I Get By With A Little Tweet From My Friends

I’ve written on this topic before, but have addressed only the very basic concerns most people have when they first hear about Twitter. Now, almost a year later, Twitter is as culturally pervasive as Facebook, with millions of regular users worldwide. Contrary to my original theory, however, Twitter awareness isn’t always a good thing. The reason I’m repeatedly drawn to this topic is because I identify myself proudly with the Twitter community. I am also incorrigibly bellicose about matters relating to technology. And while I’m definitely a proponent of critiquing popular trends and fads, I believe people’s negative opinions about Twitter are ultimately misguided.

I’m a man of simplicity. I like it when things work quickly and quietly. No amount of features makes a sluggish, monster of a product worth using when there are simpler, more effective alternatives available. This is why I’m such a huge fan of Facebook Lite—despite its lack of support for Notes, Groups, and a few other things on the full featured Facebook, the layout is clean, zippy, and (yeah, I know everyone says it) Twitter-like.

Why do I like Twitter? Because it’s the epitome of simple social networking. Twitter is a simple feed. That’s it. If I find someone interesting, I follow them. If I find someone’s tweets annoying irrelevant to me, I don’t follow them. And that’s all the social management I have to worry about.

Many of my friends seem to have developed this idea that Twitter is something akin to texting maniacs and media sponges whose vain conceit drives their every syllable. While this is true for some users, Twitter is only what you make it. If you’re interested in celebrities and uploading hourly pictures and having millions of followers and following millions of people, more power to you! If you’re like me and simply don’t find the occasion to update for a few days and forgo keeping up with your feed for a while, that’s cool too! Chances are you’ll develop usage habits that suit your needs uniquely.

Here’s the bottom line: in my view, Twitter reduces social networking to all that it ever needs to be in a way that is more effective than networks with all the bells and whistles. Twitter allows you to create conversations, memes, and a distinct culture, all using a brilliantly simple system of 140-character updates.

A lot of your friends are already on Twitter! Including me! Log on and use your old pal Google to figure out the rest.

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