1. hulln

   

   I’m looking forward to this conversation! I’ll reserve judgement until I hear the show, but based on the quote above I’d say Mr. Huntsberger is missing what makes Twitter unique.

   Sure, Twitter draws out off-the-cuff comments, but one of its major benefits is the timeliness of the posts, so quick comments are par for the course. I agree that much can be lost in translation when limited to 140 characters, but If one wants to sit and ruminate on the right word or phrasing, there are more appropriate platforms such as blogs or forums. Twitter is all about the real-time stream. It’s not the end-all be-all tool for civic participation, but it’s definitely not going to bore us with well-rehearsed, stock answers from Congress members on a Sunday morning political talk show.

   Mar 8th, 2009

2. Bon Kelly

   

   Twitter is certainly fascinating and part of the puzzle everyone in the media industry is trying to piece together to figure out how to reach the audience lost by the former print medium. How to monetize the internet more is the call/cry of the day. While I applaud and am intrigued by all the new technology……really nothing more than a hand held instant chat, skype chat in a phone, whatever you want to call it, a “micro-blog” I believe is the preferred term…it is a bit of a red herring to me to the mission of teaching awareness of the first amendment and the lessons of reminding journalists to be the lesson of being vigilant watchdogs.

   Certainly the bloggers of today are akin to the pamphleteers of old and in this regard mediums like twitter have the potential to help rebuild the Fourth Estate. However, I do worry that the focus is so fixed on all the new buzz technologies that we forget to “dance with the one that brung us” capiche ? I guess another way to put it is while the ability for more and more citizens to become a part of the dialogue is heartening, what are the checks, or who vets what information. Of course even when so called journals of record trotted out the “news” was it always really factual ? Reminds me of the last lines in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance…”No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Hence, Howard Zinns the politics of History. Be well my fellow guardians of the first amendment…I hope.
   Peace,
   Bon

   Mar 9th, 2009

3. Bon Kelly

   

   Forgot to include….the most recent news that disturbed me was seeing that local church goers here in Seattle were all tweeting away spreading “the good word”. God help us…the fundamentalists are tweeting : )

   Mar 9th, 2009

4. Annie Lee

   

   I’ve been reading the Twitter “mockery” on all sorts of news and blog sites. I’ve even been graced with receiving my very own mocking comments to my blog on Twitter: http://flipthemedia.com/index.php/2009/01/to-twitter-or-not-to-twitter/

   It’s a good thing I have thick skin. I don’t know if Twitter is a long term winner, but I am confident that Twitter is here to stay for a while… and it’s worth taking a peek to see what all the hype is about.

   Mar 9th, 2009

5. Kenneth Rufo

   

   My initial disposition is to side with Huntsberger, though perhaps that’s not a surprise.

   More surprising for me, and as someone who followed @prsarahevens attempts to demo Twitter to/for folks in Congress, is I have yet to hear what it is that twittering does for members of Congress or for civic participation. Given the nature of the soundbytes on those Sunday talk shows, 140 characters is just right for replication of the same tired notes. Different discourse environments or spheres benefit from different rhythms, and I don’t see how the “stream” assists policy-making. And once use-patterns are actually thought through, it seems unclear to me how an actual member of Congress will actually use twitter to do anything other than off-the-cuff stupidity (already demonstrated during the non-sotu sotu) or offering more economical talking points.

   Best case scenario, as far as I can fathom (an effort no doubt limited by my imagination), is that a member of congress could ask for information about a topic and receive links in exchange, but a) that won’t actually be the representative, and there already is a highly efficient and effective Congressional Research Service, as well as staff and party researchers, and think tanks, all of which have and will continue to have more influence than links I send to my local Representative.

   This isn’t to say that micro-blogging doesn’t have a benefit in some governmental capacities, functions, or agencies, but the Huntsberger quote regarding members of Congress seems pretty spot on.

   Mar 9th, 2009

6. randaw

   

   I just left Twitter. Once I wasn’t active in the MCDM program or a digital industry, I lost interest. I posted more in my blog.

   Mar 11th, 2009

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