Everyone and their monkey is doing Twitter these days. Norm MacDonald has thrown his hat into the sea of hats:

Norm MacDonald

He's the funniest one I'm following so far.

Are any of you on there?

This place is about as much online posting as I can handle. I don't face, twit, or space out

I just joined facebook.......already outdated by Twitter?
Reminds me of my Audio hobby.

I don't twitter or myspace, and I was sort of "forced" into facebook about a year and a half ago. I volunteer with Jr High and Sr High kids on Wednesday nights, and since a lot of them were on Facebook, we agreed that the adults should be too to try to be in the same "world" as the kids...


Most of the time I find it just a lot, and I mean a LOT, of crap to weed through. Do people really want to know what everyone else is thinking or posting? I know that I skip a lot of it. I am, however, hooked on Mafia Wars which keeps me on facebook multiple times a day just to bank my money, and rob people, plus the normal "jobs" that need to be done.... Take out a mob boss, etc...

I shure as hell don't. Though, JP's lunch reports were interesting for a while.

I joined Facebook about 6 months ago because everyone around me wouldn't stop incessantly chatting about how awesome it was. While it was interesting to re-meet many of my old high school associates, that's about the extent of it. Hey, yeah, glad you're an attorney - amusing since you were in detention more than class. Yeah, glad you blew out a few kids and have found Jesus, especially since you were the one that used to spray paint pentagrams around the school. I really don't care that your cat just threw up. Honestly.

And don't even get me started on Twitter. I think it's the prelude to the downfall of our civilization. My feelings are that it's nothing more than a narcissistic ego trip for feeble-minded individuals. Everyone's a celebrity! Not. I was especially appalled when all of the mainstream media thought it was cool that all of the representatives were Twittering at Obama's address a few weeks ago. Hey! How about PAYING ATTENTION rather than sending Tweets to your Peeps, "OMG LOL! GR8 NWS ABT BUDGT! WOOT!!" Spare me.

But hey, what do I know. The guys that started Facebook and Twitter are millionaires, so apparently they've tapped into something!

Get off my lawn.

Yeah, I fail to see any lasting appeal so far (re: Twitter). It surprises me how many people are announcing they're on Twitter lately. I suppose it's a sure sign of the death of the attention span. People don't want to take the time to read or write anything substantial, so Twitter to the rescue. I suppose if you're fixated on an individual and they're a frequent updater, though, that it works out for you.

I'm on Facebook, but not Twitter or Myspace. There's a few of us Axiomites on Facebook: pmbuko, kcarlile, CV, sonicfox, nickbuol, Adamp88, Efalardeau, and tomtuttle are the ones I know of. Real names have been omitted to protect the innocent.

Facebook, to me, is an overall positive. The pros of getting back in contact with desired old friends, sharing photos, and offering opinions and jokes outweigh the cons of seeing all kinds of crap details about/by your distant friends, as PeterC alludes to.

I have to say, however, that I am increasingly pissed off at those "IQ" quizzes that are springing up EVERYWHERE. Facebook is rife with them. Every page seems to load with a claim that two of my friends scored 'this' and 'that' (usually 127 and 119) - "Can you beat them?"

Well, yes, probably, but that's not the point. First, these sites are fraudulently throwing out fake numbers, such as "Obama's IQ = 125", "Bush's IQ = 120", "Average Red Sox fan = 116", etc. Lies, fraud, shenanigans! Second, what these things are is NOT legitimate IQ tests, of course. Hopefully most people realize this, and, if so, then sure go ahead and play your silly little games and have some fun. Just realize that the numbers generated mean nothing. No validity, nada. Leave the real IQ testing to psychologists.

(end rant)

*sigh*


JP forgot about me. . . .

ooh, burn...

I'm ignoring JP from now on!!!

*runs off in a huff*

I don't know about this. If psychologists have the highest average IQ of any occupation, then their findings are suspicious, but if they don't have the highest average, then why are they qualified to determine IQ?

Awww, the Norm MacDonald Twitter was allegedly fake. It's no longer there today.

Um..... That IS my real name! Doh!

Nick

I guess that means you weren't one of the innocent.

I've been meaning to join Facebook for the last couple of months, but never got around to it. Coincidentally, Joyce joined last week and has mentioned to me that it's all a bit "much".... but I probably still will try it.

I'm always one generation behind what's cool....

I didn't sign up for Myspace until Facebook came out and estabished itself as cooler. Now I'll join Facebook because Twitter is all the rage.

I still get the most use out of MySpace, simply because it's still the best way to track bands. I'm not social enough to get real value out of the others.

I Twit a little, but mainly follow others on Twitter.

Sadly, very true. A few months ago I read the results of a survey that indicated that, among other thing, a huge percentage (I forget the number so I won`t quote a number) of the American population hadn`t read a book since ... they left grade school!

Additionally, the statistics available to web site administrators make it easy to apply some analysis to your statement.

About 70% of the visitors that land on my site stay for less than 30 seconds, even when the content displayed explains ways to resolve the challenges for which they were searching. Conversely, over 10% of the visitors stay for over a half hour, and over half of them stay for over an hour. That smaller group is my target. The challenge is that niche sites like mine need to attract a lot of people so that you can get the smaller core group that you really are after establishing a connection with.

It often amazes me that people around the world regularly visit my site, and that a good number have elected to subscribe to a free service that delivers the updates that I post to my site direct to their email within hours.

There`s a real recommendation on those who profess to be blogging advisors to use any and all of the social networking tools, especially Twitter.

Now I could be wrong, but even with a bit of an established readership, I cannot talk myself into believing that anyone would want to `follow me` on Twitter.

Plus, I`d rather devote my time to build even more content for my site.

Well, either that or hanging out here.

I heard the past tense of 'twit' is like the past tense of 'sit'. The best description of Twitter I've heard so far is "140 character chunks of id."

I'm pretty sure I swear more on twitter than anywhere else online.

So that's why they went with "tweet" instead, huh?

T'what did you say?

Sean, I'm sorry! I must have gotten drunk on all those 40s you sent me on Facebook. Seriously, I looked at my friends tagged Axiom, and you weren't there. Your tag must have fallen off. Try not to scratch so much next time, and it'll stay on, I bet.

Hey, did anybody see that video of Meredith Viera and Stephen Colbert talking about Twitter on "Today"? Well, he took the opportunity to play with the past tense a la pmbuko.

That (good) part of the video has been removed, but here's a link with some amusing backstory.

*comes running back*

That's okay, JP!!


Here, have another 40. . .

Ow. My sides.

Bren R.

Funny, I just signed up on twitter today and saw this thread.

Hi ever'ybody!

((Hi, Dr. Nick!!))

I just wanted to let you know that I made a Facebook quiz: Which Psychiatric Medication Are You?

The programming was so hard!

Please take my quiz. I'm a slut for page hits.

I'm Xanax!

Danke! I'm Ritalin!

I'm invasive lobotomy, does that count?

Lithium for me.

I joined FB for that??

Zoloft!!

Whoo hoo!

Damn!

I wanted to be zoloft!

I'm Lithium, too, though I don't have Zoloft envy.

Cool, 84 users so far. Will post user graphs if this goes bigger...

Users, huh? Does that make you our dealer?

Heh. What gets me is that there have been 240 views, but only 84 people took the quiz. Got a lot of people declining to take the quiz. Guess that's par for the course.

I'm waiting for a reward to be offered like in many honesty testing studies.

I don't trust facebook apps, so I may be one of those.

Hey, 5 users in the last hour ...

I'm there

Ritalin for me?! That description is probably the complete opposite of my personality, but what the heck!

+1 hit for medic8r!!

Cool, almost 50,000 unique users so far. Really took off once the weekend hit. Here's the usage graph:



(Quiz was launched 4/1/09, Weds)

Do you get money for this?

I wish.

Just for fun. Guess I'll have to stick to my porn ventures to make $$$ on the web.

Just Kidding!

Twitter and facebook are too dangerous for me. I've avoided both for a long time.

However, I gave in to Twitter last week because an offer made available on MacHeist. By signing up on Twitter, I was able to download 2 more programs.

For you Mac users, it's kinda cool.

http://www.macheist.com/

I know I am late to this thread.....

But that is my point, I don't have a lot of time...to even keep up on here...let alone the other sites.

The exception is LinkedIn, which can be useful - if used correctly

Ah revive the thread.
I'm with PeterC on this one.

Too many twits twittering.

I can see it for the younger crowd, teens and so forth, it is always the cool thing to have the latest gadgets and clothes and online trends, but when the 40+ aged friends i have feel the need to act like Paris Hilton twittering at a dinner in a restaurant to check on where their friends are with another two just 'itching' to get back home because of some big 'to do' that came up on facebook, i have this urge to have a brain aneurysm.
Can anyone leave the digital gadgets for an hour to enjoy dinner in restaurant?

No wonder people don't have time to visit friends anymore, they're too busy doing it digitally rather than in person.
WTF? (i picked that one up since it comes around so often)
Anyone go outdoor camping in groups or is this merely a 3D graphically designed facebook concept now?

The day i even bother to get a cellphone i will hang my head in shame.

Hey you kids! Get off my lawn!

nevermind...

Having joined Facebook a couple of months ago, I have to say I like the way it naturally orients you toward catching up with old friends. It's like an ever-expanding "web"... once you locate one friend, you might find that there are mutual friends that they have already found.... it really IS social networking. And, there's nothing that stops you from going out and meeting with these people in the real-world once you've connected. I've got a "date" for coffee with my first girlfriend next time I visit Rhode Island, and have found many friends from photography school 25 years ago.... and they are all over the U.S. and some in other countries. But I find Jim, and find out that Jim knew where Cathy was and Cathy knew where Bill was... all of a sudden, they're easy to find and re-connect with... I also found a childhood friend that I haven't had contact with in 35 years. I get to see photos of her and her family, and she's posted some from when we were kids on her "Facebook page". I'm going to scan and post some of my own for her.

My Dad just joined Facebook to find classmates, college friends, and military friends from 35-50 years ago, and is re-connecting with some.

Yes,some people use it like Twitter, posting their every move and thought throughout the day. But I've discovered that you can "ignore" friends that do that so you don't have to "see" their posts.

I only spend about ten minutes a day on Facebook, checking it once in the morning and once in the evening. It's not all-consuming for me, and I think you would find that you can gain the benefits without "living" on it. I spend more time here.

Try Facebook before you dismiss it.

But go ahead and dismiss Twitter 'cuz that's just dumb!

SOME of you kids get off my lawn!

These days it is more like, "hey you Peter Pan Syndrome men and prowling cougars, get off my lawn!!"

Here's where some differ from others.
Some people have no desire to live in the past and feel nostalgic about having to find people they knew 10 years ago. Although i am curious to know where some of my old university friends ended up i don't feel the need to have to have that answer enough to track them down using online 'tools'. If they were that good as good friends at the time, i would still be in contact with them now as i already have been long before facebook came about.

Some people feel that need to have to know and to connect and maybe have literally hundreds of people they want to remain in contact with if they are social butterflies a la Paris Hilton; others live in the present and for the future rather than reliving the past or maintain smaller social circles where a networking tool is simply not required. It is another online sensation that over time, will pass, and something else will take its place. It started with the likes of IRC chat (or the old 'bulletin boards' during dialup days of Commodores), moved to things like ICQ, then myspace, now facebook, twitter, etc.
I can only imagine what will come next.

Of course one cannot dismiss the REAL alternate reason to avoid social networking, because clearly big brother is watching...recording...making lists...

Twitter is a complete joke as far as I'm concerned!

You missed a tweet by one character.

There's no need to be mean.



There was the telephone before all that, and it seems like according to you, if you really are friends with people, even that "tool" shouldn't have to be used. Instead, they should be in the same room at all times. Otherwise, you're living in the past, when they were in the same room.

Agreed, while I am not a user, I do see uses beyond what Chess has outlined

...and hey, this board is an example of the very same tool...just a more focused group.

Anyway, sorry I brought it back into focus!!

That was not my intent though i can see how a comparison to Paris can be degrading for some but very much a complement to others. Have you not seen the Paris Hilton BFF show?


This is taken out of context from the continuation of the post before this one. I was referring to both an age category and the extensive use of these new 'tools'. Perhaps when the telephone first came out there was something of a sensation, however how many people do you know these days that spend hours on the phone EVERY day talking with friends and relatives?
EVERY day?
Certainly there are still those early teen years where the girls talk about the boys on the phone for hours on end until their parents yell at them to get off the phone, and so on (pardon any quick stereotypes but this one is actually true); but last i checked most adults don't spend hours on the phone every day talking with their girlfriends about husbands unless they are REALLY bored (perhaps no formal day job, maybe stay at home and not with a house of 5 kids...).

Now take into consideration these new online tools. There are people out there, NOT just teens, who are texting hundreds of tweets a day plus IM messages like these things were feeding them crack for every message sent.
Hundreds.
Hell there are contests with this now. Who the hell can do 500 messages each day and not spend anything less than 3-5 hours with such a gadget?
Has the phone been replaced?
No, cell phones are the new in so now we have a blend of cell and facebooks and twits, tweets,...

So yes, screw the gadget, get together in person and actually enjoy a real person's (or perhaps your families') company instead of thumbing messages until one is blue in the face.

The idea of online/digital communication can do wonders for personal or should i say, impersonal contact, but the obsession or at least extensive use beyond say the level used for a traditional telephone makes me wonder if there is an addiction issue related to such phenomena.
Let's ask the doc medic8r about the mystery of the human mind in this regard.

The bottom line
Are people just sheep going with the herd with popular cultural digital social networking tools or are they feeding us electronic crack?

[end rant]

And that is a good point BB, however not all who use a forum as a tool start networking, sending 500 messages a day, spending hours doing it...hmm, come to think of it, Peter, do you still have your day job?


I know for some they have daily internet access, and must at least be partly bored at work to be able to take the time to read the forums, or have a lenient employer who doesn't block access to the highly used site, but at my workplace i have little time for it. We are swamped.
Between evening posting and spending the few hours each evening with the family, i choose family.
And wine.
And dinner.
And sleep.
And on weekends, yep, two or three 5 minute phone calls and voila, company i don't have to tweet to chat.

Is drinking while tweeting on twitter considered drinking alone?
I'm not sure of this new age protocol.

But Chess, you're still making assumptions that because some narcissistic people live on Twitter or Facebook all day, that the tool itself is bad. Don't blame the gun, blame the shooter.

I'm on FaceBook (literally) about 5-10 minutes per day. I check in twice a day to see what friends are up to. And the fact that my life IS so busy is exactly why it's a great tool to just see how and what people I care about are doing. One photography school friend just went to the Bahamas over the weekend and posted amazing photos. A childhood friend scanned and posted class photos from grade school. Yes, it's interesting to me as to how these peoples' lives are going. Just like I have friends here on the Axiom forums and am interested in them. I don't Twitter and I'm not interested in it. Pick and choose the tools that are helpful, interesting or fun.

If FaceBook isn't your thing, it doesn't make any difference to me. I have no stake in it.

But yes, I took your Paris Hilton comments as a belittling of those that use FaceBook or Twitter and as evidence of your own superiority in being above such silly things.

Reconnecting with old friends that you've lost touch with over the years is NOT living in the past, it's social. And, sorry that I can't always meet them for coffee when they're spread around the country and the world.

Well said, Mark.

Just back from vacation and all I can add is that I went two weeks plus a day without looking at Facebook and I had email filters running so that if it didn't have something to do with a Canada Games committee that I'm volunteering on, it got dumped into a "Read this crap Leter" folder.

Very refreshing. But I did miss some small get togethers but my closest friends called me anyways so nothing important missed. Electronic communication is a great tool when people don't give up and forget that there are other options when they don't get a response.

You're on FaceBook? Awesome! Twitter me your Friend Request!

Invited you and PMed you my name, not that it wouldn't be obvious. Although it is a bit more cryptic than most. I signed up back in the day when I had no clue what Facebook was and was paranoid about putting my full name in.

Hey guys, add me to your facebook if you want! The only other Axiomite that I've found is Sean.

I'm like the plague. I'm everywhere!! *evil laugh*

Whats your Facebook names guys? I'd suggest PMing to avoid random invites from all Randy's alter-egos.

I searched for Mark and found him by his state and the picture of him grasping a giant camera, like a rifle standing on guard. Kind of funny actually, because I couldn't quiet make out that it was a camera on a crappy temporary monitor at work (old one got killed by renovators.) I had to look several times, scratching my head, saying "Funny, I never pictured Mark as the type to post his avatar with a gun in hand."

What site were you on?

That wasn't a giant camera OR a gun. Ahem.

I'm on Facebook. I'm easy to find. I'm both here and on FB as my real name, so you figure it out. ;-)

I don't know if anyone here has found it, but there is an Axiom group on FB : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15369490133&ref=ts. I would assume that at least a few of us from here are also there.

Like Mark, I check it maybe once every few days just to see what a few friends are up to. While I dislike Twitter (as I fail to see the point of caring about such subtle nuances of someone's day), I do like Facebook for its ability to find friends. I've gotten in contact with a half-dozen old high-school friends, and it's kind of fun to see what they're up to, what their kids look like (yikes!), where they live, etc.

Chess, I use and enjoy both Twitter and Facebook. Don't think less of me.

Impossible.......