Why I Think Twitter Is Amazing

Topic(s): me,computers,internet
2009-04-29 18:49:41 US/Pacific

Twenty years from now you'll be telling your kids (or grandkids, hi mom) how the Internet was at the turn of the century. You'll tell them we used things called "web browsers" and they'll laugh at you. They'll laugh at you like I laughed when my dad told me how he used "slide rulers."

Twenty years on I still can't work a slide ruler. Nor can I use Twitter. So they have something in common I guess. But the big difference is Twitter is the future of the internet. Slide ruler, probably not.

I am at least trying to use Twitter. It's quite possible that's all anyone can do. Because it seems to evolve faster than comprehension can take hold. (I learned about hashtags yesterday and they're probably already not en vogue.)

So here's how I see Twitter. Examine these types of exchanges of information:

• You learn what you don't want long after the information becomes available. An example of this is word-of-mouth. Water cooler talk. Not that I don't appreciate my co-workers conversations, but you get the point.
• You learn what you don't want as soon as the information becomes available. Television. Maybe a few hours of the day there is some crap on that's sort of interesting, but usually not. And it's on 24 hours per day. Like 180 channels of it.
• You learn what you want after it becomes available. Web browsing. You have to go find it and pull it down. The information is sitting there unused until you use Google to find it.
• You learn what you want as soon as it becomes available. This is Twitter.

That is, Twitter is a push-push technology. People push information out, and in turn Twitter pushes the information out to people who have subscribed to the information. The power is at the endpoints.

An endpoint might manifest itself as a text message (as seems to be the most common), an instant message (IM), an RSS feed, a traditional web browser, and some other program designed ostensibly on top of the other types (a sort of gateway). Your choice. Whichever is easiest for you.

If I had to describe it to someone who had no understanding of the internet, I'd describe it like this: when you use Twitter, the information finds you.

You can follow my Twitter feed if you'd like. I'm at the easily-predicted URL of http://twitter.com/egumtow. Err, I mean my Twitter feed is "egumtow". At present I have zero followers, but with confidence I expect that to increase 1000 fold by tomorrow.

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