The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted.
Posted by Mesmorino
Actually, I think it will.
Through the vagaries of social osmosis, I am aware of the phrase "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". I have absolutely no idea how, when or why I know it, it's just one of those things. I think it was supposed to mean that (social) revolution was not something that would happen and then you'd be told about it, but rather that it's something everybody would be a part of at the same time.
Cue 2009 and half the world is on Facebook, and the other half is on Twitter. I'm on facebook, I find it a useful tool for keeping in touch with people I haven't seen (and barely remember) in decades. Over the last few days though, I joined Twitter, and i'm still not entirely sure why. Or what to do with it now. I'm following Major Nelson so I can get updates on xboxy stuff. I'm following IGN so I can get updates on news/developments/new games. Except, I already go to IGN every couple of days, and Major Nelson doesn't post stuff I'm actually interested in that much. I get that it's supposed to be a platform for "what are you doing?", but my response to that (no, really) is "who wants to know?" Both in the paranoid sense, and as a genuine question. Who really does want to know? The people who might be interested in what I'm doing already have my cellphone number, and as for making friends with similar interests... I already have a Gears of War 2 posse, and I'd really prefer something like facebook, so i could a) see what you look like, b) find out a bit more about you, and c) send a proper message, not one that's limited to 140 characters.
I dunno, I think I'm getting grumpy in my old age, what with all this new tech and "stuff". I want my technology to have true value, true worth. Right now Twitter just seems to have made people walking RSS feeds. I tried seeing which of my friends are on Twitter (because you know, Facebook juuuust doesn't give enough up to the minute information) but apparently none of them are. :/ So this is me, all dressed up and nowhere to go. Or anyone to go with. So... Yeah. I think the revolution will be tweeted, but it'll be by the next generation... more likely the one after that. Heh, I can just picture a Neo-Ché with an AK47 in one hand, iPhone in the other, desperately tweeting how the battle is going to all his foreign supporters.
Who then shake their heads in sympathy, and go right back to watching America's Got Talent.