http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/2008/08/the-absurdity-of-twitter/ A view from the middle Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:51:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/2008/08/the-absurdity-of-twitter/#comment-799 Consumption as Self-Expression, Lifestreaming, and the Social Signal:Noise Ratio | StraussBlog Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:34:36 +0000 http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/?p=39#comment-799 [...] that require some kind of proactive communication on the part of the publisher. In my recent post about Twitter, I talked about how the on-demand nature of the Internet enables us to have a signal:noise ratio [...] [...] that require some kind of proactive communication on the part of the publisher. In my recent post about Twitter, I talked about how the on-demand nature of the Internet enables us to have a signal:noise ratio [...]

]]> http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/2008/08/the-absurdity-of-twitter/#comment-775 Joel Moss Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:14:41 +0000 http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/?p=39#comment-775 That video of hitler literally gave me faith in Hitler jokes again. I mean, I have seen so many bad hitler jokes over the years, That I had forgotten how awesome a good one could be! Thank you, a) for sharing this, and more importantly, b) thank you people who build time machines for not going back and preventing hitler from existing, because if they did, I wouldn't have just gotten that awesome laugh I totally just got! That video of hitler literally gave me faith in Hitler jokes again. I mean, I have seen so many bad hitler jokes over the years, That I had forgotten how awesome a good one could be!
Thank you,
a) for sharing this, and more importantly,
b) thank you people who build time machines for not going back and preventing hitler from existing, because if they did, I wouldn’t have just gotten that awesome laugh I totally just got!

]]> http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/2008/08/the-absurdity-of-twitter/#comment-773 jonathan Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:21:19 +0000 http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/?p=39#comment-773 @ Robi Ganguly: There are definitely many useful practical use-cases that come out of Twitter's serendipitous nature. But, there are arguably more appropriate solutions specifically targeted at those use-cases (e.g. Loopt for figuring out when you're near a friend; Dopplr for letting people know when you're coming to town). Yes, you can say that Twitter's power is in its flexibility to serve these use-cases (and others), though not as well as the more specific services, without one needing to sign up for all of them. But, I rarely find myself compulsively checking what's going on in my Twitterverse to find those specific use-cases -- I'm primarily looking to find what's going on with my little personal Techmeme, any practical use-cases that come out of that are secondary. @ Robi Ganguly: There are definitely many useful practical use-cases that come out of Twitter’s serendipitous nature. But, there are arguably more appropriate solutions specifically targeted at those use-cases (e.g. Loopt for figuring out when you’re near a friend; Dopplr for letting people know when you’re coming to town). Yes, you can say that Twitter’s power is in its flexibility to serve these use-cases (and others), though not as well as the more specific services, without one needing to sign up for all of them. But, I rarely find myself compulsively checking what’s going on in my Twitterverse to find those specific use-cases — I’m primarily looking to find what’s going on with my little personal Techmeme, any practical use-cases that come out of that are secondary.

]]> http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/2008/08/the-absurdity-of-twitter/#comment-772 Robi Ganguly Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:40:35 +0000 http://jonathanhstrauss.com/blog/?p=39#comment-772 While I wouldn't exactly say that Twitter helps me go to sleep, I think that the serendipitous nature of the communications that occur there are super helpful. Take, for example, the time you Twittered that you were at SFO and then I did as well, which enabled us to share a cab back to the city. Or the numerous times where we've used it to figure out who was out in the city we were in, without having to text message specific friends in search of activity. I don't think that Twitter has built the tools that are necessary to really modulate the signal:noise ratio, but I am betting there's a lot of opportunity there. The more control we have over that, the more likely other people are to use the services, because they can turn the ratio way down and then experiment with ratcheting it up. While I wouldn’t exactly say that Twitter helps me go to sleep, I think that the serendipitous nature of the communications that occur there are super helpful. Take, for example, the time you Twittered that you were at SFO and then I did as well, which enabled us to share a cab back to the city. Or the numerous times where we’ve used it to figure out who was out in the city we were in, without having to text message specific friends in search of activity. I don’t think that Twitter has built the tools that are necessary to really modulate the signal:noise ratio, but I am betting there’s a lot of opportunity there. The more control we have over that, the more likely other people are to use the services, because they can turn the ratio way down and then experiment with ratcheting it up.

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