popular microblogging tool has more use than initially thought
One of the frustrating parts of this is that I see many opportunities where me and my colleagues COULD and should use Twitter! One of the most frustrating things I see today occurs when I am having lunch with my friends. Someone, one time or another, does not get invited and exclaims "you guys had dinner??" See, this would not happen if everyone used Twitter that I know. One person could tweet "going to dinner at 5" and everyone could get it on their phone/web browser/desktop twitter app. Then everyone shows up!
How convenient.
All in all I suppose I can't argue with these people, as they are college students who are more worried about how much alcohol they are going to buy this weekend than emerging technology! How could this possibly be (sarcasm)!
Anyways, this article is not what I was going to write when I first started. Sites like Twitter, FriendFeed and many others have not reached what I would prefer to call "mainstream." Then one would ask, what would be considered mainstream? I'll sum it up with two websites: Facebook and YouTube.
YouTube
There is not a person I know that doesn't occasionally go on YouTube to check out the latest cool video, or are eager to show their friend "this video," that you "gotta watch!"
Simply put, YouTube is built upon something that anyone can do: make a crappy, low quality video that somehow gets 50,000 views. I'm not going to lie, I'm a fan of YouTube myself (prefer Vimeo), but the quality of the videos on YouTube is much to be desired. It seems that quality takes a backseat to content when it comes to mainstream video sites, although I can't tell you how many times I've heard casual gamers complain that "the graphics aren't good enough." The need for high quality video is lower on the Web than it is "in real life." For example, anyone will watch crappy football highlights via YouTube, but who would watch an entire game like that? Nobody.
On the other hand, let's look at this: who would watch football on a 60'' hi-def television?
EVERYBODY.
This list of everybody includes people such as myself, who is not a football fan at all! Even my mom who can't tell the difference between 5.1 Surround and Mono enjoys a nice HD screen. Oh, and yes I realize that sound and video are two different things, just making a point.
Anyway, my point is that everyone loves videos that are funny or interesting, regardless of quality. This is typical "mainstream" internet culture.
Going onto the main hub on the web for keeping in touch, Facebook is no doubt something that everyone I know uses. Its the most used way of communication in college, perhaps only second to cell phones. Now, I admit that I use Facebook frequently, I check it every morning along with my email and my news websites. I suppose I should include Myspace and Orkut in this, as these are the three most globally used social networks. These websites are the easiest way to keep in touch with people about what's going on. Everything from pictures to stupid and useless apps are included in this free package deal about what is going on in your entire life (insert older generation outrage about identity theft here). Not that there is anything at all wrong with using these networks, it just makes life a bit more impersonal than, say in the 1950s. Times change, so does technology and that old corded phone is pretty much useless.
Summary/Conclusion
It disappoints me greatly that sites like Twitter and FriendFeed aren't used more. Although its slowly catching on, and since my first tweet I have gained many followers (some I know, many I don't), it still isn't a mainstream tool used by, dare I say "normal" people? Anyway, my point is that micro-blogging tools are very useful, but have not matured to their fruitation quite yet. My prediction is that they will in the near future, and we can hope to count on that.
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