The actual answer is that it would have crashed, but if it didn't, how would something on that scale have been "tweeted" within 140 characters?
11 September 2009
25 August 2008
Want to sue Twitter? Afraid though of their legal department? Don't worry; they don't have one!
My little Twitter experiment is pretty much over. It took just a few days to realize that the minutiae of my life fills too much time to have a moment to report on it. Others still tweet along and the site does continue to grow. It's still a startup though, as the the story of XGirlA, a Twittering X-Men character, illustrates:
Months ago, I read an advance script for the "Astonishing X-Men" comic, in which the X-Men character Armor was seen posting on Twitter as XGirlA. I wanted to see if the writer Warren Ellis or Marvel Comics had registered a Twitter identity. They hadn't. So I did.
I mirrored her posts in the comics, then wrote a kind of meta-commentary on the San Diego Comic Con, and was considering writing an ongoing narrative bouncing off on events in "Astonishing X-Men."
However last week, Marvel Entertainment sent a legal claim to Twitter and the small start up kowtowed, dumping the Twitter ID. After asking what was happening, a Twitter representative told me, "I'd rather resolve this issue without getting Marvel's legal department involved because we are a very small start-up and lack a legal department."
Link: Lying In The Gutters
19 August 2008
My opening of a Twitter account does not imply a belief that mine is an interesting life.
There was a party Friday night where I found myself discussing where one places oneself at a party. My thesis was that those in the middle of a room, actively seeking attention from large groups were far less interesting than those on the sides of the room, observing the action and having intimate, less competitive (as it were) discussions. While not a slam against the 23 year old petite Kuwaiti with whom I was chatting (from my location, lounging in a hammock in the corner), since he was of the 'middle-of-the-room' set, he took it as such. Being gracious, I suggested that we were both right.
But what does that have to do with Twitter, the site of those who believe the minutiae their lives to be interesting enough to be publishable "content"? My guess is that the majority are middle-of-the-room types, wearing summer scarves, bright accessories, and with amazing stories of what happened to them on the subway on the way to amazing parties. So what happens when a different mindset attaches itself to the website du jour (or d'hier, since I'm late to this story; even the freaking Times is twatting, um, tweeting.)
Further, I'm looking at how the Internet has increasingly transferred from outsiders looking in to outsiders looking to be in. Is this part of the hand-off from Generation X to Millennials, or is it simply a matter of different personality types being attracted to the medium? Or is it a matter of the technology dumbing down enough becoming more accessible to be used by a wider assortment of users? Or maybe it's a system of "begats" going back to the 90's? Anyway, it's something I'm sort of focusing on currently.
With the above, I've rationalized my narcissism enough to self-delude myself that this post isn't a beg-off for followers on Twitter. (Oh, and follow me!)
