10a things I think I think about Twitter

I've been on twitter for quite some time now, but until recently my usage was fairly sporadic or client focused. In recent weeks I dived back in. Without doubt there will be more Twitter posts in coming weeks, but I thought I'd share a few thoughts I think that I think (in no particular order).

1. As I begin to type this I am tracking a live discussion at @designchat . What an incredible use for Twitter. It's amazing to see how people use the media to develop advanced uses, I think many more applications such as this will emerge.

1a. I think chats will be an annoyance for my followers who aren't part of the conversation.

2. I think that Twitter will bring out my latent voyeuristic side. I love basketball, so I've started following a bunch of NBA players. Last night Shaquille O'Neal told us what he had for dinner. I feel like a stalker.

2a. I think Twitter is going to change the way I watch basketball. Players I thought I liked (Rashard McCants) seem to be idiots, while players I thought would be idiots (Charlie Villenueva) seem to be intelligent, considered, good guys. Reassuringly, I still think Steve Nash is smart.

3. I think Twitter is great for people with short attention spans.

3a. I think digesting the amount of information provided via Twitter is not for people with short attention spans.

4. I think I just like to follow people because they are informative or entertaining.

4a. I think I should be more informative and entertaining when I Tweet.

5. I think I love it that when a bunch of us were complaining about the new NZ Ford campaign, the global head of Social Media for Ford chimed into the discussion.

5a. I think that it would have been good if the NZ head of social media had chimed in, or anyone from Ford in NZ at all. I think they didn't even know the conversation was taking place.

6. I think Twitter can build your brand in amazing ways.

6a. I also think the Dominos debacle shows it can destroy it.

7. I think Twitter is becoming mainstream

7a. I know that most people I know don't understand it or use it.

8. I think many famous people use Twitter to make them more famous, and I think that unless they use it correctly it'll backfire on them.

8a. I think a lot of people that use Twitter properly will become famous.

9. I think Twitter is about honesty.

9a. I think if you are obviously not being honest, it's ok to pretend (Shout out to @albinoriotman)

10. I think everything I've written here has some merit.

10a. I think I'm going to re-read this in 6 months and realise I had no idea what Twitter will become.

Myspace v Facebook

We haven't even begun to understand the internet

If you don't mind listening to a little American sports-talk then have a listen to an interesting interview with John A. Walsh, one of the senior executives of ESPN. An old-school newspaper man John points out that the internet is really only 13 years old and therefore still in its infancy. We need to stop thinking about the web in the context of offline media. We're still trying to impress newspaper, TV and radio conventions onto a wholly unique medium.

Without mediation, we are nothing

I want to bring to your attention an amazing post from the talent imitates, genius steals blog. The writer reflects on the increasing role of the internet providing mediation in our lives. Our desire to post updates to our friends via twitter and facebook, and our continual archiving of events, memories and experiences is changing the way we perceive reality.

"Virginia Woolf once said nothing is real until it is recorded. It seems like the rest of the world has caught up with her thought. We endlessly refract ourselves, mediate our lives, to reach out and connect and then, begin to construct ourselves, in response to what seems to drive attention our way.

As people we have always thought socially - seeing ourselves through the eyes of others. Increasingly it seems that without mediation, nothing seems real.

Next time you are at a concert - look at all the people capturing the moment, to mediate and broadcast it, to remember it and share it, to continue create themselves with it - even firsthand experiences require mediation."

Read the whole post

$1,000,000,000,000

Have you ever wondered what $1 trillion looks like?