The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Tim Krohn

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April 12, 2009

Tweet to self: Find some more friends — and quickly

With technology, there is an all or nothing mentality that is usually reserved for politics and religion.

It is not OK for someone to think a Mac is easy to use and virus free and that a PC has more software options and is cheaper. No, you either pledge allegiance to Steve Jobs or Bill Gates and never shall the two nerds meet.

It’s the same with every new tech trend that comes along. MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Skype and now Twitter. Those who fall in love with the new technology dismiss anyone who doesn’t as addled technophobes.

But new technology, like most things in life, is usually a mixed bag.

The value of new technologies is measured by its ease of use and speed.

Making something easier is obviously good.

But why has fast become synonymous with beneficial?

A stock trader needs information quickly. Finding out fast that a tornado is coming is a lifesaver. But most of the information we deliver lightning fast is at best pedestrian and most often trifling.

The speed and false sense of urgency compels people to be slaves to their electronic devices for fear they could miss something if they aren’t constantly logged on.

Twitter offers some value, but, by design, it delivers more trivia more often.

Twitter lets you type in short phrases — 140 characters or less — called “tweets,” that can be immediately read by your “followers” — who are anyone who searches you or runs across your profile and wants to follow you.

The service has benefits. We use it as a news tool, sending updates to Free Press followers and linking them with news they may be interested in. Likewise, they can send us news tips and feedback.

There are a number of other constructive ways to use Twitter.

But if you read enough tweets you quickly realize they are increasingly being used as just another way to market things to us and that most of the things people tweet are amazingly vapid, useless wastes of time.

I don’t need to know what someone ate for lunch, or that they are stuck in traffic or didn’t like the movie “Monsters vs. Aliens” — which are the kinds of messages that make far too many tweets.

Your Twitter followers are not to be confused with your Facebook “friends.” You can become anyone’s Twitter follower or anyone can follow you. But you can’t become someone’s Facebook friend unless they agree.

Which presents new social conundrums. What if someone you really don’t like that much wants to be your “friend.” If someone has a lot more Facebook friends than you do, are you unlikable? The average number of friends is 164, with many people having thousands.

I’d be very hard pressed to find 164 people I truly wanted to be in constant contact with.

And when you ask to be someone’s Facebook friend and they say no, then what?

My son is off at college and apparently unable to take the time to listen to phone messages and call me back because that technology is way too slow. So in hopes of keeping up on his life, I sent him a request to let me be his Facebook friend. The reply came back at lightning speed.

“Do you know how lame it is to have your parent as a friend. It’s like bringing your dad to a party.”

The kid I’d spent years emotionally and financially supporting had just un-friended me.

I Twittered him back: “Do you know how lame it would be to pay for college all by yourself?”

It was well under the 140 character limit.



Tim Krohn is a Free Press staff writer. He can be contacted at 344-6383 or by e-mail at tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com.

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Tim Krohn