Example 1: Facebook. I came out against Facebook quite a long time ago, and that was even before I knew about the privacy and data issues, and how difficult it is to get out once you’re in. Facebook: still saying No.
Example 2: Twitter. I’ve been resisting signing up for Twitter for a while. Not because I didn’t like the idea. Quite the opposite. It looked thoroughly entertaining and addictive – but not, perhaps, all that useful, and I waste quite enough time playing with foolish things on my computer as it is (*cough* damn Sudoku *cough*). How can you possibly do anything meaningful with 140 characters?
And yet, what is Twitter if not another manifestation of the adaptability of the blog as a medium of communication? You can use it for crowdsourcing. You can use it to protest against political repression. The famous can use it to stay in touch with their fans. The non-famous can use it to stay in touch with each other.
Twitter’s genius is not the 140 characters. It’s the hash key. Oh, and the @. Tagging rocks, and metadata rules our world, baby.
So I’ve given in.
@sharon_howard is probably going to regret this…
7 comments on “On different reasons for resisting change”
He he, I can stalk my big sister on Twitter now.
However, I find Twitter boring and until I started using Tweetdeck it was difficult to categorize people & read individuals twitters. For example, I love Aleksandr_Orlovs little nonsensical tweets but on the Homepage I was losing out on them because others Twitter much more. Tweetdeck does mean I can put people into groups (I’m sure there’s other twitter apps that will do this too).
I love Facebook though. I have found so many old & new friends on there and without it I wouldn’t have got the network of friends I now have when I moved to Cambridge. I guess there are security issues but I’ve never had any. I do understand, however, that it is difficult to leave FB and take your data with you. But I don’t want to leave it
*tootles off to stalk big sis on Twitter…*
How long, do you figure, before Twitter drops the 140-character restriction? I give it three to six months.
Tweetdeck looks fab, ta sis.
Isn’t 140 characters part of the brand identity though, Jon? Especially as there must be a lot of users on mobile phones?
I have a follower…
Well, it’s not me, I couldn’t find you, lol
I can’t find me either, luv. I think you have to wait 24 hours before you start to come up in searches.
I have a blog for you. In particular, scroll down to Blogging…
http://harolds-planet.blogspot.com/
I’ve just gone back to Facebook after saying I hated it. I went to a really good conference last week and it restored my faith in social networking, and people in general. My main objection to Twitter now is that it might make me type too much too often and give me RSI again.