I think that starting from (say) Facebook is the wrong place to understand Twitter. For me, Twitter is not really social networking, but more like a blog, so starting from blogspot is probably closer to the mark. In fact, Twitter is a bit like a blog and RSS feed rolled up into one, with guaranteed easy (and quick) to digest morsels. I accept that that this in itself raising questions about meaningful relationships, soundbites, and attention spans, but perhaps I’ll cover that another time.
So, take this morning – I logged in, and discovered 34 updates waiting. This took me probably less than a minute to read. Compare with trying to looking at 34 friends’ updates on Facebook (yawn!), or worse, trying to read 34 blog posts.
I guess there’s two parts to being on Twitter – the first is posting your own tweets, the second is following others. I personally think to do the first without the latter is a bit narcissistic. On the other hand I know plenty of people who ‘lurk’ – that is follow others without actually posting (much) themselves.
If we start, then, with why one might follow someone on Twitter, I can think of a few reasons:
To be entertained/amused (e.g. follow stephenfry)
To be informed (e.g. follow cnnbrk, or tweeters at demonstrations)
Because you care about the person you’re following, and are interested in what they have to say.
To boost their follower count (e.g. a charity)
Oops – missed one off:
If you’re a spammer
In this regard, these are the same reasons as you might read someone else’s blog – or indeed read a newspaper or magazine, or listen to the radio. I see blogging very much as an extension of the traditional media, and bloggers are analogous to columnists or DJs.
Now, contrast this with the reason you’re friends with someone on Facebook
They’re a friend, or
You have no idea who they are, but you want to boost your ‘friend’ count
They’re famous, and you want some vicarious kudos from having a famous ‘friend’
Perhaps I’m being a little harsh there? In any case, the first item definitely further breaks down into people you are in regular contact with, with whom Facebook is a supplementary communication mechanism, and old/distant friends, with whom Facebook is the only (or major) communication mechanism. I think Facebook is fanastic at this second point in particular – I can ‘touch’ people who I have a connection with, but don’t really see or communicate with in any other way.
Of course Facebook is a very poor, or ‘thin’, means of relationship and communication. But a lot better than none at all, IMO.
But I digress….
Back to Twitter. So why do people tweet. Well, the reasons are basically the same as above, with one addition:
To (try to) entertain/amuse
To (try to) inform/provoke thought/promote discussion
To let those who care about you know what you’re doing
To try and sell Viagra
As historical record/diary/journal
The last one perhaps sounds a bit grander than I would intend, but my first “blog” was essentially me recording my efforts at the gym, and were intended solely for my consumption. It gradually expanded to other bits and pieces I wanted to record (not unlike del.icio.us, now I come to think of it), and then grew to be general comments on like. Of course, it begs the question why I (or anyone) would want their journal to be public…
This trend continues – my tweets and blogs are essentially my own musings, perhaps a catharsis even. I attempt to pick off the entertainment and informative aspects too (and succeed with rarely paralleled grace and flair, naturally). So take my recent(ish) Stag Weekend adventure. I tweeted the whole thing, with the intention of providing both a running commentary and an historical record I could roll up into one blog for the whole of humanity to use to enlighten themselves, and for 23rd century anthropologists to use to deepen their understanding of British culture in the noughties.
So, Twitter is plain fun. It takes a very light touch to use – whether tweeting or reading others. I laugh at loud at times, I enjoy reading what others have got to say, and I’m exposed to thought provoking and stimulating material I would otherwise not come across. On the other hand – this post is probably approaching an hour of my time. No less enjoyable, but considerable more effort to write and read.
In general I’m a fan of convergence, but I’ve recently realised that I use various ‘social’ websites in different ways, and it is appropriate for them to remain distinct.
Take Facebook – it’s the way I keep a connection with friends and family who I don’t see much, but also to mess around with some I do. But it’s all essentially built on mutuality, that is any action I do automatically gets pushed to my friends, whether they like it or not. If I want to see someone’s details, updates, etc, they have to also get mine.
Something like Twitter, on the other hand, is not based on mutuality, and only those people who opt in to my gibberish actually receive it. This is liberating, in one way, as the onus is on them to opt-in to my posts, and I don’t have to gets their tweets if I don’t want to.
Finally of course, there’s this site, which is the ultimate opt-in, in that it doesn’t get pushed to anyone (except Google, I suppose).
So whereas I tried having all my blog posts automatically added as notes to Facebook, and my Tweets added to my Facebook status (and vice versa), I now have come to the conclusion that I use them all in very different ways, and with different ‘audiences’, so I’m keeping them apart.
Went to the Leeds Wall with a friend from Church at the weekend. His boys are in the climbing club there, so he gets to climb for free while they have their lesson. Anyway, he invited me along to be a belay partner.
My climbing background is principally traversing. I got the bug doing a outdoor climb in Wales, but 99% of my climbing experience was doing an hour’s traverse every lunchtime for 4 years while at Uni.
So at one level I wasn’t mad keen. I’ve only really had one great experience of belay climbing, and that was the aforementioned Wales one. The times I’ve been since then, I’ve either not had anyone to go with, or I’ve gone with someone really good, and felt like I was holding them up and frustrating them.
Fortunately about 18 months ago, I signed up to the new climbing wall at the University of Leeds and had to do an assessment of my rope skills before I could climb unsupervised. Of course I’d forgotten it all, and was pants – but fortunately the dude took pity and gave me a crash course, and it all came back.
I’d also happily registered as a full member of the Leeds wall back in 2001 (!), so I was allowed to belay my friend (otherwise I would have had to go in as a guest, and not be allowed to).
I have to say it was fab. He has only recently started climbing again, so we’re about the same level (ish), which means we could take turns on the same climbs, and we run out of puff at about the same time (he did 5 climbs, to my 4.5). The highest grade we did was 5/5+ – I think a 6 might be beyond me until my fitness is back up.
Let’s face it, I’m unlikely to finishing tweeting the stag do, and seeing as it’s the wedding tomorrow, I’m just going to go for it here instead.
That said, I am going to post the tweets I did make, and I’ll see what’s left to say at the end!
Off to a stag do in Brighton this w/e. My first ‘real’ stag, even though hes actually penguin. (I concede my own was too dorksome to count). Wed Mar 11 2009 22:00:15
Also – made a serious tactical error re stag do. Given up snacks for Lent, but have 2×6 hr train journeys to survive. Oh for an indulgence. Thu Mar 12 2009 22:56:50
And so the stagtastic weekend begins. All packed up except for a few last minute things to through in when I get back at lunchtime. Fri Mar 13 2009 08:23:39
… Going to visit Sainsburys on the way in to pick up amusements for the train (I’m thinking bottled drinks and mags – no sweets sadly) Fri Mar 13 2009 08:24:17
… and then a 3 ‘o’ clock train to Leeds, on to London, then – finally – arrive in Brighton sometime next week. Fri Mar 13 2009 08:24:55
Indulgence – Empire, Amateur Photography, and New Scientist. I generally only get to read these on long solo journeys, so making the most. Fri Mar 13 2009 09:40:39
Indulgence wasn’t the name of a mag I bought, by the way. Fri Mar 13 2009 10:42:09
Not long now… Fri Mar 13 2009 12:28:35
Off to a slow start – took ages finishing off jobs at work, so going to need a quick turnaround. Fri Mar 13 2009 13:20:54
Phew. Home. Sensible thing to do is change and finishing packing. Or there’s twitter.. 🙂 Fri Mar 13 2009 14:00:48
So the journey begins. Feels like i’ve packed enough for about 3 weeks. Fri Mar 13 2009 14:44:03
Early result. Train no 1 on time. Fri Mar 13 2009 14:48:48
Stunning – on time into leeds. Time for a coffee. Fri Mar 13 2009 15:21:29
London train is ready and waiting. Now where’s coach B? Fri Mar 13 2009 15:27:44
Found my seat. B7 on the 15.40 to london if you want to say hello. chap opposite has burger king – v hungry now. Fri Mar 13 2009 15:38:02
Ho hum – raining outside. Wet walk at brighton i fear. Fri Mar 13 2009 16:13:42
New Scientist down. I’m sure it used to be longer. Coming into peterborough, and the rain’s stopped. Fri Mar 13 2009 16:51:23
Wow – so far so good. KX on time, 45 mins to do a short hop on the victoria line1 Fri Mar 13 2009 17:46:23
The music from Harry Potter rises unbidden to mind as i walk along the platform. Can’t see any owls in cages though. Fri Mar 13 2009 17:50:04
Phew. Victoria line during friday evening rush hour. Worse with a huge backpack. I used to get v cross with people like me! … Fri Mar 13 2009 18:19:18
… also turns out viccy line is closed on sunday. a bit shocked that i had to refer to tube map to plan alternative route. Fri Mar 13 2009 18:21:35
… Looking at my ticket, the return is via london bridge – presumably for that reason? On incredibly posh train now (Gatwick express)… Fri Mar 13 2009 18:24:26
The normal seats look like 1st class. Several have checked with fellow travellers that we hadn’t strayed out of steerage by accident. Fri Mar 13 2009 18:27:46
There’s also a new free paper since my last visit – “The London Paper”. Does what it says on the tin. Sort of Metro-lite. Not bad actually. Fri Mar 13 2009 18:29:45
Stunning. Every train’s left on time. London also looks great at night, especially by the river. Fri Mar 13 2009 18:33:37
I noticed that they’ve installed video projectors on the tube platforms, that show ads on the opposite walls. Nice. Fri Mar 13 2009 19:12:55
So only 30 mins to go on the train. Reckon the hotel is about 20 mins walk from the station. Getting v hungry. Fri Mar 13 2009 19:15:28
So only 30 mins to go on the train. Reckon the hotel is about 20 mins walk from the station. Getting v hungry. Fri Mar 13 2009 19:15:28
Walk looks easy. Down to the seafront. Turn right. Could be famous last words, of course… Fri Mar 13 2009 19:20:16
This station is called hassocks! Sadly can’t update my location from the phone. Fri Mar 13 2009 19:32:05
J’arrive. Masses of police at the station for some reason. Found hotel and hooked up with the crew. Need food and water! Fri Mar 13 2009 20:18:42
Curry tonight it transpires… Good call. Fri Mar 13 2009 21:13:16
Good curry. 00.15 though. Yawn. Also almost drained my battery with all this internet and texting. Sat Mar 14 2009 00:14:25
3am before got to sleep! In a room with groom; nattered about marriage, kids, self awareness, learning styles, friendship, relationships… Sat Mar 14 2009 07:58:01
Breakfast – check. Time for fun! Sat Mar 14 2009 09:28:09
Done quad bikes, axe throwing, archery, walk and shoot (With cool pellet guns). Managed some snaps too. 🙂 Sat Mar 14 2009 13:25:31
Late lunch at burger king (Pease Pottage services!). Back to hotel for shower and chill, then italian tonight. Sat Mar 14 2009 15:27:26
Quite tired now. Fancy a bath and a nap. Might settle for caffeine; depends on what everyone else is gonna do. Sat Mar 14 2009 15:39:07
Interesting mix of folk. Easy Jet pilot, GP, guy who built wembley stadium, chap over from canada, director of IT and the national theat … Sat Mar 14 2009 15:45:38
… at this point my phone battery went flat! No more updates, until…
Sorry about the interruption to service – mobile battery went flat. Safely back home; retrospective updates to follow. Sun Mar 15 2009 18:38:46
Feeling a bit better after c. 12 hours sleep. Mon Mar 16 2009 07:14:30
On stag w/e, phone ran out of juice while sat on brighton beach. Wife was cut off – had to find payphone so she didn’t assume the worst! Mon Mar 16 2009 13:20:59
… would have been a fair conclusion. Was disturbed by how little attention the stag attracted walking along in a grass skirt & handcuffs. Mon Mar 16 2009 13:24:28
The italian meal was v good. Bar afterwards wasn’t. club after that was awesome. Mon Mar 16 2009 13:26:12
So back to the weekend. The restaurant was Al Duomo. Nice place. I had an avocado and bacon salad, most others had pasta. Mon Mar 16 2009 20:09:50
Al Duomo was reasonably priced, and did a really nice drink in a jug: “Tuaca, ginger ale and fresh lime juice”. Really tasty and refeshing. Tue Mar 17 2009 14:18:44
The avocados in the salad were perfect ripe, and the bacon just the right level of crispy. Had to ask twice for chips, but they were busy. Tue Mar 17 2009 14:20:48
Everyone else’s dishes looked nice too. The calzone resembled a small mountain, and the tagliatelle was thick, creamy, and sumptuous Tue Mar 17 2009 14:21:52
I also came up with the premise of the novel I’m going to write one day. Not going to go into details, for obvious reasons. Tue Mar 17 2009 14:26:07
Wow – I tweeted more than I realised!
The club was The Funky Fish Club – a fantastic joint. Funk, soul, jazz, motown. Everyone was chilled, and there to have a good time. There wasn’t the “meat market” and bare breasts that seem to be the staple of most nightclubs these days – just a whole lot of people having fun and dancing. Was absolutely brill.
The journey home was actually funny, it was so bad. But I need to get off to bed, so I shall relive that particular joy another day!
Chrysalis (Faith in an Emerging Culture), by Alan Jamieson, is a book that’s hard to fit into an exact category. The back of the book proclaims:
Have you ever felt that the very things that once inspired and nurtured your faith now seem lifeless and perhaps even frustrating?
I guess it says something about my journey over the last few years that such a book appealed. 🙂
Anyway, it’s essentially a book about change. About drastic, radical, all consuming change that leaves some without any faith, and some with a far deeper, more complex, and real faith. Other authors refer to this passage as the long dark night of the soul, but Jamieson uses the metaphor of a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly (hence the title). It’s a metaphor that fits extremely well, I think, into what can happen to Christians who undergo a critical period of transformation. He would have it as the journey from black and white, to greys, to an equal respect of black and whites and greys. Or a journey from uncritical acceptance, to doubts, questions, and critiques, through to embracing mystery and paradox.
The book has a very help structure – after an introduction and overview, Jamieson spends on chapter on “pre-critical” Christian life, as a caterpillar. The next 5 or 6 chapters about the time in the cocoon – the transformation. The book finishes off with a couple of chapters on butterflies, then rounds off with the big picture stuff of what this process means and how it fits in.
The book personally helped me to start to get a handle on a fair confusing time in my life. Probably the first time I’ve seriously began to question what I believed for my whole life. I’m not saying I never had doubts before, but this was different. This book doesn’t offer answers in the traditional sense, but it helped me understand how there are phases and cycles of the walk of faith – and to assume that one will remain a caterpillar forever is kind of limiting.
But, like Rob Bell, what Jamieson has to say just rings true, and feels right. I’m actually quite inspired by the vision of monarch waystations and butterfly houses.
This is not a book for everyone. A decade ago I probably would have thrown it out after the first chapter. I guess the analogy is that people who aren’t drowning have no need of one of those floaty ring things – and probably don’t really see the point. But if you’ve ever fundamentally had to rethink who God is (indeed whether He is!), and what your relationship is with Him and the church, I unreservedly recommend this book as a way to at least structure your thinking about what might be going on.
Jamieson somehow leaves a pleasant (or at least hopeful) taste in your mouth after you’ve had to eat something rather unpleasant in life.
Rob Bell is rapidly becoming one my heroes. The nooma DVDs are an inspiring breath of fresh air, and the books of his I’ve read – Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (on Amazon) and this one ( Jesus Wants to Save Christians (on Amazon)) have been excellent.
He has studied the 1st Century Jewish culture extensively, and brings alive the teachings of Jesus in an amazing way. I find that a lot of what he says just Makes Sense, and he avoids the “theological fancy footwork” that some people seem to employ to make parts of the bible say the opposite from what a ‘plain’ reading would suggest. In fact he says that a ‘plain reading’ isn’t even possible: even assuming the Bible is the directly inspired Word of God, we still have it through 3 filters (the person wrote down what he thought God said, someone else translated based on what they thought the first person said, and we read it based on what we think the translator said).
Elvis is more accessible, and really scratched me where I was itching – but Christians is an altogether less comfortable book.
It’s all about empires, and empire building – harking back to the Jewish Empire in the days of King Solomon, through the Babylonians, the Roman Empire, up to the (according to the author) American Empire. Us Brits get away without a mention, but I’ve no doubts that the same analysis applies to the British Empire.
The central tenet (as I see it) is that Empires are inherently and unavoidably anti-Kingdom. Whenever a people grow strong, and start investing resources in developing and protecting that strength – there will be other people who are disposed, suppressed, and abused – and it is these people that Jesus came for. This is quite uncomfortable, because we in the west principally associate with the empire.
Rob Bell is not saying that wealth, health, and security aren’t important – but he is saying that when we stop seeing it as a blessing (and the means by which to bless others), and start seeing it as our right, and something to be defended and protected… at that point we lose the plot.
To quote from the back cover:
There is a church in our area that recently added an addition to their building which cost more than $20 million. Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty
This is a book about those two numbers
It’s a book about faith and fear, wealth and war, poverty, power, safety, terror, Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity; it’s about empty empires and the truth that everybody’s a priest; it’s about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate, and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from.
It’s about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers
The book isn’t at all judgmental though. It’s like the difference between a parent telling off a child for being too scared to go on a slide, and a parent running up the stairs going hey this is great – come on, you’ll really enjoy it.
There is one major downer though.
Yes, even in a book this good.
It’s true.
I’m
not
making
it up.
What is the problem?
If you haven’t guess from the above, it’s the incredibly annoying and disjointed layout, which I think is meant to emphasize the point. Turn to any page of the book, and you will find several one-line paragraphs of five words or less. One page has got one sentence spanning 7 paragraphs, where each line is 3 words.
It’s very hard to read.
Very
hard.
Not the content (although that is hard to read, but in an ‘this isn’t very comfy’ way), just the layout.
Rob – if you read this review, I loved the book. I am being very challenged by what you wrote, and how seriously (or not) I take my responsibility as a human and as a Christian on this planet. I am inspired by most of what you say and write, and it has lead me at things to seriously question my assumptions and change my world view. But I was really annoyed by the one line paragraphs, and it hindered and distracted my reading!
Going for the slightly boring route of “biscuits/snacks” for my Lent this year. Puddings and starters are allowed, it’s just those extra biccies at work/home/church/youth group which are getting the chop. To give up puddings and cakes would be a bit sad, as our wedding anniversary and my birthday almost always fall in Lent.
So tonight at youth group we’re bending the liturgical calendar slightly in order to have pancakes and pancake based activities – but we’re finishing off the evening with an Ash Wednesday liturgy (or, at least, part of one). The concept is you burn last year’s Palm Crosses on Shrove Tuesday, then use the ash to mark a cross on everyone’s forehead as a sign of penitence and commitment for the Lenten period.
I don’t think I’ve done this before (although the youth group have in the past) – but I’ve started tapping in to a deeper seam of spirituality in the last few years, with a stronger emphasis on reflection and contemplation. Should be interesting.
I’m just getting into Twitter (as you’ll have noticed if you know me on Facebook, or have looked at my homepage), and so far I like it.
It feels a bit like coming full circle – when I first started blogging, it was a mini-jotter for any random one-line thought I had, and kinda grew from there. BTW, the first entry is number 99 just to fool you. 🙂
Blogging has kind of become this big thing, where you have to write several paragraphs each update, and have something worthy to say.. actually scratch that second bit – but it just feels like a blog entry should be more than 140 characters.
