GoDaddy President & COO Warren Adelman, Personal Blog: The Twitter Sub-Culture

A Social Contract
Ramblings on the collision of technology and human nature

The Twitter Sub-Culture

I am a relatively new user of Twitter. My account is twitter.com/asocialcontract.

This presence-oriented, microblogging service, which has grown by leaps and bounds, has received a lot of attention (albeit most recently for outages and personnel issues).

Not too long ago it made headlines when an American student used it to announce his arrest in Egypt. He was freed the next day. I'm sure the Egyptian authorities were not aware of Twitter, however, it is surprising that they let him keep his cellphone. Doh! Lucky American.

Anyway, I have been tweeting away and pondering the best use for Twitter. During this time, a number of people (not just co-workers) have decided to "follow" my tweets. What will they learn? I tend to tweet about what I am doing at work (if it is not confidential) or something interesting I have stumbled upon or am involved in.

At the same time, some are claiming that Twitter is a huge time sink. Well I decided to do some random searches on Twitter and the results are a bit dismaying. Check out the following links and the associated tweets:

orange juice has phlegm creating properties, not good for colds

mmmmm cinnamon toast rules

I have had such a weird craving for milk today. I think I've had at least 8 glasses in the last few hours.

lying on the couch digesting my yummy breakfast

No question that some people have WAY too much time on their hands. There seems to be a whole Twiiter sub-culture that tweets about the most useless information possible. I hope nobody is following them!

Every outlet for human interaction or expression will indeed produce its idiots. There is no shortage, for example, of moronic journalists, but there are also many great journalists who have helped shape world events.

I think Twitter is what you (and your followers) make of it. In the years ahead, I think it will have an indelible impression on our social discourse.