I do realize that in comparison to the dot-com generation, I’m no doubt getting a tad long in the tooth, but I do consider myself to be technically savvy and while I may not be the quickest to jump on every technological bandwagon, I do think I’m fairly up to date for my age…

Worryingly, I’ve just found out what the Twitter phenomenon is all about after spending the last several months believing it was going to be another MySpace, Facebook or Blogging type service. I guess I can only blame myself for not bothering to look into what Twitter actually did, but having just followed a Google search onto someone’s Twitter site, I figured “what the heck”, let’s find out what Twitter actually is.

Quoted from Twitter’s own home page:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

It was at this point that the light bulb came on and I suddenly pieced together all the separate references to Twitter that I’d seen, previously. My instant thought:

Why oh why would anyone actually be interested in a constant feed of inane dribble from complete strangers, yet alone their own friends, family or co-workers? It’s not communication, it’s verbal diarrhoea…

Let’s face it, this ability to update the world in an instance on what you’re doing is only really possible because of mobile Internet found on virtually every up to date mobile phone or PDA type device. If this service was not available from mobile devices and only from in front of a computer, people would probably stick to Facebook or Blog’s.

The Internet is fantastic for giving people like myself the ability to have an audience, where previously this was the exclusive right of the press, broadcasting media or book authors, all of whom would have had their work scrutinized before being released to the masses. Equally, the costs involved are generally prohibitive to those amateurs, who could only aspire to work in those fields professionally.

I can sit here and write my Blog about anything I chose to, knowing that it’s there for someone to find. In reality I do not even need to worry as to whether anyone is bothering to read what I have to say – it hasn’t cost me anything. Not all Blog’s are useful or interesting and with millions of people writing them, covering a hugely diverse range of subjects, it should at least be possible to find a Blog that you’ll consider of interest.

While I can’t deny that at first I found the status feature in Facebook to be novel and a bit of fun, I soon came to the conclusion of who really cares what I’m up to at that moment in time.

While the following may seem a tad extreme, the logical sense in my mind is that should everyone in the world Twitter, then I would foresee the art of conversation dying further as why would people need to find out how the other person is, as they will already have announced it to the world.

In reality this shouldn’t actually happen as I’ve generally found people need social interaction, but considering how much of an impact lazy text speak has had on the English language in the last 10 years or so I can see that there will be plenty more changes to come – I just hope some of them are for the better…

Twitter or Blog? – Suspecting that no one out there actually wants to know: when I’m hungry; when I need a pee; that I’m nervous for that job interview or any of the other countless status updates that people tell the world, for me it’ll always be a foregone conclusion, as my Blog allows me far more room to witter in general…