Arguments against LoudTwitter and how to to ignore LoudTwitter entries
Despite the fact that I previously considered setting up LoudTwitter myself a year or so ago, I can't help but be annoyed that LoudTwitter recently resumed their service. Looking at my Friend's page lately it appears I am not alone in this sentiment. People seem to have their own reasons for disliking LoudTwitter. For me, there are two
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I don't intend to change the subject with those questions, but I feel it's related. Is Twitter being attacked just because it's the hot shit to attack? (Well of course it is... that's why most viruses are for Windows.) Would your positions stand firm if another platform came into play in an identical way? I will also toss out there how Twitter becomes an entirely new entity when used as a mobile platform rather than web-only; it's no different than text messages or IMs, except it's being done through a centralized service.
Additionally, claims about what the hottest "fad" is are really irrelevant. Does it matter what people are using as the platform? I'd wager there's a significant amount of simply not "getting" it in many cases (myself with text messages head of time, myself with LJ ahead of time, myself with Facebook ahead of time, myself with Twitter ahead of time...), feelings of being "left out", etc. Gotcha. You don't like it. Wonderful. Time to stop being a wet blanket.
This dives a little bit into my line of work, so forgive the faux-instructor in me, but these services (LiveJournal and Twitter included) are what you make of them. If you don't like or understand how they're being used, innovate and do something new that appeals to you. Daniel's just stated that journals are the ones that (usually) produce the worthwhile content. Is that really true? Don't interpret this as a personal attack, but is posting up an LJ entry with a series of cool things you saw on Kotaku today any better than another platform's shorter post with just one link or random tidbit? Why? Maybe I was only interested in one of those links; the rest are things I have no interest in, and find no value in... therefore, you've just wasted my time in the same way my tweet has wasted your time. Right?
(In writing this and attempting to post it, LJ informed me that the response was longer than its maximum-allowed limit. I guess it's telling me that any value I have to contribute is TOO MUCH...? Guess I should have tweeted it.)
Blah blah blah.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Eric. You've certainly put in words what others clearly can't articulate well enough. While I think we're making this out to be a bigger deal than it really is, and I find a lot of holes in your logic, I definitely respect the time you've taken to express it all.
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No, seriously.
mutetwitter.git -- the filter I linked to -- had its last public update 9 months ago. I've been using a slightly modified version since. After the Twitter DDoS storm I thought it'd be fun to see what the result would be, so I deactivated it for a day. The result reminded me of an email box before statistical spam filters took off, and the same impulsiveness that drives people to tweet/dent/microblog/whatever-the-hell-it's-called drove me to post that image.
Not sure if I can claim full credit for this post, but I think it was a contributor.
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Mike, you didn't ask for the below spew on my view of Twitter and the new crop of Web services, but I might as well offer it, while we're on the subject of Twitter. (I probably won't write this again, so let me have a soapbox...)
I've sardonically stated that I think Twitter's only value is to appear in press releases stating that Twitter has value. In truth, it, and systems like it, provide a useful system for quick communication. It wasn't the first -- IRC was there way before Twitter was, and was used to deliver information on Operation Desert Storm from the inside, much like how Twitter gained fame for being a conduit out of Iran. However, it and microblogging services like that are the current favorite (because, well, Twitter and its ilk have captured popular attention in a way IRC never has -- did you ever see United Airlines making announcements on IRC?), and it has value for that popularity alone.
Instead, my objection to Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, last.fm, Flickr, LiveJournal, AIM, MSN and many more network services (well, "Web 2.0" services) are the way they centralize and control data. Namely:
It is for the above two reasons that I moved my primary IM system to Jabber, using an XMPP server I administer; established an OpenID identity under my own control; moved my weblog to a generic Web-hosting account (and have local copies of all blog posts and content); and deactivated my Facebook, last.fm, and Flickr accounts.
I no longer have an objection to the concept of microblogging: I do have a microblogging account on identi.ca, which runs the free Laconica microblogging software, and I do occasionally use it. You can find me at http://identi.ca/scatterbrained.
Is any of the above data valuable to anyone -- valuable enough to warrant such a fuss over ownership? I think it is, but it's not really a relevant question: it's not so much about egotism as it is about autonomy. Related concepts, different connotation. All that.
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RE: Facebook
I hate both Facebook status updates and Twitter equally for the same reasons so no double standard here. It's effectively the same thing and a facebook page is basically equivalent with a fuckload of updates of trivial things.
RE: Popularity
I'd like to think the hatred has nothing to do with the popularity. At least in my case. There are plenty of popular sites I do use like the above mentioned Facebook. Although I am starting to use it less and less due to privacy concerns and the above thing regarding status updates.
If you want my honest opinion I think Twitter just fulfills some need that some folks desire and I don't desire that so thus do not use it. At the same time I am not condemning those who want to do that. It's your life.
"Daniel's just stated that journals are the ones that (usually) produce the worthwhile content. Is that really true? Don't interpret this as a personal attack, but is posting up an LJ entry with a series of cool things you saw on Kotaku today any better than another platform's shorter post with just one link or random tidbit?"
This is a great point and I guess to me there's this threshold of well...I *try* to put thought behind my posts and thus only post when I feel I have enough worthwhile to say. Rarely (unless I am SUPER SUPER EXCITED so it *does* happen) will you see my journal with just say one link and one sentence. I try to make sure I have enough substance before I post b/c I personally prefer that and imagine others do as well. I've actually not posted a lot lately for that very reason. I don't feel I have that much of value to talk about :P.
As you noted, you still do these "state of the Mike" posts and I like those. I miss my friends doing such things b/c basically Twitter feels just *too* personal and *too* narcisstic. Don't get me wrong, journals in general *are* narcisstic, but there's just something about "Hey folks wanna read about almost anything I'm doing at this moment" that pushes it over the edge" for me. It's kinda sad for me to say, but I miss my LJ friend's page actually having any real substance lately. If I remember Hsien's post correctly so does he and for similar reasons.
Given a lot of you *do not* do that, but some of you do. As mentioned, folks actually reply to your tweets and I'm one of those people. SOME of your tweets I find interesting and valuable and thus I have not de-friended you right? :P
Basically I think the crux of the issue for me (and others IIRC) is that Twitter basically allows folks to blindly and almost thoughtlessly post their thoughts. Some folks value that and I can understand that, but I do not. I operate completely different and do not feel the need to share all my thoughts all the time. If folks do, OK there you go. Go do that.
Ultimately you're right in that everyone uses the services for *their* needs and should not need to justify that. That's why I've never outright asked someone to stop using Twitter or something b/c well...it's not my life or call to make. At the same time, just as I respect your opinions you should respect mine and I just hate the damn thing and hope it dies off in a few years.
Edit: And from a productivity standpoint I would get extremely annoyed by having so many people tweeting all the time that I'd get nothing done or well...would get extremely annoyed. That's another reason I just never tried it. I'm fairly certain having so many updates, so often would just annoy the fuck out of me. It'll sound harsh, but I have better things to do with my time.
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...Or did you?
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