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One-Tweet Wonders

Posted by kdawson on from the like-snowflakes-on-a-hot-beach dept.

theodp writes "TIME has seen-the-future-and-it-is-Twitter. Slate, on the other hand, is more fascinated with the phenomenon of orphaned tweets, the messages left by people who sign up for Twitter, post once, then never return (not unlike one-blog-post wonders). While some orphan tweets betray skepticism about microblogging ('I don't get it... what's the point of this thing?'), other one-and-done Twitterers demonstrate keen enthusiasm before disappearing ('I'm here!'), and some tweets hint that tragedy has cut a promising Twittering-life short ('it hurts to breathe. should I go to the hospital?'). Slate notes that studies of Twitter accounts by Harvard and Nielsen suggest the service has been better at signing up users than keeping them, including the one-tweet wonders."

8 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Universal Law of Twitter ... by krou · · Score: 4, Funny

    Krou's law: There is, on average, only one tweet per twit.

    --
    'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
    1. Re:Universal Law of Twitter ... by jo42 · · Score: 5, Funny

      From the Twitter lexicon, thousands of tweets is "twatter" thus making the poster a "twat".

  2. I don't get it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tweeting seems like a great idea for people who want to start cults or for people who wish they had stalkers.

  3. Re:I use twitter daily, but never tweet. by value_added · · Score: 4, Funny

    I only follow a few interesting people but I now find it invaluable as a way of keeping track of them

    So she finally got that restraining order? ;-)

  4. useless by Gothmolly · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can we just say that Twitter is public masturbation and be done with it?

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
  5. Re:Social Stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    And here you are posting in community forum. How very social of you.

    I'ts not social, it's slashdot

  6. "A suspension bridge made of pebbles" by adnonsense · · Score: 4, Funny

    From the end of TFA:

    Yes, it was built entirely out of 140-character messages, but the sum total of those tweets added up to something truly substantive, like a suspension bridge made of pebbles.

    Yes... (backs away slowly...) I'm sure a suspension bridge made of pebbles is just what society needs, now you drive over it while I stand there with the camcorder and a direct line to YouTube.

  7. Think of it as by Geekthing · · Score: 4, Funny

    I explain twitter as "Push" RSS. Grandma totally got it when I put it like that.