Post-It Notes, The Original Twitter
Why does everyone feel the need to have an opinion about Twitter? Was it like this in China back in the day? Back when they invented paper, I mean.
Were half the population going around saying that this new paper stuff will change everything, while the other half tried to convince them that they were full-of-it?
Were the fireworks sellers and rice merchants running around, like chickens with their heads cut off, yelling about paradigm shifts and the need for paper-specific strategies?
Did the recipient of the first letter written on paper go; “Why are these people telling me what they did yesterday – do they really think I care?”
Did the readers of the first newspaper go; “Why are these people telling me what all these other people did yesterday? I’m really busy and important and don’t have time for this.”
Was the first guy to write his shopping list on a scrap of paper greeted with a chorus of; “We gave you this amazing technology and all you can think to do with it is write an inane list?!”
People, Twitter is just another tool. Let’s all stop taking it so personally. Either it will become the notepaper of its day or it will be another fad. What will be, will be. In the meantime, if it works for you, use it and shut up– and if it doesn’t work for you, don’t use it and shut up.
Now, can we just move on?
Mark Braddock is the Founder and Creative Director of Block, an
award-winning brand development and management agency based in
Australia. Visit Block online.
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You have posed some interesting questions!
I would have to say that almost all of them end with yes, though. Everyone has an opinion about everything that they come across. Fortunately, or most of the time unfortunately, they also really want to share it!
While it creates a funny image in my mind, I imagine that there were paper evangelists and paper naysayers. Imagine being there and studying both types, learning their reasoning for their likes or dislikes and cataloging them to use “personal philosophies” to establish “cultural accessories”, aka brands.
Thank you for very thought provoking article! I hope to see a bunch more people share their opinions about people sharing their opinions.
Amen! If it’s right for you, you probably already know. If it’s not, same thing. Twitter is great if you have a reason to use to use, but it sucks if you just using it to use it. Thanks for the shot of perspective.
The fact that everyone uses Twitter, gives them clause to talk about it. It does get incredibly annoying though. Whether you’re an expert, guru, hater, protected user, etc., you have an opinion, and most likely a strong one. Amazing that this tool as affected so many.