Twitter: How much is too much information?

By Andy MerrettTwitter

Even more than blogging, Twitter seems to be the ultimate way to say exactly what you mean, sometimes without thinking about the consequences, and sometimes not caring.

Twitter has had its fair share of high-profile spats, but a recent “outrages” concerns Penelope Trunk’s twitter: “I’m in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there’s a f***ed-up three-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin”.

Old news, perhaps — two months is an age in the world of Twitter — but it does still raise some interesting points about what should be shared online.

Love it or loathe it, there’s no doubt that such a tweet is a far more interesting answer to “What are you doing?” than “eating a sandwich” or “staring out of the window”.

Apart from the personal attacks many poured upon Ms Trunk, critics said that the tweet was beyond what’s considered acceptable.

Then again, this world of self-publishing, completely free from editorial control, is what independent bloggers have enjoyed for so long.

At the end of the day, if you don’t like someone’s take on life, or how they express it, you don’t have to follow them.

Is there a Twitter limit, or should we be defending people’s right to say what they like, regardless of whether it fits our own outlook?

8 thoughts on “Twitter: How much is too much information?”

  1. People twitter for different reasons. You have some that are bored who will twitter away about every mundane thing they are doing just get someone to reply. Then there are others that only use it on special occasions like vacations. I don’t know….to each his own.

    wells fargo home page

  2. The problem isn’t the medium, it’s that a lot of people can’t keep their pieholes shut, because they have NO sense about what is acceptable to air in public and what is best kept private — and that problem started long before Twitter flew onto the scene. I know that it’s become an antiquated notion, but I still believe that one’s private life should be just that. Ironic, too, that people complain about lack of privacy, yet think nothing of airing the dirtiest of laundry, then are shocked when they learn that it isn’t universally appreciated.

  4. Twitter is huge and nobody controls the content on there except the user, so if as a user you don’t like it then leave, you are the one in control. harry potter mug harry potter shirts

  5. I think the problem is not actually the ‘too much information’ or the information overload. The problem is that you are waisting that time with useless activities. During most of the time on twitter you learn how to waste time. You don’t do anything productive with your life.

    Thanks for the post.

  7. Yes, it depends on you if you want your updates show in public or keep them to yourself 🙂 But I really like twitter!

    ————————————————–
    Burn Belly Fat

  8. At times, too much emphasis is placed on Twitter because everything’s public. There are dozens of other sites that allow users to publish information, but it isn’t completely public.

    As you said, you can choose to go on Twitter and spread information, but you also have the ability to keep all your ideas to yourself.

Comments are closed.