Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Twitter backlash has begun

The feverish media coverage of microblogging service Twitter as the next big thing has prompted the inevitable backlash.
People who don’t feel the need to express themselves in 140-character blurbs online are mocking those who do. While the technorati have flocked like sheep to be a part of the supposed next big thing, many others think they can get along just fine without it.
The same sort of rush to the latest and greatest Web service has occurred before, but few of those services have been big financial successes. Social networking sites, bookmarking services, online video sharing, peer-to-peer music swapping, and virtual worlds, among others, all have had their day in the spotlight.
Media reports have criticized jurors for twittering during trials and congressmen for posting tweets during President Barack Obama’s Feb. 24 address to Congress.
Celebrity Twitter user and actor Ashton Kutcher is looking into making a movie inspired by Twitter, according to Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker. As if “You’ve Got Mail” (1998) wasn’t bad enough. If Twitter were a TV show, it would have jumped the shark by now.
Twitter parodies are showing up on YouTube, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and elsewhere. Check out some examples on sister site One Stop Video.
Isn’t that so American? Build something up and then tear it down.

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