What about a blog, instead, Blob? Blogspot and Wordpress aren't bad. If I had time for one, I might have both. (Yeah, I said that.)
I've afforded most of the major ones. Friendster (before it began charging), then MySpace, which quickly turned into a frenzy of "
look at me" personal websites. Facebook was a natural transition as it seemed more adult-friendly. But they started making a lot of unfavorable changes to cater to the MySpace refugees (and encourage more). Twitter was fun for working on concisiveness, but I bailed because I got angry and melodramatic one day. After deleting my other social networking profiles, I realized that I rather liked dismantling my social networking accounts in anger (sort of the electronic equivalent to throwing something one-of-a-kind across a room and watching it shatter against a wall... with less regret, mess, funny looks, or monetary waste), so Twitter eventually fell after fighting pretty harsh with the Mrs. (I assure you, the fight was
not about Twitter, thank goodness! Now
that would be melodramatic!). Plus, I've been extremely busy in the last few months, so I haven't had time for these kinds of sites.
But funnily enough, I may return to Twitter because it gives much more an incentive to keep your list of trackees slim (it's difficult to scroll through your own feed to read everyone's tweets). I found that the biggest benefit to a Twitter account was laughter. People have to keep their tweets to a minimum of 140 characters (hence the term "micro-blog"), and since "Obama is cool." is not exactly worth reading, nor is "2day histrc thng hppd cuz prez sgnd cap/trad bill thatll ultmtly cure global wrmng"... your more interesting followees tend to keep it to straight up one-liners that will have you laughing each time you come back and reread (while checking for other updates), or they'll link you to something fascinating that you might not have found on your own, otherwise. There are also some intelligent people who somehow fit the world into 140 characters on a daily basis, which confounds me. Very easy to absorb brain food can come in the weirdest places. Even a text message-sized "tweet." (I know. Sounds incredible, right? lol)
Twitter's a matter of who you're following.
It's also extremely intimate. To "Become a Fan" on Facebook or "Post a Comment" on MySpace to some famous writer's page is incredibly slim chancing the possibility of a response. And, at least while it lasts, people of even major celebrity are finding sanctuary on Twitter because of its lower traffic. Someone on Twitter with 50,000 followers might have 1,000,000 "fans" or "friends" on other social networking sites. It makes it easier to pass your
own one-liners to the people you might admire.
Personally, I used it to follow comedians, bloggers, and some close friends. That's it. And those 70 or so people kept me busy on breaks reading, laughing, or replying to. It was fun, too, to get a public reply from someone famous to be, for a small instance, charmed.
With a decent follower base, though, a regular blog could be supplemented by linking your latest blog updates to Twitter. I guess that's where I was going with that. Hah.
Hope at least a single word of this post helps.
EDIT: I felt extremely deja vu-y writing that, and I couldn't figure out why. This is why:
A few months ago I was calling Twitter "Twatter." I considered it pretty lame. I originally joined to torment my friends and family by making fun of them, but I soon found myself laughing at every other tweet from some of my favorite people.
Here's the deal:
MySpace is like a personal "LOOK AT ME AND PAY ATTENTION TO ME" website all about you... Very ES. Not my thing. I deleted my MySpace account after joining Twitter.
Facebook, something I used to consider to be much more socially mature than MySpace, has gone the same route, only they do it with all their silly applications, quizzes, and causes. I deleted my Facebook account after joining Twitter.
Twitter seems, to me, like the Force from Star Wars. You can use it for good or bad. The Siths may tweet (and OVER-tweet) that they're on the way to the grocery store (
"Who gives a shit?") or that they saw a movie (
"And?"). Meanwhile the Jedi may tweet an INCREDIBLY interesting article or hilarious picture (via tweetpic.com or yfrog). ReTweeting other people's posts is also like a quote you'd find here on the forum (an "RT"). It can be very fun.
I guess it's based on perspective. As probably are someone's taste in MySpace or Facebook.
But Twitter doesn't put so much emphasis on photos of yourself or what your silly interests are. Let's be honest; when was the last time you became friends with a random person on Facebook or MySpace because you actually clicked on a link to other people with an interest in your favorite band or stupid television show?
I may be leaving out some things that draw me to Twitter because this post is already pretty long. If you have any questions about it, ask. But of the 3 major "social networking" sites out there, I feel that Twitter fits the needs of an INTP most appropriately.
As I sometimes do when I'm angry, I take to the electronic equivelent to
throwing something across the room and breaking it: deleting things. After having an argument last week, I deleted my Twitter account, DaggerByte. Practicing my e-theatrics, no doubt. But no worries (as if you were). I'll probably be back. Unlike MySpace or Facebook.
But for now, you can follow my dog, Wick
әt, who is a total tweetskeeter @
WickeTerror.
From a couple months ago, I think.
