Tuesday, September 23, 2008

singing the twitter anthem

I was at a dinner party this weekend, and found myself trying to explain Twitter and the reasons I like it. I am paid quite a lot for words that make things sound appealing, but I failed to sway compatriots at the table who remained convinced that life was social enough what with email and IMs and LinkedIn and text messages.

"But it is just like text messages," I insisted, suddenly feeling like one of those evangelists you avoid at Times Square. "Only from lots and lots of people at once."

"Lots of people you don't know?" asked a periodontist. And then I gave up.

So I was impressed to discover that a songwriter, Ben Walker not only found words to describe Twitter, he put them to music in a video that, as of this writing, has over 244,500 youtube hits. In case you can't spare three minutes to watch it (because if you're not on twitter, email probably sucks up way too much of your time) here's what he says:
In the old days it was all about achievements
collecting all your trophies in a shrine;
then everybody came across the internet
and suddenly you had to be online.

A home page was all you really needed
to seem like a success but not a geek.
As long as you updated semi-annually,
and checked your email once or twice a week.

But now you're no one if you're not on Twitter
And you aren't there already, you've missed it.
If you haven't been bookmarked, retweeted and blogged
You might as well not have existed.

Now you need to publish every movement
and every single thought to cross your mind
I'm told the Twitterverse if full of rubbish
but most of us are really quite refined.

We validate each other's insecurities
and brag about the gadgets that we've bought.
We laugh out loud at every hint of jolliness
and try to self promote without being caught.

CHORUS: Cause now you're no one if you're not on Twitter…

Thanks to the Girl Riot who told me about this, after spotting (what else) a tweet from Alan Wolk.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think a good way to describe how the Twitter experience actually works is that it's a self-selected chat room that moves very slowly. You get messages from friends that you choose to follow who are generally also following you. So, when you're on your home page, it feels like a big chat room of your own choosing.

Oh yeah, and if you don't tweet at least five times a day, you're a lazy failure.

Ad Broad, oldest working writer in advertising said...

Thank you, Jeremy. I am printing out this excellent explanation so I'll never be at loss again.

Unknown said...

an American lawyer and amateur poet, accompanied American Prisoner Exchange Agent Colonel John Stuart Skinner to negotiate a prisoner release with several officers of the British Navy. During the negotiations, Key and Skinner learned of the British intention to attack the city of Baltimore, as well as strength and positions of British forces. They were held captive for the duration of the battle and witnessed the bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry.

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hesslei

Internet Marketing

Ad Broad, oldest working writer in advertising said...

What an interesting bit of intelligence, hesslei. Not sure how it relates to Twitter, but it's a good story. Thanks for sharing.