5 ms·

Nearly half of Twitter messages are 'pointless babble'

3 points by davecardwell 17y ago

aberman 17y ago
I am getting tired of all these articles analyzing twitter's userbase and the nature of tweets. Yes, there are a lot of spammers and "marketing gurus" on twitter. Yes, people tweet about nauseatingly stupid shit. Use twitter how you want to use it, and how you get the most value out of it. Follow people whose tweets you enjoy reading. Can't we just leave it at that? Leave the rest of the twitter over-analyzing to TC, they certainly do enough of it.
catch23 17y ago
could be said about facebook, myspace, or any other network. newsflash: most normal people in the world don't have ground breaking things to say every 5 minutes.
Dilpil 17y ago
Only half? I would've guessed far, far higher than that. Maybe one in 20 conversations I have over facebook or AIM are not pointless babble, and I don't see why twitter would be wildly different.
ams6110 17y ago
Probably half the content in most newspapers is "pointless babble" particularly in the "Lifestyle" section. 90% or more of email traffic is spam. Doesn't make the media useless.
ajg1977 17y ago
And depending on the estimate, somewhere between 90-97% of emails are spam. That doesn't reduce the value of email for those that are received by people though.
foulmouthboy 17y ago
Did anybody else think of Ford Prefect and his theory that unless human beings are constantly communicating, they shrivel up and die?
AndrewDucker 17y ago
That's not pointless babble - that's social grease. I do wish writers wouldn't take everything that doesn't have a clearly defined goal and label it pointless...
scblock 17y ago
"Pointless babble" like this poor excuse for an article, I suppose. What some friends might find interesting from me is useless to others. Does that make it pointless? No.
stevebosman 17y ago
My family and university friends are spread all over the place. I have found the so-called pointless babble of twitter and facebook has played an important part in staying in touch. Most of the time you don't have anything exciting to communicate, but a message that is effectively 'X' is alive can help keep relationships going.

3 points by davecardwell 17y ago

I am getting tired of all these articles analyzing twitter's userbase and the nature of tweets. Yes, there are a lot of spammers and "marketing gurus" on twitter. Yes, people tweet about nauseatingly stupid shit. Use twitter how you want to use it, and how you get the most value out of it. Follow people whose tweets you enjoy reading. Can't we just leave it at that? Leave the rest of the twitter over-analyzing to TC, they certainly do enough of it.

catch23 17y ago

could be said about facebook, myspace, or any other network. newsflash: most normal people in the world don't have ground breaking things to say every 5 minutes.

Dilpil 17y ago

Only half? I would've guessed far, far higher than that. Maybe one in 20 conversations I have over facebook or AIM are not pointless babble, and I don't see why twitter would be wildly different.

ams6110 17y ago

Probably half the content in most newspapers is "pointless babble" particularly in the "Lifestyle" section. 90% or more of email traffic is spam. Doesn't make the media useless.

ajg1977 17y ago

And depending on the estimate, somewhere between 90-97% of emails are spam. That doesn't reduce the value of email for those that are received by people though.

foulmouthboy 17y ago

Did anybody else think of Ford Prefect and his theory that unless human beings are constantly communicating, they shrivel up and die?

AndrewDucker 17y ago

That's not pointless babble - that's social grease. I do wish writers wouldn't take everything that doesn't have a clearly defined goal and label it pointless...

scblock 17y ago

"Pointless babble" like this poor excuse for an article, I suppose. What some friends might find interesting from me is useless to others. Does that make it pointless? No.

stevebosman 17y ago

My family and university friends are spread all over the place. I have found the so-called pointless babble of twitter and facebook has played an important part in staying in touch. Most of the time you don't have anything exciting to communicate, but a message that is effectively 'X' is alive can help keep relationships going.