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June 23, 2009
Old birds, new tune
Nostalgia is never progressive. So when I start waxing poetically about what Twitter used to be, know that I'm totally aware I'm living in the very recent past.
You see, I was very early on the Twitter wagon. Before #fixreplies, before the fail whale, before desktop apps and even before @replies. After reading the news of something new on Ev's blog, I joined shortly after launch--August 4, 2006, account number 3796. And so, I've been on twitter just short of three years.
Most of the people I added back then that still use twitter I consider friends now. Which is odd because I've only met one (that'd be @brad). When I mention them offline I usually refer to them as an "acquaintance", but the reality is that I've done considerably more with them than I've done with my apartment neighbors.
And we really are close. While we have our own friends and acquaintances we operate as a circle. I follow @brad, @mykul, @j1, @phenobarb, @jessie and @fru--and they all follow each other. @gorgeoux follows @crystal, as do I, @j1 and @jessie. @brad and I follow @super_mandy who was more a part of the crew when she was @jetpackjane. #fixreplies was made for people like us.
The problem, however, is that it's not the same twitter. the web app has gone novel, then kinda broke, then got fixed, then blew up, and now I'm not really sure what it is. It's a lot more about "What are you doing?" but less from the relationship perspective and more towards the whole social branding perspective. Which really makes everything feel a lot like high school, fighting for popularity and wondering if you're cool enough.
Nostalgia is never progressive, so I'll look forward to Twitter's next iteration and be the first to board that ship when it arrives. I'm just glad I was able to make friends here when it was possible to do so.
You see, I was very early on the Twitter wagon. Before #fixreplies, before the fail whale, before desktop apps and even before @replies. After reading the news of something new on Ev's blog, I joined shortly after launch--August 4, 2006, account number 3796. And so, I've been on twitter just short of three years.
Most of the people I added back then that still use twitter I consider friends now. Which is odd because I've only met one (that'd be @brad). When I mention them offline I usually refer to them as an "acquaintance", but the reality is that I've done considerably more with them than I've done with my apartment neighbors.
And we really are close. While we have our own friends and acquaintances we operate as a circle. I follow @brad, @mykul, @j1, @phenobarb, @jessie and @fru--and they all follow each other. @gorgeoux follows @crystal, as do I, @j1 and @jessie. @brad and I follow @super_mandy who was more a part of the crew when she was @jetpackjane. #fixreplies was made for people like us.
The problem, however, is that it's not the same twitter. the web app has gone novel, then kinda broke, then got fixed, then blew up, and now I'm not really sure what it is. It's a lot more about "What are you doing?" but less from the relationship perspective and more towards the whole social branding perspective. Which really makes everything feel a lot like high school, fighting for popularity and wondering if you're cool enough.
Nostalgia is never progressive, so I'll look forward to Twitter's next iteration and be the first to board that ship when it arrives. I'm just glad I was able to make friends here when it was possible to do so.
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