Great article by Clay Shirky.
I avoided Twitter for a long time, thinking it was the level of hell below Facebook. I gave it a second look because some guys I respect said they were on it.
After nearly three weeks, my conclusion is that yes, it is another time sink and source of interruptions, joining e-mail, IM’s and blogs, and yes there is a certain amount of drivel, like “I’m eating a cheese sandwich.” But, it’s an interactive time sink and the people I follow are, for the most part, interesting people doing interesting things. Their default activity is not sitting on the couch watching the boob tube. They are traveling, writing code, making presentations at conferences and user groups, taking pictures, playing chess, reading interesting articles and sharing them.
Of course there have always been people who never went into a TV stupor. My parents didn’t have a TV when I was growing up, forcing me outdoors during the day and into books at night, but the common understanding was that I was deprived—disconnected from The Source of popular culture. Now, the feeling is that TV is tired and it is the alternate activities that are hip.
