Wednesday, November 5, 2008

my new economy of words: katenieder

Remember when Twitter first hatched and people bemoaned the 140-character limit, comparing it to Pownce, or begging for just 20 more characters, like texting? Funny how we've not only gotten over it, but embraced micro-sharing in lieu of longer forms. I could cite several examples, including my new fave, mobile food reviews but feel safe in assuming you agree: we're comfortable with the pith and ease that flows from 140.

I read on Matt Hurst's blog the other day that while Twitter has only 2M users, there are about 3M messages exchanged per day, compared to the 1M blog posts created per day.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised; we have a history of reducing everything into small chunks (and tiny technologies). But the truth is, I haven't come to terms with it... so as of today, I confront it head-on. As many know, I am deepy bothered when others try to reduce people into "two types." I'm similarly annoyed by workweek reductivism, and parenting minimized to 3 easy steps. I'm terrible at updating my status on FB, struck by writer's block everytime I get to the, now optional, "is."

Witness my blatant tendency to write long posts... It ends today with the creation of my new (if third) Twitter account: @katenieder. In future posts we can address what my colleague questioned as potentially unjust reinvention of self, but one step at a time. I hereby begin a new era of pith. Follow me, help me, teach me. Please.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Following! :)

Anonymous said...

Sorry you don't like "two types"!
-author

kate said...

evan! Let me clarify-- your blog is hilarious and your prolific content helps explain why it's frustrating when people reduce the world to just two types. What bothers me is when people overly simplify complex things. I love factor analysis and clustering people into 'types'- they're my most favorite statistical analyses-- I just don't blindly subscribe to 2 factors or types, universally. In the business setting, when people suggest there are just 2 types, it puts me on alert. Please know your blog genuinely makes me laugh.