande (56 million). I have no idea who she is and
that's okay.
And now that it's May, I can experience tweets in the
backyard. Real tweets from the winged
creatures who hover around the bird feeder and entertain me with their
songs. They start at 6:30 am too. I'll stick with them.
Happy tweeting.
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