Maybe it starts with SAYING “OMG” in real life, and [de]evolves into an acronym-vernacular. There’s always a “generation” gap, but I think this one might be huge. Aside from the possibility of a new language barrier, this whole “impersonal” aspect to the new culture is disturbing. What you say about being validated by tons of “nominal” friends is telling. Because on Facebook I only have 40 or so friends – people I actually KNOW. That is my rule. I don’t just friend people because they want to, or because I’ve met them once, or because they know someone I know, or because they like something I said. That’s a sign that I’m still anchored in the “old ways” – what I’d call “authentic”, rather than superficial.

Now, mind you, I do have two FB accounts – one for “Godheval” – who I will allow to have infinite friends (or actually, 5,001, which is FB’s limit, apparently) – but in that case FB just becomes a medium for spreading my ideas. I find all of this very fascinating. You have any literature from that study you did? I’d like to see it.

Also, on a sort of related note, check this out:

http://godheval.net/the-problem-with-adhd/

Now beyond how such devices holistically affect interpersonal interaction, there is certainly utility to be had concerning news, business applications, and social networking. I dont see a reason not to take advantage of what twitter offers although presently for me its just another discussion topic.

…oh and im glad you got your phone fixed! Im still sticking with my ipod touch cuz I think it feels sexier in the hand

@PF: Well, by “trending topic” I was referring to a Twitter term – it just means something that people are discussing, not something that’s “trendy” in the usual pop-culture sense.

Also, of course all technology isn’t neutral. The gun only really has one purpose, that being to kill, even if it were to be used in the defense of innocents. That use does not redeem the gun itself. However, I do think that in the case of Twitter – it has the potential to be a powerful and useful technology, regardless of how others are wasting it with their trivial garbage.

Another thing that comes to mind was how we got to hear a lot of the smaller voices in Iran right after that last election – voices that we otherwise would’ve never heard because the mainstream media isn’t interested, or because the state-run Iranian media suppressed it (although to their credit they didn’t shut down access to Twitter even knowing what it was being used for)…

I don’t know. I see potential in it. And I’ve found utility in it. I suppose I don’t have to convince you.

The very nature of your post speaks to the strengths and vices of twitter…it wasnt until you used twitter that your “value” as a customer was even “recognized”, not to mention it was completely in the context of Best Buy being concerned how the perceived negativity would affect their bottom line. So essentially, you’re willing to accept their situational damage control as sterling customer service because, as you stated, we DO seek to be recognized and albeit a deragatory recognition, you got what you wanted.

And this is where I would launch into some pretentious tirade about how we continue to sacrifice our true humanity for a shallow civility. But ill simply say Twitter is a device that perpetuates sensational micro-informing, and in a culture overwrought with inchoate contexts, Twitter lends itself to trends of interpersonal disconnection. You spent your valuable time trying to articulate in PERSON why you ARE a valuable customer and not a single effort was made to reaffirm the trust BB sold you. Then you proceeded to spend a fraction of that time to abstract the essence of your situation into the twittersphere, and like magic what you say is suddently important.

The point here is that I value what you say because you said it, not because I know you have access to a medium where what you say can reflect poorly on myself. The very potency of twitter that brought BB “rushing to your aid” is the very potency you can utilize to build a reader base, because while you arent actually communicating interpersonally with anyone, “everyone is listening.”

By any promotional means, it would be difficult to argue that twitter isnt effective or at the very least a useful medium. I think the “concern” my brother will continue to harp on is its usefullness in the context of our culture given the very example of what you posted here. Regardless of whether or not anyone even cares that you actually have something to say, those 140 characters have proven a force to be reckoned with by design of the technology, not your humanity.

When corporate offices are willing to undermine store managers and immediate profit it IS incredible! I take notice because it speaks to the fact that people can take the entirety of a situation (worthy or not) and now further pare it to fit a 140 character sensational snippet that other people are willing to digest as-is. If BB is willing to bet its money on it, im inclined to as well.

By the way I think your tweets are great

What happens if your topic is not trendy and probably never will be? Furthermore, what does it say about a topic when it is trendy? Also, how do topics change when they become trendy? In the first case, Twitter is “useless” because a regular search engine becomes easily as useful, if not more so, than twitter in looking up unpopular information. In the second case, trendy topics usually are trendy in proportion to their vapidity (either in topic substance or reader/commenter integrity or both). Look no further than ‘most watched’ Youtube videos. In the last case, topics that start out non-trendy and become trendy almost always, if not always, become watered down and changed so much that their original meaning is lost. The history of hip-hop, video games, and any other niche culture/topic/hobby that becomes popular (dissemination through a pop medium) is testament to this. This is what I meant when I mentioned the quality of a medium. Twitter, though it can be useful, can also have the effect of making only certain things, ideas, attitudes, etc. visible/successful because of its design. Because regardless if you use hash tags to point to lots of unpopular stuff, if no one searches for it, then no one sees it. And people who use twitter probably–and this is just a guess–don’t use it to find intelligent discussions of race. Which all leads to my point that twitter isn’t a neutral medium. This ties into a second point where you mentioned:

“The asshole who uses nuclear technology to make weapons doesn’t diminish the good of the technology, which can be used as a clean source of power.”

Technology and the mediums they support are not neutral, depending only on how it is used. Explaining this can get long, so…I mention this in my “shop till you drop post” over on newdiction.com. That or just type into you’re favorite search engine “technology isn’t neutral”. In closing, I’m not saying Twitter is completely and utterly worthless for any and everything. But, *I* tend to find it worthless because, presently, I don’t have a use for the type of activity its use seems to engender.