Am I a Twit for joining Twitter?

UPDATE: It works! I got TwitterBox in SL to work and I now sing my Tweets out loud! Hooray!

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"Join Twitter! Everyone else is doing it. It's the cool thing to do."

Between the "peer" pressure and my own sense of growing old in an increasing technological divide of me, the young, and the even younger, I'm guilty. But, hey, I'm still cool! (Or is it "tight"? "Phat"? Whatever.) "Sure, I'll try it. Why not?"

I pause before asking, "So, um, what was it called again?" Famous last words.

Twitter is interesting. When you first try to figure out what it is, there isn't a clear definition of it. It's a site that simply contacts you (via IM, cell phone, email, web, etc.) to ask you, "What are you doing?" You reply in 140 characters (that's CHARACTERS, not words), it is then posted and distributed amongst your friends, family, or the world to read.

Why would anyone want to do this? More so, who gives a damn?

I asked that very same question. It's a bit like micro-managing or babysitting a 5-year-old. Constantly Twitter may ask, "What are you doing?" What seems like five minutes pass, and I'm asked again, "What are you doing?" Again, "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" And, "Now?"

"I'm thinking about killing you Twitter." (Hey, that's less than 140 characters!)

I was about to uninstall it when I stumbled across Clive Thompson's article in Wired.com. In "Clive Thompson on How Twiter Creates a Social Sixth Sense," I came to understand how Twitter works and why people would want it. If you haven't a clue about why you'd tell the world (and send a bazillion text messages to your friends) about your every little passing thought, action, or whim, Thompson is able to give some perspective.

FYI: Twitter exists as a HUD on channel /282 in Second Life, too. There's a great blog post about Twitter in SL by Ryan Bretag. If you're interested in using Twitter in SL, grab TwitterBox from http://ordinalmalaprop.com/twitter/.

AmsDiane Gustafson tweets away at http://twitter.com/amsdiane/