Twitter killed journalism in 2009, by forcing journalists to write about it
David George-Cosh, a technology reporter for the Financial Post, had what was described as “a total Twitter melt down” on February 11 — aggravated by marketer April Dunford, whose failure to return a call in regards to a story he was working on led her to tweet: “Reporter to me ‘When the media calls you, you jump. OK!?’ Why, when you called me and I’m not selling? Newspapers will get what they deserve” Said reporter already had one foot out the door to a job in Abu Dhabi, but he also brought the service to the attention of many a newspaper type who hadn’t quite figured out what Twitter was for. From there, the articles started appearing: a week later, Antonia Zerbisias of the Toronto Star wrote about her conversion. By early March, when LeVar Burton proposed a spontaneous tweetup at Hemingway’s Pub in Yorkville, reporters were sure to follow — including Ivor Tossell, who flipped the experience into a column for The Globe and Mail. By the end of March, however, the obsession started spinning out of control: story after story after story asking the same question: what is this thing and how can we exert some authority over it? Ian Brown of the Globe even hosted a live chat on March 25, incredulously called “Why Twitter is a matter of life and death.” After that existentialism came the stunts: Twitter images appeared above the banner of the April 3 Toronto Star, who hoped for 140-character meditations on the meaning of life but got nothing too profound in return. Toronto Sun tech columnist Steve Tilley announced on May 4 that he was going to tweet 1,000 times in a week — he stopped at 500, but lived to tell the tale. And then we all got on with the rest of our lives, except for Leah McLaren, who announced in print on November 6 that, after being clued in to the parody account @LeahFiles, she would now tweet under her own name. Yet, she never followed through.
Below, the six most annoying articles from Twitter’s late-March tipping point, each worse than the last.
Just one question: What are you doing? [Taz Tagore, Toronto Star, Mar. 21]: A freelance submission at the moment the Star decided they must feature Twitter in their pages: “I set out to understand what makes a good tweet and, by extension, uncover why some of us are obsessed with Twitter.com. Is there an art or a science to Twittering successfully, so that tweets enthrall rather than annoy?”
When a Twitterer becomes a Twit [Diane Ziomislic, Toronto Star, Mar. 22]: First attempt to make an issue of @mayormiller getting the rhythm of 140-character updates: “Tweeting mayors looking to connect with populace risk alienating them with banalities, critics say.”
Twitter beats email, friends find [Corey Mintz, Toronto Star, Mar. 24]: Restaurant reviewer recaps Twitter exchange with friend who doesn’t know the abbreviation “IMO.”
24 hrs of tweets [Sarah Hampson, Globe and Mail, Mar. 26]: Columnist follows celebrity tweeters for a day, comes up with this conclusion: “We twitter to hope we matter. That’s as profound as it gets, I think. Mostly, it’s a way to feel cool. It’s a new social elixir, like smoking was at the height of its popularity. You do it because everyone else is. For now, anyway. Life is like walking through a funhouse. It’s dark, people are pushing, and you can’t turn around. You just follow the cracks of light.”
Pro athletes turning into ‘twits’ [Bruce Arthur, National Post, Mar. 26]: “Now, this correspondent’s first instinct regarding this latest Internet fad is one of rather undisguised contempt. Twitter is, in its most popular form, a vapid regression of the language for those without the patience, facility, or spelling ability to properly blog. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but Twitter seems to be doing its level best to demolish that assertion. (Now that I am old, this column will contain a number of blatant generalizations about Twitter, the Internet, and kids these days. Oh, how they dress, those kids.)”
Ego tweeto, ergo sum [Margaret Wente, Globe and Mail, Mar. 28]: “If you thought Facebook was banal, try Twitter. It makes people who write their thoughts on Facebook sound like Shakespeare. Of course, it’s also possible I’m too old and out of it.”