My feelings about Twitter are the same as my feelings about CNN. When called upon to fill a need, it’s great. The rest of the time it should be off the air.
Useless Self-Twitter: I’m as guilty as anyone. I use Twitter to complain each time I visit a doctor’s waiting room, but no one needs my opinion on that.
Small-Group Twitter: No one needs my opinion on Mystery Diagnosis, either. Since I don’t simul-tweet with the show, and I usually forget the #mysterydiagnosis hashtag, there’s no call for it.
Useful Twitter: This is when we need it. My first positive Twitter experience was the Olympic hockey game between the US and Canada. My BNL-biased Canadian friends and all the US friends tweeted across North America every shot, goal, score of the game. If anything happened, refresh and “YEEEAHHH!” “NOOOO!”
I like Twitter for global events. Michael Jackson dies. You’re in the office, updating the TMZ page with your friends and coworkers, and then everyone on the face of Twitter reacts with you. Say that people in Haiti need supplies. Say that, instead, a politician is shot in the head. Good or bad, it huddles us in troubled times.
Speaking of bad … I saw “Joe Buck” as a trending topic on Twitter last night. “Oh no!” I thought, “Joe Buck isn’t dead, is he?” Because Joe Buck is son of Jack Buck and Jack Buck owns the hearts of Saint Louis. When he demanded after a playoff game, “Go crazy, Saint Louis” fans went forth and destroyed the Astroturf. (This is how I remember it, so shall it be written.) So Joe Buck became a baseball broadcaster like his father, and we love our dynasties in Saint Louis.
I was surprised to click Joe Buck’s name on Twitter and find a) he was alive and broadcasting a big football game and b) People. Hate. Him. Perhaps they were transferring their hatred of the winning team on to him.
Of course, as I write this I’m missing both the Twitter take on the Golden Globes and Baby Doc’s return to Haiti on CNN. Gotta be alone sometimes.
6 responses to “Twitter”
I dislike Joe Buck because since he and his family took over the running of J. Buck’s downtown (and renamed it Joe Buck’s) the service is crappy and the food is headed down the tubes too.
So you have a Twitter account? Please tell me your username so I can stalk–uh, FIND you over there.
It works well for reporting on unfolding events, such as sporting events, or recently, the Illinois General Assembly’s frantic last minute sessions last week……
my twitter feed last night, while changing planes in minneapolis, was entirely JETS and GLOBES. it was kind of fascinating.
Jack Buck said, “Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!” Then the AstroTurf got ripped apart. It was awesome.
And I love Joe Buck. He’s self-effacing and hilarious.
Amy in StL – Were you on twitter? That was one of the complaints about Joe Buck, I swear!Veolcibadgergirl – It’s @LNSchmidt – You have to say it out loud.Benchmark – What, did they tweet “AHAhAha raising your taxes!”Magpie – The tweets I saw about the game, like the game, were very one-sided.Mershy – Thank you for being my fact-checker .