Jon Stewart had a segment on twittering last night that was rolling on the floor funny. At least, it was funny to me. But it also provoked some thought into our love affair with Twitter going mainstream. If you didn’t catch it, go ahead. I’ll wait. In fact, I’ll see you after the fold.
Now, I’m a social media cheerleader, but I’m not so bouncy goodness that a little cynicism creeps in and I can see the arguments they are making here. I too am guilty of tweeting things about my life that not everyone is interested in, and we have repeatedly discussed in groups the argument of whether the backchannel (in this case, Twitter) is an asset or a detriment to learning. And when does an application jump the shark? I will admit to tech curve snobbery… the odd sensation I get when everybody has jumped on the bandwagon and I can’t breathe:
Daily Show, Colbert Report speak of Twitter? ——–> funny, hip
GMA, Today Show, Congress speaks of Twitter? ——–> jumps the shark
I don’t mean to be a Twitter snob; I just can’t help it. The phenomenon does seem to cover the wide range of all social media. How many people do you know start to hyperventilate upon discovering their mother/father/grandmother/uncle is on Facebook? Ummm, hello? Social media? It *does* tend to engage people from all walks of life–even your family tree. Studies are showing that I might just be part of the proverbial lemming cycle; if too many people gain access, the space is no longer “yours” and you leave it for the next cool space that people have yet to find. Indeed, there is talk that social media fatigue is starting to surface,
especially in the 20 somethings, oddly enough. It might explain that,
while I am all about social media and being plugged into the community,
I have opted to be offline more on the weekends.
And, one final plug here, before I go off into the ether. If you think this kind of stuff makes for great conversation and discourse, you should know danah boyd is going to be a featured speaker at this year’s TLT Symposium (#tltsym09 for you hashtagging fools out there) and she is a must hear. Her insight on teens finding their voices in online environments is insightful and illuminating.
In the meantime, I am struggling with the question Jon Stewart poses: have we confused “new” with “good”?
Hilarious video, especially the real snarky tweets from our Congressional representatives (hope we don’t need a probe into Congressional text message bills). I wouldn’t call it a Twitter best practice.
Your comment about jumping the shark is interesting. Part of being in a social network is getting it to a “manageable size” one way or another (and yes making sure there are certain levels of exclusivity). Technology can’t change that basic fact about us as humans.
I confess that the one new use I do like is being able to contribute to a live question board for a news broadcast. The 140 character limit is probably EXTREMELY useful for this application. It lets more people comment per segment – and that seems very open and democratic to me.
@Elizabeth,
I totally agree. While it’s a very personal measure, social networks *must* be some sort of manageable size in order to be effective. Often, I find myself “trying people on for size” and seeing if we mesh. Usually it’s the Big Name Celebrities that are initially amusing, but ultimately lacking in return on my investment of following them. I also appreciate that while I have people choose to follow me, I don’t have to follow them back. Again, it’s about me and the power of being able to control my own social network.
I do believe higher ed is trying to harness that social networking space in some very good ways. The live question board that ETS has begun to employ is a *fabulous* addition to the way we can extend the interaction of the crowd in the cloud (oooh, I like that! I feel another post coming on!), and it makes sense as a tool. But in other venues? I think we still have to ask ourselves if the tool fits the task at hand. Do I really want to twitter to Good Morning America, or my US Representative? Probably not, because I don’t see that it’s effective, ESPECIALLY when it’s a ghost writer on the other end.
In that instance, I think it means we’ve been there, played with that, and have moved on to another toy.