The Twitter Leap Year
Look around your digital world. Have you noticed the sudden addition of an entire library of vocabulary with either 'twit' or 'tweet' in it? Twitter, Tweets, Twittering, Twitterati, Twitterzine, Twoosh, Twitterrhea, Legend of Twetda, Lord of the Tweets, Star Twits... Okay, I made some of those up but in all honesty, it hasn't been THAT sudden. Twitter was started in 2006 and has spread rapidly, but I've noticed that very recently, it has achieved an exponential growth unlike anything I've ever seen. So fast, in fact, that it has blown apart some well-seated notions regarding technology and the people who use it.
For instance, my father left me a voicemail today asking me what all this twitter nonsense was all about. He's a well-read Dean at a college down in Florida. But still, he beat my 22 year-old cousin to it. I think she barely knows what it is. But she's not the only one. I've run into plenty of young people who still don't use it or even fully know what it is despite it's Skynet-like omnipresence. Don't the locusts come next?
Any trend that causes a complete undoing of the technology continuum where young people always rule the roost is not something I would easily shake a stick at. (On a side note, if anyone knows anyone getting anywhere by merely shaking a stick at it, please have them email me at moki@edulence.com. We want to replace our portrait of Roosevelt with someone more current.)
Even the media has gotten involved in an attempt to stay current and avoid any further bleeding. They are actually covering the fact that Ashton Kutcher, the renaissance man that he is, was gunning to become the first person in the world with a million people following him. Well, news flash, he did it and weirdly enough, my coffee still tastes the same. I guess life isn't that different after all. But, believe it or not, he actually did manage to get an even further ego boost from this. I guess he doesn't share Brittany's opinion on the matter from episode 2.
In any case, The twitter trend is fascinating to watch and learn from, even if you are up in the nosebleeds. Just don't ignore it, after all, ignorance is what led Ashton to where he is today.
The true definition of a whatnot is actually a piece of furniture much like a bookcase, only without the sides and back. At least, that's what Wikipedia has to say about it. It's pretty unattractive on all counts, however, highly elegant in its conceptual use for the name of my blog. I would imagine that these unattractive bundles of firewood hold the random chotchkes grandmas and other hoarders tend to collect; like those random figurines of barnyard animals that came in packages of that horrendous Red Rose tea. Or any figurines, for that matter.
Look, you're missing the point, what I'm trying to say is that a whatnot holds a random potpourri of things which, incidentally, can also be called whatnot - hence the name of this blog. I think I just created a black hole.
In any case, I have this tendency to find subjects to beat into a pulp with my hand-carved reason stick. Just ask Kevin about the elevator... But as with most parts of life, it's not about the destination, it's the journey. So come with me as we tackle not only the obvious angles of an issue, but flip it over and explore the sensitive underbelly to find the elusive facts that illuminate and present a whole new perspective.
You won't be disappointed.
I also have this tendency to be overly dramatic, make stuff up on the fly and exaggerate, sometimes into the 7th dimension.
Posted on 3/15/09 5:43 PM