I must be getting old. I find twitter enables a curious social behavior, seemingly aimed at extroverted people, and some would say at its extreme, narcissistic.
While I don’t use twitter myself, or even Facebook, I do blog, ergo, I must be one of them too. Myself, I am simply interested in the technology as the human factor seems to be hurtling towards Singularity at a rate I no longer can understand.
I spend a lot of time in front of computers, I mean at least 8 hours a day for the last 18 years or so, mostly as a professional Software Engineer. As a Software Designer, I find twitter interesting, but why don’t we design the equivalent of twitter on video (with sound) instead of text? YouTwitter would allow you to record a video for 5 - 7 seconds (or whatever). We certainly have the computing horsepower, the bandwidth, and what seems to be a critical mass of cell phones with video/audio record functions and wifi capabilities. Not to mention any computer/laptop/netbook/media center/(Xbox?) with a microphone, web cam, and internet connection. Which essentially means the same size market as “regular” twitter is today, but rather than serving up text, now serving 5 second video (with audio).
As a Software Engineer, it is interesting to think of the design and implementation of such a system. Who knows, maybe it is already happening, and this shows how out of touch I am with social networking
If YouTwitter existed, I probably would use it – not only would it be fun, but change the way we communicate via computers. Take me for example, at 50 years old, and really been on one form of computer or another since 1980, I am (really) tired of writing text. It would be way cool not to have to type any more text. I write too much already and that’s why I would like to see YouTwitter. If I had the time and capital investment, I would design and build it myself.
YouTwitter is more than that. What about the capability to see people’s interaction without the text? Did I mention how our overall communication style would change if I could see you speak instead of just reading your text? Is this the next evolution in social networking?
I don’t know, but I would use it, even as an introvert.