So I joined Twitter. I'm still not on Facebook, for intransigent reasons that I don't fully understand and can't begin to express. But consider Twitter my bold leap into the world of the social web. I guess what I enjoy about Twitter is the sheer banality of the tweets, which remind me of normal, intimate conversation. There's the occasional moment of wit or humor, but mostly what people write about is the weather, or their hair, or what they had for lunch, or how much they hate airport delays. It's as if people are constantly texting this universe of strangers about how they feel. What's even weirder is that the strangers seem to care. Plus, Shaq is on twitter.
Profile
Jonah Lehrer is a contributing editor at Wired. He's also written for The New Yorker, Seed, Nature, and the New York Times and is a contributor to Radiolab. He's the author of Proust Was A Neuroscientist. His new book is How We Decide.
My Books
Search
Recent Posts
- Goodbye Scienceblogs
- Twitter Strangers
- Stress
- Smart Babies
- Political Dissonance
- Will I?
- Cages and Cancer
- Soda
- LSD
- Alcoholism
Archives
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
« Capt. Sully and Deliberate Calm | Main | Surgery Checklists »
Posted on: January 17, 2009 3:46 PM, by Jonah Lehrer
Trackbacks
Trackback URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/90975
2
You know, I actually have a facebook account, yet have logged into it only once. I think I signed up to see some pictures a friend had put up, but even that is a hazy memory.
3
Did you see David Pogue's column in the NYT yesterday or day before about Twitter?
4
I'm going to regret joining twitter, aren't I?
Ha, I feel like everyone who resists for so long winds up making that their first post. And for good reason!
5
I don't think you'll regret twitter. it is what you make of it, and if you don't pay attention to it for a while, it's far from the end of the world. I love it, personally. it's part chat, part email, part txt, part news, and so on and so on...
6
Not a tweeter, although I'm basically the same thing on Facebook, as the by far primary mode of communication is through status updates (and the comments therein). I joined it because that's where it seems all my friends are.
7
I should add, Twitter is probably a lot better for banalcasting than Facebook for someone with a higher profile like you Jonah (you're famous!) While you can open your Facebook profile wide up, you generally can't use it for anything else should the fancy strike you.
8
I agree with Lefty- Facebook is imperative for keeping up with all of the people in my life. I don't know much about Twitter, but I'm tempted to join for your updates alone. You used the phrase "exceedingly melancholy" in one of your updates, for goodness sake. Delicious.
9
I'm studying graphic design and consequently all these web publications and how they've started to emerge. That must be the most wonderful description of Twitter I've heard anyone be able to sum up! What a lovely way of putting it, I'm going to start quoting you on that one.
10
Though I can't think of anyone I'd rather "follow" on Twitter than Jonah, I haven't activated my account, because a cascade of news blips about what all my friends are doing is not quite what I need. I need less blips, more real news.
But Facebook. I have been an enthusiastic member for a couple of years now. What happened last week is a good illustration of why I like it. I don't really care about joining the "Sully" fan club, though of course I did. I have zero interest in getting virtual "drinks" or "zombie bites" from friends, so I decline all invitations to add apps. But last week, I got a friend invitation from one of my first two best friends on Earth, who I knew 38 years ago in Queens. Following links on a class picture, I got to talk with my old classmates from junior high school about our favorite teachers, one of my early experiences of kissing anyone (which I'd completely forgotten, but it was witnessed by one of my classmates, who remembered it vividly), and our neighborhood, which I discovered had morphed from nearly 100 percent white to mostly Asian, with the Waldbaum's turned into an excellent Chinese market with a tank full of live fish.
It was a Proustian extravaganza, unleashed just by clicking a couple of links.
I like Facebook.
11
Welcome to Twitter. What you're experiencing is a common occurrence for new users. Use a tool like TweetDeck to filter your stream, it will help a lot. I'll be posting about this on my new blog (NEALWISER.COM) in another day or so. until then, I'll follow you.
You can Follow me on Twitter at: nealwiser
12
Welcome, Jonah. Laurel Snyder put it perfectly when she welcomed my editor to Twitter: "Likely you won't get it at all, then it'll become a major time suck, and at last you'll settle into it."
13
READ THIS ARTICLE, IT'S REALLY GOOD:
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/80/quit_facebook.html
Facebook can be really cool and I can't quite work up the gumption to quit, but I sometimes wish I'd never joined because the costs most often outweigh the benefits.
Post a Comment
(Email is required for authentication purposes only. On some blogs, comments are moderated for spam, so your comment may not appear immediately.)
Comments (13)
HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Same here, dude!
Posted by: Comrade PhysioProf | January 17, 2009 3:59 PM