Twitter is dead, long live Twitter…
OK, this week the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Information Technology” section focused on “Ten High Fliers on Twitter”. Some of the usual suspects were highlighted… Rosen, Rheingold, etc… but one caught my attention… Gordon Gee, President of Ohio State. This is a sign…in Wired Magazine’s terminology (from Wired to Tired to Expired) Twitter has in my view “Expired”. First, the Chronicle tries to keep up but it’s behind and when a college President is twittering… albeit for only two weeks, it’s all over with… I mean really, how often do you hear of university presidents as trend setters?
I know the Chronicle of Higher Education is a “must read” for many of us. It’s a place to read about all the great stuff everyone else is doing. It’s a place to read about minor scandals in academe, a place to post jobs (well, when there were jobs), conference announcements, opinions (mostly by English professors… does this go on a CV?) and on occasion there is even something interesting (often in the advertisements).
So, if twittering is getting old hat, what’s “hot”. Well, at the risk of sticking my neck out I’d say lot’s of stuff with mobile technology… yes, there are some cool Twitter apps from the Apple Store for the iPhone and the Google phone offerings are starting to heat up but you don’t have to believe anything I say. You can read Wired but I think you should just go find a group of 13 year-old girls and ask them… in the old terminology, “they rule.”
Want a hint of what’s to come? Go to Japan or South Korea and look at what 13-year-old girls are doing there, or if you can’t get there, go to an upscale suburban mall. Thirteen-year-old girls are my focus group and they are at the mall in force. My daughter is 17 now, past her prime, but when she was thirteen I asked her and her friends what mobile phone company they preferred… at the time, they said “Cingular” (“the new AT&T”, or I guess it’s the old AT&T now) so I immediately switched from my old company… and they were right, the connection was better in our location. There is other evidence... for example, who won the world championship in texting last year? That’s right, a 13-year-old girl. Pay attention.
I spend a fair amount of time in Starbucks, Borders, Paneras, in airports and yes, libraries. I listen to others’ conversations (let’s not go there!) and I pay particular attention to what people say about technology and how they use technology (I know, I should file with our IRB). I listen to kids talking about their friends and how their parents (mostly mothers) are on Facebook now… and how that’s mostly bad from their point of view and I listen to mothers talk about Facebook and what their kids are doing and worse yet “What their daughters’ friends are posting”.
I do know this… when you mother is on Facebook, it’s all over, find another place to go… when the President of Ohio State has discovered Twitter… it’s “tired” at best and likely on the verge of "expired".
So, forget it… if you are thinking about twittering, think again… Twitter is soooo 2008... and this Blog… sooooo 2004. Go read a book, the public libraries are still open or better yet download it to your Kindle 2… or just ask a 13-year-old girl what to do. They know.
I know the Chronicle of Higher Education is a “must read” for many of us. It’s a place to read about all the great stuff everyone else is doing. It’s a place to read about minor scandals in academe, a place to post jobs (well, when there were jobs), conference announcements, opinions (mostly by English professors… does this go on a CV?) and on occasion there is even something interesting (often in the advertisements).
So, if twittering is getting old hat, what’s “hot”. Well, at the risk of sticking my neck out I’d say lot’s of stuff with mobile technology… yes, there are some cool Twitter apps from the Apple Store for the iPhone and the Google phone offerings are starting to heat up but you don’t have to believe anything I say. You can read Wired but I think you should just go find a group of 13 year-old girls and ask them… in the old terminology, “they rule.”
Want a hint of what’s to come? Go to Japan or South Korea and look at what 13-year-old girls are doing there, or if you can’t get there, go to an upscale suburban mall. Thirteen-year-old girls are my focus group and they are at the mall in force. My daughter is 17 now, past her prime, but when she was thirteen I asked her and her friends what mobile phone company they preferred… at the time, they said “Cingular” (“the new AT&T”, or I guess it’s the old AT&T now) so I immediately switched from my old company… and they were right, the connection was better in our location. There is other evidence... for example, who won the world championship in texting last year? That’s right, a 13-year-old girl. Pay attention.
I spend a fair amount of time in Starbucks, Borders, Paneras, in airports and yes, libraries. I listen to others’ conversations (let’s not go there!) and I pay particular attention to what people say about technology and how they use technology (I know, I should file with our IRB). I listen to kids talking about their friends and how their parents (mostly mothers) are on Facebook now… and how that’s mostly bad from their point of view and I listen to mothers talk about Facebook and what their kids are doing and worse yet “What their daughters’ friends are posting”.
I do know this… when you mother is on Facebook, it’s all over, find another place to go… when the President of Ohio State has discovered Twitter… it’s “tired” at best and likely on the verge of "expired".
So, forget it… if you are thinking about twittering, think again… Twitter is soooo 2008... and this Blog… sooooo 2004. Go read a book, the public libraries are still open or better yet download it to your Kindle 2… or just ask a 13-year-old girl what to do. They know.
posted by hsypher at 5:42 AM
2 comments
