Getting Left in the Dust

I am usually on top of things technology wise. But certain trends just don’t do it for me.

Take Twitter, a newish site that “that allows members to inform each other about what they are doing and what they think. It allows users to send messages via phone, instant messaging or the Twitter website.” (Wikipedia)

Is it just me, or is it (1) a big pain to always be putting in things like “on my way to work” and (2) really annoying to be constantly updated with what all of your acquaintances are doing throughout the day? To me, that would be very disinteresting and a little too much information about myself being put out there. I just don’t see the appeal. But the hipster Web 2.0 crowd evidently sees the appeal. Twitter won the 2007 South By Southwest Web Award.

And then there is MySpace. It seems like most everyone my age is on MySpace. I refuse, though. What is wrong with phone calls, IMs, blogs, and forums? Most of the MySpace pages are butt-ugly. Ze Frank even had a “I Knows Me Some Ugly MySpace Showdown.

And in 5 years…everyone will be on MySpace. Everyone will be on Twitter. Here’s to hoping I don’t cave.

• I never really “got” twitter. I think the technology behind it is cool (see http://twittervision.com/ for a really slick mapping dealie), but I really wonder about the sort of people who a) post about cleaning their office like anyone is going to care, or b) actually do care that some blogger is cleaning his office.

  I just don’t understand the appeal of it, beyond simple novelty – and it seems like that would wear off rather quickly.