Rosie raised the question in her post “I will Twitter” on Rosiethethird’s Weblog, why anyone would care about Twitter.
I have also felt that it seems like “overinforming an underinterested audience.” Of course, I don’t SMS either. That’s because I dial the phone–it’s just easier (I’m all thumbs) and with a phone call there’s no time wasted with a bunch of back and forth. But the real point is I don’t call my friends to tell them I’m going to the supermarket, or that I’m on a plane, or hey sucker…don’t you wish you were with me skiing in Aspen right now (no, I’m not really there, but you get my point). So why would I Twitter them?
I know lots of people are into it, but it seems pretty pointless to me. Well, it did until I read about James Karl Buck. The story reminds me of 1978 movie, Midnight Express, about a man caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey who is thrown in jail and essentially disappears due to a less-than-modern legal system. Buck (who seems to have done nothing wrong other than being than a bystander) may have suffered the same fate, but for the fact that he Twittered “ARRESTED” and those that followed his feed made calls to send in the Calvary and get him out. Social media quite possibly saved his life.
What’s interesting is Buck said he really hadn’t used Twitter much before the incident. I’m pretty sure he’s glad to have created an account so he could use it when he needed to. Maybe he was a Boy Scout and remembered the motto, “be prepared.” I don’t think I’ll be Twittering from Starbucks to tell you all about the herbal tea, or from the Metro platform to say the trains are running late, but I WILL get set up with an account to dash off a life-saving message, in the event such an unexpected turn of events happens to me. Whoever sees my plea, just don’t forget to get me out by calling for help. No offense, but I don’t think most embassies follow your Twitter feed.
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