Random Musings by CuratorCat, Volume I

Truth be known, I never really cared about twitter, or "X" as it is now called.

My original account there dates to some time in 2008, my subsequent account is from 2020, a "reboot" of sorts with the intent of promoting/supporting Hive content and related.

I just never could find any kind of meaningful traction there. Perhaps the key part of that sentence is "meaningful."

Which is not to say that I haven't used twitter, over the years.

For example, every time our power gets knocked out, I use twitter to check on the power company's feed to see the scope and status of the outage, and when they estimate restoration of service.

Same thing when we "feel a bit of a rumble," I'll check the USGS feed to see of there was, in fact, an earthquake nearby.

There are a couple of artists/game platforms who announce stuff on twitter, but I go specifically to their profiles to look for updates. I don't really "use" twitter.

Promotional Stuff...?

At some point I was convinced (by people "who know about such things") that twitter might be a good promotional tool for my online sales and services businesses, to announce new items, and to let people know about special events and such.

I was never really able to determine that it actually helped in any way.

Thinking back to the many trade shows and other events we attended as vendors or exhibitors, I can't say anyone ever asked whether we were "on twitter," while lots of people asked whether we were "on Facebook" or "had a website."

Meanwhile, perusing the visitor logs on our web sites and sales venues typically revealed that twitter was the "source" of a visit onl;y once in a blue moon.

Hardly worth the effort, if you ask me...

I Tried, I Really Did!

Often, my biggest challenge seemed to be finding meaningful (there's that word again!) accounts to follow... while hoping that I would end up being followed by equally meaningful accounts... not just a bunch of "empty shells" making up a big number, while not actually ever engaging with my shares.

At the peak of my "old" account, my average tweet had maybe 150-200 "actions" — which might sound impressive, but to what end?

Some folks tried to persuade me that it was "about being social," which always sounded to be very similar to that old reasoning for going to business parties and mixers: "To be seen, and to network."

Which — in most cases — is actually kind of bogus because everyone is there hoping to sell while almost nobody is there hoping to buy.

But nobody really wants to look at the somewhat uncomfortable reality that a one-sided marketplace really isn't a "marketplace."

Signal vs. Noise

I've gradually come to realize that part of my issue with twitter/X — and short form content, in general — is the incredibly high proportion of meaningless "noise" compared to actual "signal" that has any value.

And maybe that simply has to do with how we each value our time.

Some might argue that the "value" lies in the entertainment value, and whereas I can appreciate that perspective, I can't really say it applies to my own life. I would be really hard pressed to say that I feel "entertained" by twitter.

In fact, it's probably hovering around 17th-18th place on the list of "things that entertain me," somewhere between folding laundry and weeding the garden... but definitely well ahead of cleaning the septic system.

And no, I'm not some sort of "technological luddite;" I started working with computers in 1976 (before many of you were even born) and was among the first 250K people to have Internet access and email.

It's just that I don't subscribe to the "If it can be said in 200 words, it can be said BETTER in a handful of abbreviations" school of thought.

No. No, it can't. It can only be misunderstood better.

And I am not entertained by the same meme being recycled for the 45,647th time. That's the damn noise I don't want to hear... much like the eternal screeching of seagulls around a ship's galley. But they just screech and screech because once in a great while there will be food scraps.

And maybe that's part of our problem...

Curator Cat, March 21st, 2024

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