Twitter

[grazza86]

what is everyone's view on Twitter (social networking) and who on here has a twitter account?

[darkshine]

I guess twitter is ok for people who live with their phone glued to their hand and who wish everyone to know every last detail of their life or mind.

[chris54]

It for people who like twittering on and on and on

 

The word twitter was always used to describe someone going on about nothing in particular, or keep repeating the same old thing."They keep twittering on about it"

Its was used to describe what birds do, they twitter.

[A-S warrior]

im watching the simpsons, the tennis episode.

[Tally]

I have an account, but I never post from it. I use it to follow people and organisations I'm interested in, mainly wildlife conservation organisations.

 

I don't know anyone personally who uses twitter, so the social networking side of it is a bit lost on me.

[LancsLad]

Twitter, face book, blogs or any other forms of social networking including this forum offer lifestyle opportunities to communicate with other individuals. I think rather than judge the merits of individual systems I think it is more usefull to judge the merits of the quality and purpose of the communications which pass through these mediums.

 

I personally do contribute to a number of forums and that is where it starts and ends for me. Having spent 6 years recently as a mature student in various educational communities I am well aware of the fact that there are generations below me in age for whom social mediums play a significant part in their daily lives. My conclusion would have to be that in most instances I feel the impact of this media technology is negative. My feeling is that in many cases though not all individuals who spend large amounts of time wrapped up in social networks via a mobile device are generally very poor at communicating with individuals face to face. I am not sure if this is due to opperating in restrictive space and as a result there is a level of behavioural conditioning taking place which resricts expansion when it comes to thinking and communicating. I think that living in a world of 'sound bites' might be advantageous in many situations, and I respect people who can sum up ideas in a short timeframe, I know this is a weakness of mine, but when sound bites act as a brake on developing thought I think we are getting into problematic territory.

 

I think a second issue surrounding social media is it is creating a false sense of identity for many individuals. I think the majority of individuals share a personality trait common in mamals to herd and be part of a collective. There are good reasons around this in respect to safety issues from predators. I do however fail to see how electronic contacts can provide the same level of psychological support. Personally I am not too interested if I have 500 friends on face book, or 2000 followers on twitter, I know as an individual I can not service them at an emotional level. I have seen cases whilst teaching where individuals have been distraught because following a fall out with a class mate they have take a dozen or more friends off their face book account. When I have asked who these people are thinking surely you can still talk to them I have been amazed to find out the individual hadn't a clue as to who half of them where, let alone had spoken to them, yet they felt this was a massive loss. In instances such as this there are questions which need to be asked about how people relate to virtual social structures and how this translates into a 'healthy' perception of what is reality or not, and where their own self identity lies.

 

On a final point if these social media systems are destroying the art of conversation and social interaction possibly as an Aspie that is a good thing as the world is coming back to me in a big way. The only difference might be that I can navigate this world without bumping into things simply because my head is up and observant as opposed to being fixated on a mobile phone screen. I am sure that many of these individuals must be opperating a navigation sytem to tell them which way to move complete with a radar app so that they can continue to text a friend whilst still being on the move.

 

Just a few thoughts.

[grazza86]

Twitter is good for keeping up with what your favourite celebs are doing (that is if they have an account). Social Networking can take over people's lives only if they let it happens