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Anti-Twitter? Not me!

I _love_ quirky things! So I was enormously delighted when my friend sent me this link to this creative and quirky start up that has quirk written all over it.

Sadly, not everyone in the world shares my enthusiasm for quirkiness. I detest adding smileys to blog posts, or I’d be adding a sad face in right about now.

What really amused me was the fact that the link to this particular service had barely been shared on another social networking site I belong to (think about a book for your face) for a minute before the anti-Twitter brigade jumped all over it. I usually never bother with comments, unless they’re a) intelligent and b) spelled and punctuated properly. But I was curious as to see why the haters were hating this. It didn’t seem to be about the service itself as much as it was about the service the product is based on – Twitter!

One person moaned that she really hated Twitter because it attracted all the riff-raff. I’m not even sure what that means. I’m going to _assume_ it means that the entire tweeting world would have access to her, but I did point out that she could lock her tweets so that only her friends and trusted followers could look at them. She retaliated by saying that people sucked. Well, people are people, lady. Judging from her user picture, she looked to be in her forties, at the very least. How she’s managed to get to her forties while still complaining about this universal truth (some people are nice and some aren’t) baffled me for a moment until a man piped in with yet another thing he hated about Twitter.

With the air of one imparting a great secret, he confessed that Twitter was very restrictive. Struggling hard to hold on to my patience, I said yes, that’s the whole point of it. If you can creatively express your views in 140 characters or less, then go for it. If not, then tweet more than once. I mean _I_ am the most verbose person in the world (okay, not the most verbose, but I’m right up there in verbosity) and if I can use Twitter successfully, anyone can. Let’s not really acknowledge that some of my tweets are spread out over – well – more than one tweet. That’s hardly a reason to dislike something!

Someone else had no reason or explanation for disliking Twitter. It was just not really her cup of tea, she said. Fair enough, said I. I wondered aloud if any of the people present had used Twitter or been the proud owners of a Twitter account. They collectively shook their heads.

I sighed and left them to it.

So, you dislike the free service that you are in no way obligated to use because it puts you in contact with the world and restricts the number of characters you can use while you express yourself, and you’ve never tried it to say that yes, you actively dislike it, and you’re going to move on and away?

How very human of you.

9 Comments

  • jo f (@httpoet) 27th May 2012 at 10:56 am

    haters gonna status update

    Reply
  • stace8383 27th May 2012 at 11:06 am

    I find that most people are either pro-Facebook OR pro-twitter. Few people seem capable of embracing and enjoying both. It’s like the Mac v. PC debate, or Religion v. Atheism, or Melbourne v. Sydney!! Generally speaking, the one you experience first is the one you will prefer your whole life, not necessarily with any real reason!

    Reply
    • Awanthi Vardaraj 27th May 2012 at 11:16 am

      That’s quite possibly true! I’m grateful I can straddle more than one thing! 🙂

      Reply
      • Awanthi Vardaraj 27th May 2012 at 11:16 am

        Er. I was referring to social media. 😛

        Reply
      • stace8383 27th May 2012 at 11:48 am

        I certainly prefer Facebook, but that’s mostly because more of my friends use it regularly… I have nothing in particular against Twitter!

        Reply
  • Linda Maloly 27th May 2012 at 9:07 pm

    LOL…no one is obligated and I think it funny that folks can hate it if they haven’t tried it. That always has me shaking my head when it comes to any irrational dislike or hatred. I had a Twitter account and finally let it go because I got tired of the unrelated requests and just didn’t have the time for another social network account. As it is, I have to be careful about letting Facebook take up too much of my time.

    Reply
    • Awanthi Vardaraj 28th May 2012 at 12:18 pm

      Oh, I definitely understand about time constraints; I’m in the same place. You gave it a go and you didn’t like it, or didn’t feel the need to hold on to it; I can definitely understand that and empathise with it!

      Reply
  • Adventures in Anderland 30th May 2012 at 2:38 am

    I’m similar to Linda…I have a Twitter account and have maybe posted close to 10 whole tweets. It comes down to not having time for both FB and Twitter and the only reason FB won is because of one or two games I really enjoy…and the more true thread-conversations I can have off a post than the way Twitter seems to work.

    Reply

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