I’ve seen a lot of words about Twitter lately, some of them kind, some of them not. In one case, both types said by the same person. (And watch him Twitter up a storm!)
Twitter, for me, is yet another opportunity to say the most with the fewest number of words. It’s something for which I strive in everything I write, and the limitations of Twitter take it to the extreme. I remember my very first online journal entries aimed for brevity, when the convention at the time was verbosity. In a way, Twitter is the writing format I wish I thought of back in 1996.
Maybe it’s age or more demands on my time, but there are days when I would like to write about something but won’t, knowing full well how much work would be involved for a particular topic. So I post to Twitter instead.
Of course, an examination of my own Twitter posts shows I’m nowhere close to Dorothy Parker for concise witticisms. But sometimes, the quick thoughts I jot down on Twitter can become blogging topics themselves. My recent frustrations with Finale, for instance, being one such topic.
The mobile phone and IM aspects of Twitter are lost on me, even though they’re the original focus of the site. My posts aren’t tailored to those outlets.