It’s been so annoying to watch thousands of people retweet the O & A names over the past few days.

What about those of us who are on Twitter to seriously social network for jobs, business, etc.? You know REAL connections needed.

We need Ashton and Oprah for that? REALLY? When they follow back a handfull of people?

HEY ASHTON-How about a billboard for my writing business or my bookstore? Now THAT would be helpful!

Uh, O? Have some us “regular” Twitter folk on you show who TRULY share helpful info (and Stacy would be a great one!).

I’m just sayin’…
(But I’m not bitter…)

WritRams’s last blog post..Starbucks: Family (Un)Friendly?

@Karen OMG that read like it was ages ago, back in the days where you also had to walk uphill both ways in 3 feet of snow to get to school! It wasn’t THAT LONG AGO! SHEESH!! . . . although I feel old these days when I realize that today’s teenagers don’t know what life is like without the internet. That’s crazy.

Karen Swim’s last blog post..Dubious Deception and other Corporate Tales

Generally speaking, I think Oprah and Ashton are good for Twitter and Social Media. Non-believers are taking note. As marketing professionals, I think we will find it easier to obtain new clients. Sure, we’ll have to separate the myth from the reality and educate them. Oprah and Ashton are doing little more than branding but that works for them. They don’t need to establish credibility or provide value. They are superstars.

Personally, I don’t like to read all of the mindless conversations about trips to the coffee shop or walking the dog from anyone except my close friends. Because of this, I’m very careful about who I follow. As the masses flood to Twitter, I’ll be more careful and so should you.

@Heather Somebody replied to my sentiments on Amplify via a blog reaction, where they asked “What’s the big deal with mainstream?” I commented directly, which I’ll c&p here:

I don’t think I would seriously abandon it, that was a first reaction, to answer your question directly.

However, as you said, that much more traffic = potential money making traffic. Though they’ve yet to monetize twitter, if it becomes so mainstream that they suddenly want to charge me for something I’ve been using for two years for free, then I would find an alternative way of communication and take my business elsewhere.

I don’t NEED Twitter, nobody does. I use it because its fun, it’s great networking, etc. but I CAN live without it, and there are other methods of communication. Because of Twitter, I’ve met so many people in my area in real life that I don’t need Twitter to communicate with them anymore, I’ll text them or call them on the phone.

I already get enough spam email. As Twitter got more popular, I’ve been getting tons of follow-bots which equal spam, which I’d rather not have so I block. That alone takes up time. When something I used to find fun and easy is taking up more time than it’s worth, that’s when I leave it.

I left MySpace when it got overrun by annoying teenagers and trashy people. If the MySpace crowd migrates to Twitter, then that’s it — I’m out.

Call me elitist, but it really disturbs me when I find Twitterers who only want to self-promote (@ambercadabra’s “Click My Junk”) or whose stream reflects that they throw out 140 char, but don’t actually interact with anyone, ever.

Like you, I fear Twitter will be overrun with people who feel it will make them more popular or attention-worthy, and even perpetuate the “CMJ” and monologue-ers.

Heather Rast’s last blog post..I Win/You Win: Finding Balance In Business Relationships

I think your comment re: Twitter being how we talk about news, not being news in itself, is right on. I was not an early adopter… I was a resister. Joined on the fall of last year. I view Twitter as a community, a diverse, global place that allows the sharing of ideas and information without limits of “hard lines” of communication. Somehow I doubt most celebs really see that. And sure… Other Twitter-views exist and are equally worthwhile to their proponents. It’s a question of value for time. Right now, I get a lot of return for my time on Twitter (news, information, connection, ideas, etc). If that changes because the nature of Twitter changes through celebritization into a one-way broadcast medium, I’ll seek that value elsewhere. Got no problem with celebrity, just with level of engagement/how they use medium.

Mandy Vavrinak’s last blog post..Mandy_Vavrinak: @KarenMaunu_LWB, @mikehenrysr, @khuda1 thnx 4 #followfriday recommend! (HINT: tweeps who do own recommends are good to follow!!)

Is Tyra on twitter yet? Because if she isn’t, it’ll look like this when she is.

http://i30.tinypic.com/r950qo.jpg