I KNEW Twitter was a bad thing

Recently I went on a bit of tear about Twitter. I just don't get some of the excitement people seem to feel about it, and one of the podcasts I used to really enjoy (net@nite, part of Leo Laporte's Twit Network) has gotten almost impossible to listen to due to all of the rhapsodizing about the wonders of Twitter (I get it, it's a Web 2.0 thing, but there must be others). Anyway, imagine my surprise, after all my whining, to see a fellow cyclists and blogger (although I'm nowhere near the calibre) getting Twitterjacked...

Just days after I discovered that a certain online retailer is using this blog to market yet another inexpensive singlespeed road bike, I've now learned that somebody has taken the liberty of creating a Twitter account in my name

I'd like to take this opportunity to say, "Hey there! I am not using Twitter." If you're reading this blog you know I'm wordy, and there's absolutely no way I could restrict myself to 140 characters per post. And naturally, since it's not my Twitter account, I can't access it.

From BikeSnobNYC: The Indignity of the Internet: Twitterjacked!

So there you have another reason not to go within a mile of someone using Twitter - they may not be the person you think! I'm looking at you, Fritz...

Off-topic rant: Why is Twitter taking over the world?

I am not a Luddite. I blog, I love my various high-tech devices, and I am looking forward to the day I can get a computer jack implanted in my head so I can interact with my computer mentally. One thing I cannot get excited about is Twitter, and it keeps invading my life.

There are certainly limited uses for this sort of micro-blogging. The best that comes to mind (for cyclists) is the use by mass transit agencies like Caltrain (mentioned regularly by Fritz at Cyclelicious) to inform riders about issues with service. OK, that works for me, an alert about delayed service doesn't take a lot of detail to be useful.

Where I get grumpy about Twitter is when things I would otherwise care about (read: giveaways) use Twitter as the notification and/or entry system. Recently Fritz has done this (and it's completely his prerogative to run his contests the way he wants, but he did write a post asking for feedback...) and now there is a project to use this tech to track issues with people traveling to Obama's inauguration.

Great idea, but what about people who try to live at least occasionally away from their computers? Isn't one of the big draws of cycling the fact that it takes place outside? Why would I want to take a tether like Twitter everywhere I go? My previous job included a Blackberry, and my current one would if the budget included it, and after that I can say thanks but no thanks.

Maybe I am Luddish (it's a word now) but I just can't think of any person I care enough about to want to read insignificant bits of trivia from at all times of the day. So Lance is on Twitter, whoopee! I'd rather be on my bike than reading a 144-character report about someone else on theirs.