Twitter is a bad, bad thing

So says tech writer Andrew Kantor in his USA Today CyberSpeak column.

He sees "overscheduled kids, over-prescribed Ritalin, and anti-depressants in value-sized jars" in the Twitter phenomenon.

He says:

An even moderately active Twitter user is like a four year old, giving a running dialog of her life to anyone within earshot.

Kantor's piece is getting react:

Remember that Rock&Roll, premarital sex, and instant messaging have been hailed as being bad for us too, and no less immoral.

BloggersBlog says: "Twitter is an irresistible way to find lots of information you probably don't really need."

That was in respond to a Jeff Pulver blog post asking people to fill in the blank, "Twitter is ... "

My answer (short form): Twitter is worth reading.

The longer answer is that Twitter is engaging news and information presented as never ending stream ticker stream of headlines about life.

Yeah, a lot of it is, as Kantor notes, the banal what I had for lunch today, but there are voices in Twitter that are morphing their messages into more interesting "twits" or "tweets." A lot of these are coming from people already writing smart, engaging blogs so it's not to wonder.

Media companies certainly are seeing opportunity. CNN is there, NYT is via Dave Winer, ESPN is jumping in. The tech and Internet watching bloggers are all there.

We're playing with it at knoxnews. We plan to do part of our "coverage" of the huge Bonnaroo concert in June in Tennessee via this Twitter page.

I find it a great way to scan for interesting information and to contribute maybe something interesting. I believe that's called Media.

Maybe, I just love "bad, bad things." Could be.

(via BloggersBlog)

Add me as your Twitter friend.

I said I know it's only rock 'n roll but I like it
I said I know it's only rock 'n roll but I like it, like it, yes, I do

Tags: twitter | usa today