bphogan.com

Twitter.com has been growing rapidly since the end of SXSW, which is great for them, but I can’t help thinking that Twitter just really isn’t a good idea. I’ve been thinking about this for a few days and have come to the conclusion that it’s just another tool that allows people to act more self-important than they are. Apparently I am not alone in my thoughst.

I don’t know if Twitter can last very long. It requires a lot of attention from the user. You have to get into the habit of posting to it, and while you can use SMS or IM to post what you’re doing, the whole thing seems pointless. I want my friends to interact with me… if they want to know what’s going on, I’d hope they would call me. That’s one of the main reasons I don’t put every detail about my life on my blog – I’m not deluded enough to think that people care about me.

That’s the problem. The current generation (and I think I’m still in that group, at least from my observations of myself and my peers) is too narcissistic, too self-absorbed, too self-centered. Look at the popular sites like MySpace, Facebook, and the others. Twitter just put me over the edge a bit.

If you’re self-absorbed and self-centered, chances are you lack empathy and compassion for others. That scares me, as those are the two qualities that I believe make us human.

I go out of my way to help other people. Some people respect that and always do their best to pay me back even though they know I don’t expect it. Others just burn me out with their constant questions and needs, but I don’t do all that I do for personal glory or recognition. It’s not about drawing attention to myself, it’s helping others succeed because I am then contributing to something meaningful.

There is no such thing as a selfish act, but you can at least have good motivations behind it.

The difference between me ranting about this on my blog and the average Twitter user is that I don’t hope (or care) that anyone reads this posting.

P.S.: I’m all for self-promotion, in fact I am quite good at it when I need to be. I just make sure that for every opportunity I am given, I give something of value to someone else. I would hope that you would do the same.