To Tweet or not to Tweet… November 7, 2007
Posted by davegoblog in Blogging, NaBloPoMo, Pop Culture, Technology.trackback
Last night, a good friend (Talos) posted on Twitter that there was a stray cat in his garage and he didn’t know if it would survive the night. About two hours later, he said that the cat had died.
That got me thinking about the personal experiences that are shared on blogs and micro-blogs like Twitter. People write about the birth of a child, the loss of a loved one, getting engaged & married, fights with cancer, and many other similar things. I’ve posted about the struggles my Mom has had this year with her multiple intestinal surgeries and hospital stays. What compels people to write about such personal events for friends, family, and complete strangers to read?
I think that it helps us not feel alone in the situations whether they are good times or not so good. That there are others out there who have has these experiences that make us human. It’s also cathartic for me to help express whatever feelings I’m having at the time.
Although I was saddened by the death of a cat I never met in a garage I’ve seen maybe once, there was a connection there last night and this morning as well. Some of us even reminisced about the kitten we found in the crawlspace under our apartment in college. It’s interesting to see how we adapt new technologies to join and unite with others we’ve known a long time or just met this week.
Living in the now 
Nice post Dave. It is indeed strange how new technologies can change the way you interact with people. Blogging in general I think has been one of the better developments of the Internet, it allows sharing of feelings and thoughts like nothing else in history. Many people don’t see the point, but Talos’ incident with the cat is a perfect example of why it’s so powerful.
I agree wholeheartedly with Ged’s post and love what you wrote here, Dave. The most valuable thing about Twitter, for me at least, is the opportunity to keep in touch with friends all across the planet. Yes, some of them are folks I’ve never met physically, but that does not make them any less a kindred spirit than the folks I’ve spent hours with, watching Star Trek, playing board games, creating home movies, etc.
If it weren’t for these little 140-character doses of sharing, how often would we really talk, email or (gasp) write letters? This little social interaction has incredible value for far-flung friendships.
Well done David. I think your post very eloquently touched on what many of us feel as individuals online. The internet has really been a catalyst in making lives around the world multifaceted on my many levels .
I agree with Ged about blogging as well. It often omits the awkwardness and barriers we often face when meeting someone in person. You can get straight to the raw, uninhibited, core of someone sooner by reading their posts.
I actually really loathe Twitter, but you do make an interesting point. I think that there’s something to be said for that brief connection and moment of sharing, and using Twitter is distinctly different than blogging. I imagine that if I were a Twitter user, I would, er “tweet” about something like a beautiful sunset, just to let people know that it was there, and I saw it, whereas I wouldn’t blog about something like that.
There’s something very cathartic about sharing an instant from your life with complete stranger, I suppose.
(I’m a fellow random blogger, by the way; glad to see that you’re doing NaBloPoMo!)
[…] 7th, 2007 My long-time friend from college, David Miller, has written a wonderful post about Twitter, the internet and blogging in general. His post goes to the heart of why so many […]
BTW….I’ve tagged you with a Crazy 8’s Meme 🙂 See my lastest blog entry.
That is indeed a wonderful, touchy post!
I do not use twitter that often, but the whole Web 2.0 thing is about humanity coming closer, getting closer to each other (virtulaly and at hearts). I think it is a great achievement of the modern times that people can experience that closeness and, finally, oneness…
[…] long-time friend from college, David Miller, has written a wonderful post about Twitter, the internet and blogging in general. His post goes to the heart of why so many […]