A Blog In Defence of Twitter
So, I meant to write this blog a while ago but Spanish Oral Exams have been getting in the way of my blogging.
For the last couple of days/weeks/months, I have been reading/watching/generally hearing from a variety of sources a lot about how Twitter is a waste of time, a pointless exercise in self-indulgence and overall a negative internet fad. But I, as a prolific Tweeter (I think that is the word), I have a few objections to the stereotype.
I think Twitter is a brilliant website: and in some ways, the embodiment of what is so great about the Internet. Not only is it a mass of information, but it's all user generated. Of course some of it is mundane, and hardly 'useful', but that sharing of information between you and your followers is a valuable part of what make the Internet. Sharing ideas, experiences, links, opinions and culture is surely the sole purpose of the Internet - and no website does it better or more instantaneously than Twitter.
People have been calling it 'a waste of time' and 'self-indulgent' to Tweet things like 'Drinking Tea', and in some ways I agree. Although personally, I like these more personal, mundane Tweet's. It's nice to to see how other people spend their day, what other people value and I truly believe you can tell a lot about people from what they Tweet. Like all online output, and unlike real-life social interactions, you can control how you come across over Twitter, and often Tweet what you want people to hear. And I value knowing those things about my friends - what it is they would like me to know, or maybe even, what they wish they were like. For me, this is sometimes the most interesting part of someone's social-networking personality, in it's differences from their RL personalities.
As for self-indulgent, again I can only partly agree. Of course, all services in which we discuss ourselves and our opinions is slightly self-indulgent - part of believing your ideas matter or have a place in the world. But I think that is an integral part of human nature; to want to feel a part of something bigger. And that's another thing the Internet is so good at. Twitter is a way of consolidating your actions and opinions, getting feedback, hearing people feel the same or are interested in what you are doing. This has been at the heart of art for thousands of years - and I believe Twitter, and instant social-networking as a whole, comes for that instinctive place where we just want to be understood and validated.
I also think it's interesting how communities congregate over the Internet, and meet on Twitter as a kind of place to really get to know people. For example, lots of people whose username you know from comments etc. follow you and suddenly you can chat about the videos and ideas, possibly in a way you cannot with your real life friends (I say that almost as if I have first-hand experience). Having an odd obsession has never before made you feel more included than secluded than when you have a group of Twitter friends to discuss it with! Of course, I have no weird obsessions, so this is an entirely academic paragraph ;p
So, in defence of Twitter, there are those who don't understand it, or don't want it and that's fine. But there is a huge community and you can't dismiss them ALL as self-involved people with too much time on their hands. Some of us just enjoy the new, modern form of contact and hope that Twitter, in whatever form, will exist for a long time to come!
Bring on the advertisements!
And just FYI, Nuke is so good at the moment. Expect my next post to be a review of the year of Gay television so far!
Oh, and also, I won ScriptFrenzy! Badge on the side...
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Monday, 27 April 2009
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Record Store Day, April 18th
Hello
So, I promised you more issue posts and here is the first of (hopefully) many.
After a (lovely) late-night at Alex's yesterday (and possibly a whole two weeks of late-nights catching up with me), I spent too long in bed today to go to Rough Trade to celebrate Record Store Day.
Here's the thing: Record Store Day is a commendable idea; one day in the year where people are encouraged to support the few local record stores we have left in the UK. The sad thing is that we need to create a whole day for this purpose.
Now, people who know me know I am a big fan of record stores and a big fan of CD's over music downloads. It runs in my blood - my father used to own a record shop and has instilled a passion not only for music but for music shopping into me. Nothing for me is more fun than spending a day trekking across London on my usual musical pilgrimage - Rough Trade in Portobello (my local) to Fopp in Tottenham Court Road and then Rough Trade East (on Brick Lane) before home.
But now, independent music stores are few and far between. I, personally, prefer physical CD's. I like the way they feel in your hand, flicking through the sleeve notes the band have designed for you, looking at the cover art and putting it in a rack surrounded by other different CD's. It's like books - for me, I will always rather have a real book than a e-book: I just like the feel. I also want to buy LP's - so much thought has gone into the songs production and order, that to listen to everything in single tracks does no justice to that effort or the music itself. But I understand that everything evolves - and that, at some point, my love for CD's will be a niche market and I will have to seek them out.
But there is the one thing that annoys me about Record Store Day: that people who will partake in it will feel like they've done a good deed shopping in an independent record shop for a day. If you love them so much, if you don't want to see them disappear, you have to use them!
I don't begrudge music stores Record Store Day - it's good PR and, unfortunately, they need to do it. I just wish they didn't!
It kind of brings me onto to illegal downloads: something else which annoys me. Now, it is not to say all of my music comes from CD's I have bought. Me and my dad are huge believers in 'sharing' music; not in a 'Pirate Bay' way, but in a 'I buy a CD I think you'll like so I burn it for you' way. Since popular music began, there has been copying and sharing. But now, the music that is being shared has come from illegal means and the musicians make nothing.
I love music, and I love music stores, and I want to give them as much money as I possibly can so they can keep providing me with something which has and will bring me endless enjoyment. Why are people so awful about giving money to things they enjoy?
It's the same way I feel about people complaining about YouTube re-designs, or Twitter advertising. If you want something, you have to accept that they have to make money to produce it. And, somewhere along the line, you have to compromise.
In one way, it's a shame I missed out on Record Store Day. But in another, everyday is Record Store Day for me. And it won't be a year before I end up in one again.
(Again, this is just a rant. It's not that I have NO illegally downloaded music, but that it is a tiny percentage. And that I don't want to see Record Stores die out when they have such a rich history and so much to give to the industry that the Internet will never be able to provide)
So, I promised you more issue posts and here is the first of (hopefully) many.
After a (lovely) late-night at Alex's yesterday (and possibly a whole two weeks of late-nights catching up with me), I spent too long in bed today to go to Rough Trade to celebrate Record Store Day.
Here's the thing: Record Store Day is a commendable idea; one day in the year where people are encouraged to support the few local record stores we have left in the UK. The sad thing is that we need to create a whole day for this purpose.
Now, people who know me know I am a big fan of record stores and a big fan of CD's over music downloads. It runs in my blood - my father used to own a record shop and has instilled a passion not only for music but for music shopping into me. Nothing for me is more fun than spending a day trekking across London on my usual musical pilgrimage - Rough Trade in Portobello (my local) to Fopp in Tottenham Court Road and then Rough Trade East (on Brick Lane) before home.
But now, independent music stores are few and far between. I, personally, prefer physical CD's. I like the way they feel in your hand, flicking through the sleeve notes the band have designed for you, looking at the cover art and putting it in a rack surrounded by other different CD's. It's like books - for me, I will always rather have a real book than a e-book: I just like the feel. I also want to buy LP's - so much thought has gone into the songs production and order, that to listen to everything in single tracks does no justice to that effort or the music itself. But I understand that everything evolves - and that, at some point, my love for CD's will be a niche market and I will have to seek them out.
But there is the one thing that annoys me about Record Store Day: that people who will partake in it will feel like they've done a good deed shopping in an independent record shop for a day. If you love them so much, if you don't want to see them disappear, you have to use them!
I don't begrudge music stores Record Store Day - it's good PR and, unfortunately, they need to do it. I just wish they didn't!
It kind of brings me onto to illegal downloads: something else which annoys me. Now, it is not to say all of my music comes from CD's I have bought. Me and my dad are huge believers in 'sharing' music; not in a 'Pirate Bay' way, but in a 'I buy a CD I think you'll like so I burn it for you' way. Since popular music began, there has been copying and sharing. But now, the music that is being shared has come from illegal means and the musicians make nothing.
I love music, and I love music stores, and I want to give them as much money as I possibly can so they can keep providing me with something which has and will bring me endless enjoyment. Why are people so awful about giving money to things they enjoy?
It's the same way I feel about people complaining about YouTube re-designs, or Twitter advertising. If you want something, you have to accept that they have to make money to produce it. And, somewhere along the line, you have to compromise.
In one way, it's a shame I missed out on Record Store Day. But in another, everyday is Record Store Day for me. And it won't be a year before I end up in one again.
(Again, this is just a rant. It's not that I have NO illegally downloaded music, but that it is a tiny percentage. And that I don't want to see Record Stores die out when they have such a rich history and so much to give to the industry that the Internet will never be able to provide)
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