Public Internet shaming

Someone tell me again why, exactly, Twitter is so great and I should join it NOW?

 

Because it's the best way I know of to have a customized news feed.

 

The best thing about Twitter is that it allows you to have a customized news feed.

The worst thing about Twitter is that it allows you to have a customized news feed.

I experimented with it for a while, but deactivated my account a few months ago. There were two main reasons.

First, I did not want to customize my news consumption to that extent. I'm back to reading a general newspaper in the morning, along with general news magazines. Customization comes largely via my interest in sports, which isn't difficult to pursue even without Twitter. I largely don't care about breaking sports news, to be honest. Most of what I need to know I get from box scores, transactions, and sortable stats.

Second, I found it overwhelming. I felt, in a way, less informed when I was on Twitter than I do now, off of it, slowing down my news to a (mostly) daily report. It's a waterfall of information, and I felt overwhelmed at times trying to keep up. Like I was failing as a citizen and a news consumer and a fan if I wasn't monitoring it. I have read that others feel the same way on Twitter. FOMO.

RickStain will, not to put words in his mouth, probably be able to tell me why either there are ways around these impulses on Twitter, by customizing your feed in the correct manner, or why customization is actually a preferable way to follow the news. If he doesn't, then SportsPredictor or JC or some other posters here who are good at calling people on their bullshit will do the same. But I am who I am. And I've elected to artificially short-circuit my worst impulses. That meant getting off of Twitter. For me, at least, it did more harm than good.

 

In no way is a "customized news feed" worth the risk of inadvertently exposing myself to the "wrath of the enraged Twittersphere."

Social media's faux outrage/activism is a pox on this society.

 

It's great even if you never tweet. It's your own, personalized news feed.

 

Apparently, between this, and the Oakland A's thread, I have no original thoughts this morning.

 

I feel like this sometimes.

What I need to do is create lists, so if there's some information I want, I can get to it, and not have to scroll through hundreds/thousands of posts.

 

I've found that I'm pretty good at not tweeting photos of myself dressed as a crime victim for Halloween. It's served me well.

 

I mean, I guess that's up to you. If you are that scared of the idea, then it's not for you.

A lot of people who say they don't want to be on Twitter seem to be under the impression that the only reason to be on Twitter is to put out a lot of messages yourself. I'm looking back at my profile, and I've posted two non-reply tweets in the last six months, but I use Twitter almost every day. The vast majority of Twitter use for ordinary people is following, not broadcasting.

 

Anticipating what goes "viral" and whips everyone into a frenzy is the very definition of an inexact science.

 

I tried to Tweet out a few times, mostly as an attempt to build my "brand" as a still-active writer/journalist. It was like Tweeting out into the ethos, though. Facebook definitely has the feedback loop thing down a lot better.

 

Again, how could it be such a surprise that her dressing in that costume and putting a photo of it online would attract a lot of unwanted attention?