I enjoy being wrong because it doesn’t happen very often. When Twitter first reared its itty-bitty head I thought it was one of the dumbest ideas ever. Who wants to “tweet”, in an utterly disorganized stream of consciousness way, 140 character messages to total strangers? What could emerge from such inane chatter? Isn’t this like looking for meaning in the splash patterns of tossed primate poop? Twitter may still end up being a bad business but it’s clearly shown that brevity really is the soul of wit.
Twitter teaches that:
The much maligned common man, the hoi polloi, the rabble, the unwashed masses, the lumpenproletariat are collectively a hell of a lot smarter than their delusional masters. Take any media hot topic of the last few years and compare snarky Twitter traffic to the foul self-serving emissions of the drooling, (they only think they rule), classes and you’ll quickly see that the Twitter’atti not only see through multiple layers of bullshit but usually arrive at viable solutions long before our self-declared “elites” even perceive a problem.
The public has a collective genius for image captions. The best political cartoons, captioned images and irreverent posters are no longer found in newspapers or “sanctioned” outlets. The best of the best are posted on Twitter. I waste far more time than I should thumbing through captioned Twitter images. I usually see at least one pants peeing funny image every day. Thank you Twitter: laughter is the only medicine that’s not encumbered by pharmaceutical patents, co-pays and Obamacare coverage fines.
The 140 character message limit brings people together. This is one of the more surprising Twitter revelations. My Twitter contacts are far more diverse that my email buddies, blog readers, Facebook friends or LinkedIn references. On Twitter I deal with “entities” I wouldn’t even cross virtual streets to pee on. I regularly hear from religious nuts, schizophrenic 9/11 troofers, Big Foot hunters, Austrian and Keynesian economists, far left and right bloggers, porn stars, government agencies, (the IRS is on Twitter), academic organizations, space-faring robots, mathematical theorems, gun nuts, anti-gun nuts, global warming alarmists and deniers, Justin Trudeau fans and, the most delusional of the lot: Obama supporters. You can take anything in 140 character doses!
Not only is Twitter fun it’s already logged an impressive public service resume by:
Providing an irresistible honey trap for narcissistic class A assholes. Without Twitter Anthony Weiner would probably still be a corrupt lying New York Democrat congressman or worse, the mayor of New York. Alex Baldwin would still be hurling feces on MSNBC and Dane Deutsch would be happily ensconced in the Wisconsin state legislature. Twitter makes it easy for our, in their own heads only, “elites” to self destruct in public. Self humiliation is the best kind.
Serving as another canary in the liberty coal mine. Distinctions like democratic and totalitarian are almost without merit. One man’s democratic republic is another’s Gulag. A more meaningful metric is: allows Twitter, bans Twitter. Here’s a list of Twitter banners. Only one country on this list surprised me. If your country is on this list you might want to consider emigration, or fleeing, because you are living in regime that cannot tolerate even 140 characters of criticism.
Yes Virginia, Twitter is far from trivial.
Analyze the Data not the Drivel 