Comments on: Hypocritical Mass: The Big Lie About Twitter

By: Elizabeth Sleigh

Elizabeth Sleigh — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:33:52 +0000

Have you ever stopped to read the ‘tweets’ posted on your Twitter home page? Whenever I do, I feel like an alien visiting a planet where, although the inhabitants speak English, what they say is not only complete gibberish, but also not (directed at or) intended for me, personally. Which is a bit like receiving an envelope addressed to oneself, opening it, and finding one is inadvertently reading someone else’s private mail! So much for ‘personal contact and chatting with friends*’ (*who don’t know you, never have known you, and never will know you).
And as such what I find fascinating about ‘social networking sites’ is that, the owners of these sites, have millions of people paying to work for them (in terms of time and Internet connection costs, etc.) while they rake in millions in advertising revenue, and pay their supporters and erstwhile, hard-working staff, nothing! So maybe ‘social networking’ ought to be more aptly called: ‘slave working’ because that, in reality, is what it is. (And, when one stops and thinks about it, it’s quite amazing to discover just how many site-owners have succeeded in getting Internet-users to ‘work for them,’ for absolutely nothing, and without even realizing it). Small wonder most Internet users are unnaturally ‘exhausted’ at the end of the day?
PS: maybe it’s time site-owners PAID Internet-users to visit their sites? Now that would be a win-win turn-up for the books!

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 06:35:55 +0000

God finally someone who doesn’t believe the twitter crap. I hate twitter to death; I never use that crap EVER. The reason I don’t like twitter is for all the reasons stated above and the fact that it’s not a one on one interaction like Facebook or LinkedIn. It’s essentially a platform for “leaders” to get a following. It’s passive media; it’s not meant for the average person to tweet a lot. It’s really great for corporations, large organizations or celebrities to use it so that people can constantly follow up on them (although I don’t now why you’re so obsessed with them, especially celebrities). Everything else, pretty much sucks imo. I can’t interact with other people; the only use i’ve found for twitter is looking at Conan or Colbert’s random jokes on there. There’s no interaction between me and other twitter users. Why tweet when you can just use facebook or just look up news online?….

By: Mark Armstrong

Mark Armstrong — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 01:40:30 +0000

Reading Atomic Tango is like listening to Wanda Jackson sing Riot In Cell Block No. 9– there’s this kind of joyful mayhem. Very satisfying!!

Freddy’s Comment: Thank you, sire! Joyful mayhem… maybe I should’ve named my agency that…

By: Jesus

Jesus — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:10:55 +0000

Great post – to tell the truth – I haven’t figured out Twitter yet – glad I’m not alone in my doubts

Freddy’s Comment: Thanks, Jesus. Looking at its business model, Twitter hasn’t figured out Twitter yet.

By: asciidan || news :: rants :: commentary » Blog Archive » Twitter: Where nobody is really just a follower

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:30:28 +0000

[...] great articles on this point: Hypocritical Mass: The Big Lie About Twitter Twitter [...]

By: mazarin

mazarin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:37:42 +0000

I don’t think it is a question of follower/-ing ratio. It is rather a question of noise ratio. How much noise do you have to go through to get something you find interesting?

Interesting and smart people tweet about beeing stuck on train in Germany. They forget there is a “slight” difference between life-streaming and an interesting opinion. To follow 1 or 6000 today on twitter is equally uninteresting in the long run – too much noise in both cases.

Lifestreaming is what clogs twitter. On the other hand, the same thing on Facebook is pure pleasure – because they are my friends. That is media for you. Opinion is one thing, chatting another.

By: Trey Pennington

Trey Pennington — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:51:38 +0000

Interesting post. Expresses the sentiment many share.

The social media “cocktail” metaphor has been making the rounds for a while. Last month, while visiting friends in the UK (first met on Twitter, then in person 3,800 miles away from my home), I heard them using it (heard it in three places: Exeter & London, England, and Cardiff, Wales).

I heard it twice in one day at a conference in London. The guy who used it in the morning was upset at the guy who used it in the afternoon because he thought the afternoon guy “borrowed” the metaphor from the morning speech.

I think one of the first times Seth Godin used the metaphor is in this December 17, 2008 post: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/12/brands-social-c.html

Here’s a video from Open Forum, posted on YouTube April 18, 2009, where Godin again talks about social media and the cocktail party. Good stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0h0LlCu8Ks

Earlier this year our real-life friends from MarketingProfs mentioned the metaphor as well: May 22, 2009: http://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/1055/be-professional-act-like-its-a-cocktail-party

Thank you for leaving the door of acceptability open for folks who are “following thousands” if that fits their purposes.

You are probably quite right in highlighting the social blight of discussing size. When it comes to relationships, size doesn’t matter and ought not be discussed in public.

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:15:47 +0000

Look at Jim Carrey, he has over 2K followers and follows 3 (one of them his wife and another of them one of his own movies or something). Now thats style!

By: Flow » Blog Archive » Daily Digest for November 6th - The zeitgeist daily

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:25:43 +0000

[...] Shared The Big Lie About Twitter. [...]

By: Jaggs

Jaggs — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:06:31 +0000

This is THE definitive Twitter post. The Emperor indeed hath no clothes….!