Google CEO: Twitter is Poor Man's Email

[tayb]

Twitter is the most worthless website I have been to in a while. For the life of me I can't figure out why or how it is becoming popular. Check out facebook and delete all the features except for status updates and you have twitter. Facebook itself is a stupid social networking site but at least it has some value to students. I see no value at all in Twitter.

 

[zodiacfml]

just got from its homepage and watched a short twitter video, i can say the service is not far from what facebook gives its users.
i also heard a similar feature which is called a Plurk, its plurk.com,i think.

these won't go mainstream but will find its users.

 

[goryachev]

Don't know what is Twitter all about. Heard a lot about it, but no one actually explained what it is for. I manage to do all my things without it, so probably, it's not that important.

 

[bustapr]

I really dont know what twitter is, but why did he say "twitter is poor mans email", isn't gmail also free so that even homeless people can have one? Twitter,hotmail,yahoo,and gmail are all poor mans email deuschbag!

 

[tenor77]

I agree. Hubris. Personally I'd be proud NOT to have created twitter. Who wants to be the guy responsible for the Macarena of the internet?
Ahh freshman year of college, watching a bunch of idiots standing in line in the courtyard dancing like idiotic puppets. Aren't trends fun?

 

[bounty]

It's probably like the comment section you see at the bottom of many articles. Useless, but sometimes funny?

 

[ezareth]

I think by saying 'Poor man's email' he isn't talking about the cost, but merely a stripped down version of a better product.

I'm surprised so many people seem to have missed the connection.

I also agree that Twitter is all but useless.

 

[glorfendel]

I think what he is getting at is in the world of mobile mass communication twitter is the poor man’s email. Iphones windows mobile blackberry’s with exchange or imap are not cheap you know.

 

[malusman]

Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, and the like are havens for narcissists. They are the AOL of the new millenium, and will phase out eventually, perhaps leaving behind a few scraps of useful technology; much like AOL's instant messenger, which is pretty much all that's left of the former behemoth.

 

[martin0642]

Well, back in the 19th century people were with other people a lot. Families lived closer, people had more siblings, hobbies were usually outdoors. Technology and modern living served to physically isolate people, but the emotional desire to communicate (when the need strikes) remains. The internet allows a "have your cake and eat it too" mentality, because you can casually talk about things that might not rate a dedicated phone call, and it's more low key to send a 1 line email, an IM, or a text, and no ones expecting an instant reply in most cases. We're getting back what we lost.

The problem is, in the modern iteration, the murmurings don't go to your brother sitting next to you, they go to millions of viewers (in the case of the congressional 'tweets) and are there for later review.

People are just realizing the "mental diarrhea" that comes out of most people daily is really not that interesting or slick. It's not like a well-considered and thought out paper or work with a real point, it's just raw unfiltered and uninteresting humanity.

It's sad that politicians are lowering the public discourse because they are convinced they lost an election because they didn't use enough gimmicks. They lost because the playing the religion/abortion/homosexuality/Reagan fiscal policy cards won't work on the modern generation who either don't care about those issues or just took the time to observe the the conservative movement became a puppet for big industry and abandoned their central tenets. I want to see a Real Ron Paul Republican party rise from the ashes, but until then there is only one choice for most folks. By posting inane details of their day, during events they SHOULD be paying attention to, politicians remind us why we need to get these baby boomers out of office.

In the modern world, we can look up your voting record, we can pull up your campaign promises, we can fact check your claims. So now, maybe start representing us and providing real substance instead of playing games. Twitter is a tool with a specific use case, apply it when it's relevant, just like other tools of the modern age, and do your job.

 

[theuerkorn]

Used Twitter once and got quickly bored of it as it's the online version of today's texting addiction. I mean having kids text each other even when sitting next to each other rather than talking is a sign of inability of social interaction. I mean, the kid that had 13,000 sms per month and then the one that had like 40,000 in a month ... obviously not healthy. Twitter is just moving the concept to the internet and extends the "friends" circle. I fail to see its value, but for those addicted to sms it's certainly a way to communicate with "the world". I wonder when the first job interviews are attempted to be texted. ;-)

Yes, most of us ney-sayers are probably just getting old, but there is some truth in loosing social skills when relying to much on virtual worlds. (Not to mention Spelling or Grammar.)

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]fuser[/nom]What is Twitter? Seriously. I don't know anyone who uses it. I must be getting old.Eric was probably thinking about the 160 character limit on SMS.[/citation]

With ya here! I don't know a single soul that ever mentioned twitter in a conversation. I'm sure it's successful and all. It merely depends on what the definition of success is. I bet if I'd send an email to all of my family asking if anyone knows what twitter is good for, I'd get no response at all.