A Teen-less Twitterville
I love Twitter. But I can see why a lot of teens wouldn't.
My daughter tried it as did my neice, because they were curious about all the hype. But after a solid 24-hours, the declaration was "Twitter is boring."
Ahh, youth. So succint when they think something sucks.
Twitter isn't boring, but here's why I think they might think so:
Enough of their friends aren't on Twitter.
So they're left wandering Twitter town looking for people to follow. Well, they get enough of that follow crap in high school - follow directions, follow this crowd, don't follow that crowd, blah blah order and organization blah.
Facebook allows them to just be them in front of folks they already know. Twitter is like forcing them to attend a mixer and walk around the room introducing themselves to strangers, all night.
Twitter connects you with like-minded folks and/or keeps you updated on your favorite topics of interest.
In other words, it requires interaction.
Facebook, on the other hand, allows users to say "what's on their mind" *natch* then proceeds to let people start groups surrounding topics/issues near and dear to them. Which in reality would be a great way to network except folks are rarely active in FB groups. But us old fogeys are missing the point.
It's not about interacting with the group, it's just about joining it! If it were about interacting, how do you explain the ginormous amount of folk who joined Heath Ledger Should Win a Posthumous Oscar for The Joker group? There's nothing to discuss. If you disagree, just don't join the group.
The group itself is the statement and joining it shows how you're aligned.
Take that Twitter, with all your talking and linking and re-tweeting!
What? I've got to click through on stuff? Namp!
You upload a photo to Facebook, it's there for you and everyone even vaguely connected to your network to see. Put a tag on it and I think you can see FB photos from the space shuttle!
Twitter isn't as immediate. You've got to click through on a link to see photos or other web pages. Dude, that like takes time.
So I can see the disconnect for some young social networking fiends.
Now, now teens who tweet, don't go getting your panties in a bunch. I didn't say no teens tweet. And God forbid anyone should think Twitter un-hip simply because the 16 and under set hasn't christened it the shit. But, I think with Myspace, Facebook and Twitter reigning as the most recognizable social networks (this hour), it's safe to say the line has been drawn in the sand and folks are choosing sides.
Me, I straddle the fence.
Facebook is for the people IKRL. Ninety percent of the time my status is whatever lyric happens to run through my whirling mind. Yet it somehow still manages to sum up my state-of-mind, near perfectly. And with a quick comment here and there, I'm able to keep up with people I don't have enough time to see IRL. Ironic, I know. But I'm fine with that.
On the flip side, after a year of self-imposed social networking restriction (cut out all my blog reading and blogging and most of my forum participation in '08) I'm finally back in the YA loop, chatting with my writer friends. As an added perk, I get my pop culture/publishing news/entertainment gossip fix by following organizations and people in one spot vs. crusing the 'net all day hunting for it.
I'm sure the boss at my FTJ would be proud of my time management skills. See kids, Twitter is actually an organizational tool disguised as social networking.
Hmmm...that's probably not going to do much for increasing interest is it?
Oops.
My daughter tried it as did my neice, because they were curious about all the hype. But after a solid 24-hours, the declaration was "Twitter is boring."
Ahh, youth. So succint when they think something sucks.
Twitter isn't boring, but here's why I think they might think so:
Enough of their friends aren't on Twitter.
So they're left wandering Twitter town looking for people to follow. Well, they get enough of that follow crap in high school - follow directions, follow this crowd, don't follow that crowd, blah blah order and organization blah.
Facebook allows them to just be them in front of folks they already know. Twitter is like forcing them to attend a mixer and walk around the room introducing themselves to strangers, all night.
Twitter connects you with like-minded folks and/or keeps you updated on your favorite topics of interest.
In other words, it requires interaction.
Facebook, on the other hand, allows users to say "what's on their mind" *natch* then proceeds to let people start groups surrounding topics/issues near and dear to them. Which in reality would be a great way to network except folks are rarely active in FB groups. But us old fogeys are missing the point.
It's not about interacting with the group, it's just about joining it! If it were about interacting, how do you explain the ginormous amount of folk who joined Heath Ledger Should Win a Posthumous Oscar for The Joker group? There's nothing to discuss. If you disagree, just don't join the group.
The group itself is the statement and joining it shows how you're aligned.
Take that Twitter, with all your talking and linking and re-tweeting!
What? I've got to click through on stuff? Namp!
You upload a photo to Facebook, it's there for you and everyone even vaguely connected to your network to see. Put a tag on it and I think you can see FB photos from the space shuttle!
Twitter isn't as immediate. You've got to click through on a link to see photos or other web pages. Dude, that like takes time.
So I can see the disconnect for some young social networking fiends.
Now, now teens who tweet, don't go getting your panties in a bunch. I didn't say no teens tweet. And God forbid anyone should think Twitter un-hip simply because the 16 and under set hasn't christened it the shit. But, I think with Myspace, Facebook and Twitter reigning as the most recognizable social networks (this hour), it's safe to say the line has been drawn in the sand and folks are choosing sides.
Me, I straddle the fence.
Facebook is for the people IKRL. Ninety percent of the time my status is whatever lyric happens to run through my whirling mind. Yet it somehow still manages to sum up my state-of-mind, near perfectly. And with a quick comment here and there, I'm able to keep up with people I don't have enough time to see IRL. Ironic, I know. But I'm fine with that.
On the flip side, after a year of self-imposed social networking restriction (cut out all my blog reading and blogging and most of my forum participation in '08) I'm finally back in the YA loop, chatting with my writer friends. As an added perk, I get my pop culture/publishing news/entertainment gossip fix by following organizations and people in one spot vs. crusing the 'net all day hunting for it.
I'm sure the boss at my FTJ would be proud of my time management skills. See kids, Twitter is actually an organizational tool disguised as social networking.
Hmmm...that's probably not going to do much for increasing interest is it?
Oops.
posted by Paula at 3:09 AM
6 Comments:
I actually started tweeting in order to get John Hodgman's attention, because I wanted him to be my friend. But since then, my account has linked me to people who are just as, if not more, interesting as the people I know now.
I joined Myspace to connect with teens and my page ended up drawing every single person on earth who'd ever written anything resembling a book.
I made some good library connections via Myspace, but it didn't serve my original purpose and I lost interest...though my page is still somewhat up to date.
All three sites have their pros/cons. But if it doesn't meet the reason why I join, I get a bit ADD.
Hello!
I'm a fan your books.
I absolutely love all of them.
I can't wait until I get Flipping the Script!
(I don't know if you care but the day I bought Who You Wit'? I stayed up until...3 am to finish the whole thing. I really wish I savored it for the weekend, but I couldn't help myself. Your writing keeps me on the edge of my seat and I love how your writing is so easy for a teenager to relate to.)
I just wanted to say that.
ANYWAY, I have a teacher who uses Twitter and he says it's pretty boring for him too. I'm not really into social networks, but from what I've heard there isn't much to it. I keep debating whether I should get a Myspace or not, what do you think?
Hi Rose!! You're a chick after my own heart. I inhale books that I love and I'm always disappointed that I didn't draw it out more. But you just can't help it once you get snagged into a good book. So I'm tickled that you feel that way about my books.
Ya' know...I think social networking is something you do only if you already know why you're doing it.
It's so easy to get sucked in only b/c it's what everyone is talking about. But if it's not your deal, that's cool to.
I'm tied to my PC a lot b/c of writing, so Twitter and Facebook are easy ways for me to stay in touch with people and information.
But if you've avoided the Myspace craze this long, then you're not really missing out on much.
Thanks for the book love!
Hey Paula!
Thanks for the encouragement on my blog.
Me, I'm not so sure about this Twitter business. Like your daughter, I just don't know anyone on it. Everyone keeps posting all these celebs to follow but I'm just like... sigh. But after reading your post, I just might have to go explore it again. I also feel discouraged because I don't have internet on my cellphone. So I can't be a cool Twitter on the move. But I'm in front of a computer like 70% of the time so it shouldn't really matter!
Everyone keeps posting all these celebs to follow but I'm just like... sigh.
@Summer - Oh I hear you. I'm not on it to cyber suck up to celebs. You know? We know every move they make anyway!
Look around for things that interest you. Check out wefollow.com. It divides Twitterville into subjects like writing, fashion etc...Maybe you have other fave authors you want to follow. Litchat does weekly chats at 4 p.m. EST talking all things books and I'm trying to get them to do a YA book talk next month.
So there's definitely interesting stuff out there, but finding it is a challenge. Navigating Twitter isn't as easy it could be.
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