In the all-important lexicon of how best to report one's news and views, Twitter has made a left turn perhaps into the right place to maximize its ability to rapidly spread the word to networks of users.
You may recall that from the beginning, Twitter's 140 character or less question was "What are you doing?" Of course, that was exactly what jock sniffers and star chasers around the globe wanted to know, as they followed everyone from Shaq to Britney.
But for the rest of us, this question tends toward responses like "Having my nails done," "Running errands," or my favorite, "Waiting for the big game."
While Twitter's rapid growth is impressive, one of the reasons why many tire of the service is that it is self-indulgent, to the point where it is hard to care about the mundane activities of people's lives (much less your own).
But Facebook, realizing the power of "now," changed its home page to "What's on your mind?" – a similar but different way to engage its rapidly expanding membership. As Facebook users know only too well, however, this change has spawned many of the same insignificance from its users, cluttering pages with useless, tiresome information about the boring intricacies of the lives of their "friends."
So in an about-face, Twitter has changed it prime greeting to "What's happening?" And in the process, they may have changed the game.
Maybe this new question will inspire Tweets to become more current, more meaningful, more informational, more entertaining – and hopefully, less personal and trivial. When Jerry Seinfeld related the humor of mundane activities, it was hilarious. For most other people, not so much.
As founder Biz Stone notes, "Twitter helps you share and discover what's happening now among all the things, people and events you care about."
Let's hope so, because if this service is going to provide users with real information and not just a lot of philosophical blathering and self-gratifying comments, the Twitter lens needs to show us something we don't know but ought to care about.
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Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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