Twits

There has been a whole lotta buzz about Twitter lately. For a long time it's been seen as this revolutionary media tool, giving people the opportunity to broadcast previously unseen vantage points on events. Sometimes, even breaking big stories before the major news networks.

With the craziness of the swine flu panic (or mexican flu, if you roll with the Hebrews), people are starting to see that the web 2.0 can simply surmount to a world wide web of mob mentality. People are tweeting about the illness soo much, it's crazy. I twitter searched swine flu, and got about 80 gazillion results. 140 additional tweets were added to the results page before I had even been on there for 5 minutes. So much of what is being put out there is innacurate too, creating a pandemic of faulty knowledge.

I have no interest in joining twitter, and can't say that will change ever. I already spend too much time on the facebook, I can't become a slave to another social networking time waster. I'm having a kind of hard time understanding the fervor about it too...and I've started wondering if I'm just old and out of touch. I am one of theose people who still types "thefacebook" into my web browser.

So many pop culture figures have become devotees of twitter too. It's genius personal marketing actually. Giving people the sense that they have a personal window on their favorite stars; It's the same reason that "behind the scenes" advertisements for movies and tv shows are so prevalent now. People like to feel like they're in the know, like they have a special connection with their celebrities and products. Being able to see what "the real shaq" ate for breakfast probably makes some basketball fans (and perhaps even Kazaam fans) feel like they're included in the daily life of their hero. That simulation of inclusion is a huge part of advertising today.

Jeph Jaques is a local webcomic artist that writes Questionable Content, which I read often. It's set it Northampton, so sometimes it's fun to spot familiar buildings in the background of the strip. This guy takes twittering to a whole 'nother level. All of his characters from the comic have their own twitter accounts, which is ridiculous. He must spend all day on twitter, writing about what fictional peopl are doing in their daily lives. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. Maintaining these accounts, writing in character for all these different people, and keeping track of what they're doing in cartoon Noho shows a real dedication to developing the world of his story. But it also says a little something about the cartoonist. A little something that sounds like "crazy."

Ah well.
In other news, Paul and I have been watching the first season of Lost together. I wanted to try and get him caught up in time to watch season 6 with mike and me. At the rate we're going through them, it's a goal that seems pretty attainable. The best part is, Paul is very eager to watch them. I think I got him addicted! We're watching the the season finale tonight. I'm very excited that Paul is liking the show, and that I'm getting a chance to watch all the old episodes in a row. It's a good way to remember all the crazy shit you forgot about. Like, how Charlie used to be the resident sass factory, and how it used to be all about the numbers!

The good ol'days!