Yes, I Twitter - Sort of

I admit that I am part of the Twitter social phenomenon. I also admit that I don’t post, don't Twitter as often as many as I don’t think I have that many “sound bites” to report. I signed up merely out of curiosity and haven’t really succumbed to the Twitter hype. I don’t follow Ashton Kutcher or any other celeb and didn’t find it necessary to post sentimental dribble about Michael Jackson’s untimely passing. I can’t seem to habitually log on to Twitter and write 140 characters about the what randomly is crossing my mind.

And yet, it seems to have found an interesting foothold in today’s media. An article in the June 29^th issue of TIME magazine called it “basically a toy for flirting and telling people what your cat is doing. But in one of the Internet’s great Velveteen Rabbit moments, the toy has become real.” The columnist was referring to the reaction of the Iranian people to the elections. Apparently, the government had basically closed off all communication channels in the hopes of curbing reports of what was actually happening. But Twitter stayed on. People were posting and news flowed. Twitter became the only media outlet. The world found out the truth from everyday people who were there and experiencing it. Perhaps Twitter served a purpose. Perhaps it is a valuable tool. Perhaps this mode of reporting would better engage the listener and allow us to make up our own minds about the events of the world rather than constantly being spoon fed what we think we are supposed to know. Perhaps this is the new media.

So maybe I will start Twittering. As Mark Twain said, “a minimum of sound to a maximum of sense.”