Did you really

10 Apr 2008, 3pm

When it first appeared in late 2006, Twitter seemed to me like a genuinely stupid idea. Great, more web whatever point whosit social networking blarf for those with a permanently internet-eroded attention span. But, then again, since 1966 I’ve received maybe thirteen SMSs, and sent about the same number – don’t even know how to do so on the current shoephone – so clearly I’m not in the target demo. And there was just something so, ugh, web whatever point whosit class-conscious about it. I mean, I like Maggie Mason and the stuff she does a lot, and even she might agree that that ‘just landed in LA’ on the twitter.com front page has got to be up there among the most unctuously precious things ever. Hey you, mister startup: please don’t try to sell me your fancy new gizmo with the same sort of air-quoted, I-didn’t-say-it-you-did fabulousity with which the dolts at Vanity Fair service the celebrity trade.

You’ll agree that everything deserves a second chance. A few months ago Twitter started slowly making sense. I’m not sure I concur that, as some have said, the constraints of 140 characters will force anyone to think or write in a meaningfully new way, but there’s something attractive about this throwaway stream of rants, thoughts, links, asides. Fragments of the lives of others just drift in, make you smile, or wince, or roll your eyes for a second, and then disappear. Very little offered, nothing expected in return. I can get behind that.

Sitting here midday at my desk when it’s evening tomorrow on the other side of the world, it’s admittedly fun to watch drunken Australians twitter back and forth about how, you know, drunk they are. I keep wondering if Ford’s attempts to constrict the format even further constitute a brilliant new advance in letters or if he’s just like one of those borderline OCD sufferers who can only speak in six-syllable phrases. It turns out that Tim Bray is actually a pretty funny guy. I use it for anger management. And I must of course now direct you at once to the only Twitter stream that really matters.

Why did I bring this up again? Right, the whole point was just to inform those who enjoy Oliver, Daily they can now be notified of a new photo via Twitter, and then it got all cranky and linkylinky and Vanity Fair and stuff. I’ll try to keep that in check.

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