After Twitter, Comes Grunter, Then Grimacer
Recently, I had a chat with some people about Twitter.
I occasionally use it. I appreciate the instantaneous communication of micro bursts of info, but cannot help but wonder if its part of a culture of dumbing everything down. All nuance, all subtlety, all fine lines of discussion get lost in 140 characters.
Like the people who read newspaper headline but not the articles, I wonder if this is a form of Orwellian Newspeak. War is Peace, and apparently, Less is More.
Perhaps this is just the first step. The text based Twitter will be replaced with an audio based “Grunter.” Rather than spend a full 140 characters, you have your choice of 10 gutteral grunts registering surprise, anger, sadness, joy, etc.
Then we can move to the next phase: Grimacer. Just pictures depicting how you feel.
You read it here first . . .
August 26th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Grunter’d just be a return to our hunter-gatherer roots, and that’s where all this is heading one day anyhow. The long-term average growth rate of all organisms is necessarily zero. Ours has been running well above the average for about 10,000 years now. Grunter, hearkening the primeval, might actually be futuristic.
August 26th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
>> a culture of dumbing everything down
!!!!!
I hatez Twitter.
August 26th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
BR,
Nice of you to keep the “Home Fires Burning”..
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Keep+the+Home+Fires+Burning
or, differently, Thank you for continuing to stoke the Embers of Truth to light the Lamp that illuminates the Path of Progress.
for, We Know, that if We are not Progressing, we are ___________.
IOW, No Doubt, we are in Need of a Redoubt, as bulwark against Medocrity.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/redoubt
v.2 #3
ht tp://ww w.thefreedictionary.com/bulwark
August 26th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
BR-
I think you are on to something- most have nothing to say anyway- best that it’s just a grunt
MEH- where you been man?
August 26th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
ahab,
deep Research..
August 26th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Try Don Delillo’s ‘Ratner’s Star’
http://www.amazon.com/Ratners-Star-Don-DeLillo/dp/0679722920
August 26th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
No offense, but I think Twitter is lost on anyone over 30 (myself included). Rather than looking at it as a form of dumbing things down – why not look at it as yet another tool (along with facebook) for people to communicate.
Given how news was disseminated in this country 30 years ago (3 networks, radio, newspapers) compared to how we get our news today, I think any medium that allows more people to share more information is a good thing – whether I understand it’s appeal or not.
Has everyone already forgot what these two networking sites were doing during the Iranian elections?
~~~
BR: Who’s Driving Twitter’s Popularity? Not Teens
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html
Similarly, Twitter did not attract the young trendsetters at the outset. Its growth has instead come from adults who might not have used other social sites before Twitter, said Jeremiah Owyang, an industry analyst studying social media. “Adults are just catching up to what teens have been doing for years,” he said.
August 26th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
“Has everyone already forgot what these two networking sites were doing during the Iranian elections?”
How’d that work out for them?
August 26th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
With all due respect, you’re following the wrong people.
It’s obtuse to complain about the 140 characters. The 140 characters can contain short URLs to very long-winded things, or photos, or hashtags that allow you to make interesting connections in searches, or a remarkable amount of attention to a very concise and pithy phrase. There are some great writers honing a very sharp craft on twitter.
They’re all out there, just not, apparently, on the feeds of the boobs you guys decided to follow.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I think Samantha Bee made this point on the daily show.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-march-2-2009/twitter-frenzy
~~~
BR: Grunter! but no Grimacer . . .
August 26th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Yeah,
In the cases of the people twittering that they’re in the bathroom “cuttin’ a log”, probably the GRUNTER & GRIMACER modes would do just fine.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
jasonch
As usual, Jon Stewart says it best. That guy is the greatest!
And yes BR, you’re late with the Grunter. That was in this Samantha Bee piece. Along with “Voweler” and “Stalker.”
August 26th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
I can’t really see a reason Twitter is used by anyone other than the media attention. There really isn’t any value in a bunch of people at a concert twitting, “This is awesome!” or at a political rally sending “Yes we can!”
August 26th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I think BR was being sleightly sarcastic
August 26th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Curmudgeon “How’d that work out for them”
And your point? No, it didn’t change anything, but it certainly enabled people to stay in contact and to plan protests when all their other regular channels of communication.
August 26th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
BR,
WTF, I am LOL and ROFLMAO. It’s like OMG, the English language is DOA.
BR,
WT
August 26th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
If I were Ben Bernanke and I had twitter, I’d be tweeting about how ironic it is that my identity got stolen and my Wachovia bank account was used to inflate other accounts without my knowledge!
You cannot make this stuff up!
http://contraryriches.blogspot.com/2009/08/just-desserts-bernankes-phony-identity.html
August 26th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Dennis
If your were addressing me, well duh! I just didn’t want Barry to take credit for the brilliant suggestion of Grunter.
And if not, then disregard.
August 26th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
And another take on Twitter…”Is Twitter Making You Stupid?”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32569284
August 26th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
@investorinpa
The new conundrum…
What came first? using twitter or being stupid?
August 26th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
How about the anti-twitter – http://woofertime.com/ – they have a MINIMUM 1,400 characters!!
August 26th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Well, here’s an awesomely funny cartoon about Tweets:
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/03/03/tomo/index.html
August 26th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Cro-Magnons used up to 140 symbol on there wall paintings. Maybe this is just a giant step back in evolution. And another proof that history keeps repeating itself?
August 26th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Welcome back MEH. Picking right up. Deep research? My a**. Vacation. Good for you.
Dumbing down? Yeah.
IMHO it started with TV. Every dilemma has to be resolved in one hour or less. To be continued does not work. So much for shows that take more than one hour – like Roots, or Rich Man, Poor Man.
Some say it’s faster, faster, more productivity. No time or patience for anything more than the briefest utterance. So Grunt sounds like the next step.
My favorite term for it has become post-modern shallow.
No truth worth expressing must take more than 140 words. Otherwise it’s unmanageably complex.
The Internet does not encourage deep thinking either. Takes too many pages.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
[...] 26, 2009 in Technology Today, Barry Ritholtz wrote a small piece where he wonders if Twitter will make us all dumber. He writes, I occasionally use it. I appreciate the instantaneous communication of micro bursts [...]
August 26th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
@alfred e
Yeah baby, but that’s where MEH has it down pat…
It seems to me that MEH’s cryptic posts encourage deep thought in 140 words or less…
Welcome back MEH! I’m glad the sun & tequila didn’t fry your brain… We need you around here to balance out the likes of me
August 26th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
;^)
August 26th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
August 26th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Huh
WTF 
Grrrr agghhh 
Tee hee hee 
arrrrrr 
IDK :\
August 26th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I finally drew the line at social networking sites — I have too many IDs and passwords already — and refuse to sign up for any more (at least without dropping an existing one). I use LinkedIn.com as a means to see who I know knows others (in a Six Degrees sense; the site does not generate spam or unwanted communications). So, no Facebook or MySpace even though I would probably really enjoy reconnecting on a social level with friends far and wide. I just don’t needyet another time sink (The Big Picture is enough!)
August 26th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
WTF do you expect all the unemployed people to do with all their free time… out of work, no cable tv, no car.
… shit, the gov’t will no doubt be extending the unemployment benefits forever, ironically creating a large potential user base of people with nothing to do except twitter their own personal “Truman Show” to anyone bored enough to follow them.
August 26th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Whenever I hear a discussion about Twitter, I think of Don Draper in Mad Men. In both last year’s storylines and the emerging story lines this year, they are setting Draper up as being on the other side of the culture wars that were fought in the 1960’s. Certainly the move to social media does not carry the significance of the 1960’s culture revolution, but it has the same structure. The people who will not embrace Twitter because of something inherently distasteful about it are the same as the characters in Mad Men who get red in the face and scream “beatnik”. There is something reactionary in those who find Twitter distasteful. It’s as if they’ve had quite enough change in the way they communicate, thank you very much.
Twitter isn’t valuable as the only channel of communication, but it is valuable as one of many channels. If you can get short bursts in Twitter and thoughtful discussion on sites like this, they both fill our need for communication. Neither needs to be our only way to communicate. And the network structure is different. Twitter allows you to grow contacts extremely quickly. You can find me @JohnReeder on Twitter, or on my blog, or through email, or through Facebook, or by phone if I know you. The flood gates are open.
August 26th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
No, no, no, Barry. After Twitter, Comes Grunter, Then Shttr
The post-Twitter roadmap is already available for viewing on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeLZCy-_m3s
August 26th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Ack, After Twitter, Comes Flutter, Then Shtter.
August 26th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
i see this growth of dissemination of useless information as another “bubble” due for “correction”. at some point a higher value will once again be placed on real content and real analysis – not unlike this blog.
that being said, i keep wondering when i will reach my breaking point and have the guts to let my bberry get within 20 yards of me.
August 26th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
sorry – to get more than 20 yrds away from me…
August 27th, 2009 at 12:08 am
No worries Barry, all of these new communication mechanisms collapse under the weight of the need to make a profit at all costs eventually–advertising grows and increasingly encumbers their value as a communication channel no matter how strong or weak it was to begin with, the signal-to-noise ratio drops precipitously, and they end up simply being new ways to annoy people with advertising and people turn them off. Who wants advertisers to reach them 24×7 on their iPhone–not me.
August 27th, 2009 at 12:11 am
I believe the curve you outline Barry was already covered in a BBC series by the name of “The Descent of Man”.
August 27th, 2009 at 12:31 am
Grimacer exists:
http://www.emotioneric.com/
August 27th, 2009 at 1:05 am
@BR: Who’s Driving Twitter’s Popularity? Not Teens
Hah, I stand corrected. I had no idea the age of the average twitter user is in their 30’s. I don’t know why people beyond their teens and 20’s would use it – I would have thought that most people have more to say when they get older, not less.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:50 am
One of the great uses of twitter is as a search engine. It’s what people are thinking about NOW. Compare your next google search with a twitter search. Figure out how to use the crosshatch as a tag, eg, search for #tornado and you’ll get tweets from people in tornados NOW. That’s why it’s such a great disaster communication tool.
Twitter is like a car. With a car you can joyride or drive to work or rob bank. Twitter is just a tool and it’s up to you to figure out how to use it.
August 27th, 2009 at 2:23 am
@cvienne, do you think we need “Groaner” to add to “Grunter” and “Grimacer” in the lumberjacking scenario outlined above?
August 27th, 2009 at 2:38 am
Twitter, groaner, grunter, grimacer, and now … sh***er. Send your friends a “sheet” and let them know whether it’s #1 or #2.
August 27th, 2009 at 4:15 am
I thought it was all over when I heard the past tense of a “tweet” was a twat about 4 months ago.
Shows my forecasting ability.
August 27th, 2009 at 7:14 am
fwiw, imho, it’s all becoming less important, it is viewed by most as entertainment, it will fade, i have been on a few sites since 01, in 05 i noticed a drop-off maybe 30%, first down leg?, this year has had another one, down another 30%…………i’ve always said the inet allows quicker and faster, everything we do on the inet for the most part today we could do 20 years ago, if one so desired, we essentially have access 24-7 to the library of congress, ie, any library, of course though we have always had that………my fav is, “oh, i’m recconectin with old friends”…….let’s be honest folks they have always been a phone call away, they are aquantances, nothing more, transitory……..in a half an hour i’m going to work out, does anyone really care, lol, except me, after that i will………
August 27th, 2009 at 7:50 am
“…Who wants advertisers to reach them 24×7 on their iPhone–not me.”– resipsaloquitur
view:
Locational privacy (also known as “location privacy”) is the ability of an individual to move in public space with the expectation that under normal circumstances their location will not be systematically and secretly recorded for later use. The systems discusssed above have the potential to strip away locational privacy from individuals, making it possible for others to ask (and answer) the following sorts of questions by consulting the location databases:
Did you go to an anti-war rally on Tuesday?
A small meeting to plan the rally the week before?
At the house of one “Bob Jackson”?
Did you walk into an abortion clinic?
Did you see an AIDS counselor?
Have you been checking into a motel at lunchtimes?
Why was your secretary with you?
Did you skip lunch to pitch a new invention to a VC? Which one?
Were you the person who anonymously tipped off safety regulators about the rusty machines?
Did you and your VP for sales meet with ACME Ltd on Monday?
Which church do you attend? Which mosque? Which gay bars?
Who is my ex-girlfriend going to dinner with?
Of course, when you leave your home you sacrifice some privacy. Someone might see you enter the clinic on Market Street, or notice that you and your secretary left the Hilton Gardens Inn together. Furthermore, in the world of ten years ago, all of this information could be obtained by people who didn’t like you or didn’t trust you.
But obtaining this information used to be expensive. Your enemies could hire a guy in a trench coat to follow you around,but they had to pay him. Moreover, it was hard to keep the surveillance secret — you had a good chance of noticing your tail ducking into an alley.
In the world of today and tomorrow, this information is quietly collected by ubiquitous devices and applications, and available for analysis to many parties who can query, buy or subpeona it. Or pay a hacker to steal a copy of everyone’s location history.
It is this transformation to a regime in which information about your location is collected pervasively, silently, and cheaply that we’re worried about.
http://www.eff.org/wp/locational-privacy
the 168. Track n’ Trace Economy is unfolding (enveloping us) as we /speak/..
August 27th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Thanks for the ideas, BR. I’ve just raised $140MM in venture capital to launch both services within the next three months. I’m a multi-millionaire!
P.S.: My lawyers will be sending you a cease and desist letter regarding both terms, which I have trademarked. Nothing personal, just business. You know how it goes. See you in the Hamptons!
August 27th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Hey, get your twat off my sheet!
August 27th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I thought you were going to say after Grunter and Grimacer would come Geithner
Most kids today probably wouldn’t know what a Geithner was. Probably many of their parents would tell them it is a tax avoidance program
But seriously, after Grimacer would come yewdewit. In this age of new volunteerism everyone will have someone else post for them. It will be extremely popular as a time saver but what will be lost on them is where all their free time went
August 28th, 2009 at 2:02 am
In a world where so many people are completely unaware of the decisions, conflicts, and people that essentially govern their lives, I find it depressing that so many people would rather “tweet” about what they just had for lunch than educate themselves about the world that surrounds them. If people are going to spiral down further into their awful habits, ending up grunters and grimacers, I seriously fear for our future. On the other hand, is it better if people who have no interest in current affairs remain uninformed and uninvolved with the efforts of those who truly care?