Sam Harrelson

“I need an easy friend.”

People don’t like Twitter because they can’t define it, circumscribe it, control it or “metric” it.

It’s a constant ebb and flow of communication between individuals with personalities, passions, meals and walks with their dogs. “Do I care what someone has for breakfast?” has been the rallying cry of the anti-Twitterites, and it’s an understandable plea.

“What ever happened to privacy?”
“I’ve got enough of my life online, why would I want to participate in Twitter?”

On an on and on. Don’t tell these people that their clickstreams are already being sold for pennies and illusions of privacy are just that…

The problem is that Twitter is for everyone. It is what you make it. Don’t like someone’s constant posting? Then unsubscribe from them. Don’t think it’s “valuable” to spend a few seconds recording your stream of thought about an issue? Then don’t write it.

However, having those choices in the sandbox format of Twitter scares people. People like to be told how and why they should use a certain piece of equipment or toy or software of social network or handheld device.

God forbid we actually put together our GI Joe toys without looking at the instructions (or heaven forbid we actually put the stickers on that toy without looking to make sure we’ve put them in the right place).

Go play, people. Have some fun with Twitter. Have some fun with your life and your toys and your technology and stop trying to be so damned precise and practical. After all, we’re just a clump of billions and billions of atoms that are constantly twitterin’ us into existence.

Come as you are, as you were,
As I want you to be
As a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy
Take your time, hurry up
The choice is your, don’t be late
Take a rest as a friend as an old memory.

And I agree with Dave Winer… the WSJ article on Twitter made Tara Hunt out to be something she’s not (he used b*tch). Tara is one of the most giving, kind and communicative people I’ve met on the web.

Twitter, or the type of communication Twitter represents, is threatening to people in the same way blogging was a few years ago. It’s undergoing the same scrutiny and questions about it’s validity.

What I hope (but know enough to realize we won’t) we get out of Twitter is the idea that communication can’t be labeled with metaphysical terms like “valuable” or “inconsequential” or “stupid” or “worthy of attention.” We could (should) go into a lengthy discussion of language theory and ask questions about how and why we communicate (food? reproduction? community? altruism? survival?) and how platforms like Twitter tap into some of those unrequited needs that we have as communicating animals. Consider the birds.

So, go play. Hack into your PC or Mac or Linux box. Get your hands dirty learning a new code. Put together a toy without looking at the instructions. Figure it out yourself and push our species down the evolutionary trail a little bit more… and stop relying on authority figures to tell you how to or how not to use these toys and tools.

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