Posted by joe, Sun Sep 30 09:18:00 UTC 2007

Over at Blogcritics, Ginger Haycox makes a strange off-hand remark about Twitter:

Then too, there are the social sites such as MySpace and Twitter which are further eroding the sense of community that blogs originally fostered. These “social media sites” look more like newspaper inserts for Wal-Mart, Sears or Kohl’s.

Barring a more fleshed-out explanation of why she dislikes Twitter, I am filing this one under the the subset of people who don't "get" it and therefore trash "it" (in this case, Twitter) as useless or even damaging.

First, she gives no indication that she actually used Twitter before dismissing it. Meanwhile, Eric Berlin, the Executive Producer of Blogcritics, gave it an honest try six months earlier and was sold: "The more I play with Twitter, I think it's a keeper."

Second, Twitter doesn't look like anything; it's a platform. It can appear in formats as varied as IM, cell phone text messages, your feed reader (e.g. Bloglines), a desktop client (e.g. Twitterrific) or the Twitter.com site itself. Twitter doesn't have an appearance.

Third, what sense of community did blogs originally foster and how does Twitter "erode" this, rather than provide a new avenue for connecting with other people?

Online communities, such as Usenet, bulletin boards and group sites like Slashdot, predate blogging by years or even decades.

But blogging provided another way for people to communicate with each other, and so does Twitter. Again, from Berlin's post:

At its essence — I've spent some time thinking about this — I think that Twitter is yet another shortcut to meeting the compelling need for people to express themselves and partake in the ever quickening Internet conversation. (emphasis mine)

Twitter provides a new form of community. You read what other people have to say. Other people read your updates. I have met new people, and learned more about old friends, via Twitter. In fact, it is a quintessential community site — without followers/following, it useless. The connections between us are Twitter'ss raison d'être.

So give it a shot, Ginger. I would be happy to introduce you to the vibrant Twitter community. You can find me at Twitter: josephgrossberg.

Filed Under: Blogs Culture | Tags: community criticism newbies