I, for one, vow to stay tweet-free. And I’ll definitely get some ranty piece up at BR in a couple of months when I have the time…

and ‘tweet’ is the most annoying new word in years…

Why? Because everyone else was. No conundrum. No enigma. I think that pegs me worse than a hypocrite. More like a fool.

I included a Twitter application when we launched Scout because I thought it would it be a good tool to distribute posts around the ether, and for others to distribute the same, only unseen and unprompted. It works for me in that sense, and I appreciate the traffic it brings us. Yay Twitter (drops confetti).

But of the hundreds of people/businesses “following” Scout on Twitter, I know only 3% personally, each of whom I’d almost always prefer to talk to straight up face to face. Instead, I am most often subjected to things like “mention Twitter and get 10% off” or “I’m so loaded I can’t find my keys.” It
so often horrendously mundane, and there I am in the middle of it, sucking equally.

It’s also the big picture side of it, the medium as message part, that makes me sort of cringe. When I find myself tapping in things like “At the beach, thinking about where to go for dinner” or “I really can’t remember the last time I listened to Dark Side of the Moon from start to finish” I feel dirty and stupid afterwards, like a teenager caught dry humping on the dance floor. And I think admitting as much isn’t as hypocritical as knowing it and staying mum. I could be wrong on that, but it feels better.

Most of all, it’s the ease with which I personally surrendered to it as a social “must” that embarrasses me. It’s a good tool, but the ancillary social side effects, the “OMG I just stepped in dog shit and I just have to tell you about it” aspect, makes me want to stuff it back in the bottle and divorce half the people I know.

Like I said, perhaps I’m using it wrong. Maybe I’ll get better.

I personally don’t think it’s ‘becoming’ the way we communicate. More of an add-on, a supplement. I don’t think it has replaced conversation, a good read, etc – but maybe it directs you to where said conversations can be had.

Just my 2 cents…