What’s the point again?

On the other word tab there’s a lab summary waiting for me, so my eagerly procrastinating brain suggested that I write a bit about a question I’ve been pondering for some time. I’m sure some of you have been wondering over and over again as well… What’s the point of Twitter again?

I’ve thought about this ever since I heard about it first… it’s just like texting to the world, telling the world what music you’re listening to, or reading about that burger some celebrity just ate – so how exactly is that interesting? If anything, Facebook served that purpose quite sufficiently (and indeed, many celebrities have hooked up their Twitter to their Facebook page). Surely, Twitter seems a bit more personal, but still, it doesn’t seem necessary at all. That was all a while ago, and I’ve kind of set the thoughts aside for a bit, but earlier this week, something happened that brought it all back to me… I signed up for Twitter as well.

I had been thinking about joining a few months back already, but not seeing the point, I refrained. I now suddenly found myself presented with my own personal Twitter page, without being able to name any reasons or motivations to join. On Facebook, I’m kind of a spectator, hardly posting anything myself. I mostly just reading what other people are up to and writing the occasional message or wall post.

I’m sure some of you have been wondering ... What’s the point of Twitter?

However, I found myself, well, not tweeting away, but certainly quickly getting addicted to reading tweets of my favourite artists and posting more on Twitter over the last few days than I posted on Facebook over the last few weeks. I feel the ‘magic’ of Twitter, but it remains a mystery to me. What is so fascinating about little fragments of life other people send off into the world, or telling your own (in my case, virtually non-existent) audience what you’re up to? I’m even a part of the minority that doesn’t own a smartphone, so my trusty laptop remains as the only option to checking the timeline. The mysterious attraction of Twitter will probably be on my mind for some time, maybe without ever figuring it out. If you’ve been in the same situation, have figured it out or want to think about it with me, or you just want to watch me trying to find the answer, have a look at: twitter.com/vocalnerd – and thanks for reading!