Twitter this, Twitter that...

So it has become apparent that the newest craze on the web is Twitter. If you haven't heard about it.. than where have you been?

Essentially, what the program is designed to do is keep your friends, co-workers and family memebers constantly updated with the answer to the question "what are you doing.. right now?". The site is a huge success, and everyone seems to be getting on board- well not me. I just do not understand the logic behind this website. It first started with MSN, where you could update the status in your msn name- which I understood. MSN is used as a public forum where you and your personal contacts instantly communicate and the status update, in my opinion, was a great way of communicating that you may not be at your computer. Than came Facebook, and their installment of status updates on people's profiles. To be honest. I NEVER use this function and if I do, it is not to update my entire list of people with what I am doing. For example, I was promoting a school event, and my status was reminding people to go purchase their tickets.

I just do not feel why people need to share with everyone that "so & so is taking a shower". Really? Is that necessary? I personally do not feel I need the image of someone bathing. But in a sense, this is exactly what Twitter is used for. It is just a constant feed of what you are doing. I did some research to try and figure out the logic behind the website, and the website essentially said: "Why? Because even basic updates are meaningful to family members, friends, or colleagues—especially when they’re timely"(www.twitter.com/help/why).

If they were that important- you should make the effort to make a personal call or message rather than a public broadcast. We discussed in class how Britney Spears uses the program, and how she had recently updated that she thought it was cute that her sons ate a cracker or something completely useless. Again- I don't care!

But is this what our society is ultimately coming to? We are so heavily relient on the Internet as it is, especially in terms of communicating with each other. Is it ever going to come to the point where we eliminate face to face contact completely? I feel that Twitter somewhat serves this purpose. I mean, if this program is constantly reminding someone's personal contacts of what they are doing- whats the need of going out and catching up on life? If someone sign's in and reads that their friend just got a dog named Daisy, than what's now the point of initiating the conversation of "hey whats up, whats new in life?" You already will have your answer.

I think that programs like this disconnect us from the real world. As much as I would like to think of this as a trend- I honestly feel it is where our society is moving. Twitter is Facebook's new rival, and with the new update of Facebook- it has become very clear that their main new focus is constant updates in a "timely fashion". This move is to keep up with the competition of Twitter. The constant updating of news feeds and status' relate to public media, because it is dealt with on a public sphere level. We are not just updating one individual, but a whole list of contacts who we have become friends with in a public realm.

Am I the only one who is so against Twitter.. or am I missing something that others see? If anyone has a comment please let me know, and maybe I can re-evaluate the program and try to see the logic in it.