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Maybe it is just me, but I just don't care for either. I am 27, tech savy, but still don't get the allure of twitter, or even friend feed. I feel old, like t

by ardit33 18y ago

Maybe it is just me, but I just don't care for either. I am 27, tech savy, but still don't get the allure of twitter, or even friend feed. I feel old, like the average 65+yo, wondering what's up with their grandkids staying in front of computer all day and just sending messages to each other. Not getting it. Maybe if I was a journalist I would find it useful, but for the rest of us, I am not sure the value of it.

jrockway 18y ago
What I don't understand is why people consistently feel the need to say "I don't use Twitter" every time it's mentioned. A lot of people like it. If you don't understand why, that's fine. Nobody cares whether or not you use Twitter.
- ardit33 18y ago
  That's true, but we get so many Twitter articles posted in here, that it must be important. I am trying to understand why do some people feel it is important, and how it is useful to them.
  - jrockway 18y ago
    People like it because it's blogging but with a captive audience, and the 140-character limit keeps you from writing Steve Yegge-style blog posts. You make a point, your friends are forced to read it, they can reply. That's twitter :)
akd 18y ago
I don't get the allure of Twitter but I know that's because I haven't made the investment to figure it out, and don't actually know what it does. If I signed for an account and started using it I'm sure I'd figure out a way to make it give me some benefit.
- axod 18y ago
  I tried twitter for the first time last week. It was unimpressive. It showed me several pictures of whales, and then finally I got to type in 140 characters. IM/IRC is just a lot more useful IMHO
bdotdub 18y ago
I used to be like that. It very confusing to an outsider what the allure is, so it's more a call for an explanation. Personally, I didn't "get it" until I signed up and had a couple of friends on it. It's kinda nice to see what people are up to without having to read a blog post about their life or whatever. Because its short, its easy just to glance at and see what the other person is up to. Its a good place for a quick discussion or poll, ie. you can broadcast, what mail software do you use? and have your friends reply and possibly other people.
derefr 18y ago
I use Twitter as a sideblog (a part of my blog sidebar where I put any posts that I don't feel like developing past the 140 character mark.) I've never once gotten into a conversation on Twitter, nor, I think, would I want to. But, of course, I still use it, because it has a killer app that none of the other sites seem to appreciate: it's embeddable without needing a whole bunch of gaudy "widget" framework.
andreyf 18y ago
FriendFeed is very impressive - among other things, I like that it posts my reddit upvotes and Amazon wishlist updates to my facebook feed - keeping my friends up-to-date on what I'm looking at.
Lagged2Death 18y ago
I am under the (possibly mistaken) impression that Twitter really only comes into its own when posting from a cell phone, where its radical simplicity becomes an asset, rather than a liability.

by ardit33 18y ago

jrockway 18y ago

What I don't understand is why people consistently feel the need to say "I don't use Twitter" every time it's mentioned. A lot of people like it. If you don't understand why, that's fine. Nobody cares whether or not you use Twitter.

ardit33 18y ago
That's true, but we get so many Twitter articles posted in here, that it must be important. I am trying to understand why do some people feel it is important, and how it is useful to them.
- jrockway 18y ago
  People like it because it's blogging but with a captive audience, and the 140-character limit keeps you from writing Steve Yegge-style blog posts. You make a point, your friends are forced to read it, they can reply. That's twitter :)

akd 18y ago

I don't get the allure of Twitter but I know that's because I haven't made the investment to figure it out, and don't actually know what it does. If I signed for an account and started using it I'm sure I'd figure out a way to make it give me some benefit.

axod 18y ago
I tried twitter for the first time last week. It was unimpressive. It showed me several pictures of whales, and then finally I got to type in 140 characters. IM/IRC is just a lot more useful IMHO

bdotdub 18y ago

I used to be like that. It very confusing to an outsider what the allure is, so it's more a call for an explanation. Personally, I didn't "get it" until I signed up and had a couple of friends on it. It's kinda nice to see what people are up to without having to read a blog post about their life or whatever. Because its short, its easy just to glance at and see what the other person is up to. Its a good place for a quick discussion or poll, ie. you can broadcast, what mail software do you use? and have your friends reply and possibly other people.

derefr 18y ago

I use Twitter as a sideblog (a part of my blog sidebar where I put any posts that I don't feel like developing past the 140 character mark.) I've never once gotten into a conversation on Twitter, nor, I think, would I want to. But, of course, I still use it, because it has a killer app that none of the other sites seem to appreciate: it's embeddable without needing a whole bunch of gaudy "widget" framework.

andreyf 18y ago

FriendFeed is very impressive - among other things, I like that it posts my reddit upvotes and Amazon wishlist updates to my facebook feed - keeping my friends up-to-date on what I'm looking at.

Lagged2Death 18y ago

I am under the (possibly mistaken) impression that Twitter really only comes into its own when posting from a cell phone, where its radical simplicity becomes an asset, rather than a liability.