I consider myself a pretty tech savvy kid, you may even call me a mid-term adopter of all things tech. But there is one project that has offended me more over the past few months that has finally pushed me to post a blog against it.

 

The name of this evil project you ask: Twitter.

 

I'm not sure if its the over-exposure on every newscast, the constant buzzing on the Blackberry, the total un-organized chaos of the Twitter-Sphere and its lack of organization, the annoying bird (yeah I said it) that lures you in with its sweet song just to dump a verbal-poo on your head, or the complete lack of a business plan (other than selling the multi-million dollar idea for multi-billions to Google or Microsoft), but I am fed up with Tweets and people asking me to follow them. No more I say!

 

Call me paranoid, call me naive, or call me a bird-hater, but my simple opinion is that Twitter is collecting our names, phone numbers and most importantly, our thoughts, to sell off to a big corporation for billions. Don't believe it, thats fine. But if you read Twitter's privacy policy you may find things that are pretty interesting.

 

As much as I would like Twitter to help me in "collecting, storing, deleting, using, combining and disclosing" all of my information to the likes of Google or Microsoft, we are on a path of combining our intimate knowledge in a couple of mega-corporations.

 

So yeah, I use GTalk, I've got a Windows computer at home that I send error reports from, and I've got a Skype account recording my cross continent phone calls, but you know what, I know they're evil and they don't pretend to be nice. I know Google, Microsoft, and eBay are after profits and have a business model in which to do so and I can read about it when I get their annual reports.

 

Twitter, well, we'll just have to wait and see who the highest bidder is. In the meantime, don't expect much Twitter-ing out of me!

 

If you'd like to follow me on Twitter, my Twit of a name is noslokire!!! (I had to post the cute bird image)

 

Oh, and Mahalie was kind enough to show me a video that captures the essence of my feelings for Twitter, so please enjoy!

Hahaha...

Mostly I'm with you, when it comes to the twitter echo chamber of "Social Media Experts" and I'll gag if I read another article about how to get more followers on the service.

But I do think it's a new medium that brings an interesting dynamic to the world, and there's something quite important there. There are some extremely interesting ways of putting it to use, as well.

There are other services cropping up that take care of the privacy issues. http://identi.ca is a fully open source project that does pretty much everything that Twitter does, and more -- it does integrate with Gtalk. It runs on an open source platform called laconi.ca, which we could install for folks if we so desired.

But one area Twitter has the advantage is the network effect, the sheer volume of people who are on the network and who they are. Twitter is over-represented by the press and celebrities, and it provides much more direct, personal access to them than pretty much any other media. And many of the powerful new connections I've made in the past couple months are a direct result of Twitter.

Erik is just waiting for Twoogle to come out, so he can tweet by emailing from his gmail account. Hehe

At least in twitter, anything you put out is public, and you know it. Or you should. I'm not concerned about it, like maybe I would be with gmail. Google could supposedly know more about me than the most intimate of my family members do, by tracing my emails back to when I got my first invite 5 years ago.

On the other hand, tracing your life back and looking at emails from 5 years ago is mildly entertaining. Like I can view conversations I had when I first moved to Seattle.

Who are you talking to? Noone... and Everyone!

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In the words of master shake "I was done with it the moment I saw it."

I already have to pay a uncle I never see... why would I want him knowing where I am and what I am doing? If he called more often maybe... but I still wouldn't answer it :)

JaY

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Twitter, facebook etc which is it and now pizzle is a new social network i have come across.

This is a great site the article has been very helpful and i would recommend it, and some good points have been made here, this what blogging should be about great keep it going.

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

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MySpace, too much going on. Twitter in contrast is more, how do I say it, chaotically simple.

I've been on Twitter for 2 years and I'm still a die-hard Twitter fan. However, I am getting tired of the hype and all of the following mania. I think Twitter is like the stock market of 1999 or the housing market of 2008 -- it's a bubble waiting to pop. But just like the stock market or the house you own, there still is underlying value in it even when it's overrated.

I, for one, am looking forward to the bubble popping! Then those of us that are using it to create relationships with others instead of empire building won't have to sift through as much noise to do it.

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