Twitter Me This . . .

If you're reading this, chances are you have heard of Twitter, a social networking/messaging site that has the media and celebrities alike ga-ga over their own self-importance. When it began a mere three years ago, I doubt the founders could have imaging its current popularity. But how long will it last? The web-o-sphere has been particularly unkind to social-networking trends, even ones that run for years. Myspace, once an exponentially growing behemoth of the internets, has been slowing down for months now. Facebook (the current trend) has surpassed Myspace in popularity. Things are not going well for the site, who just laid off two-thirds of their international employees, a week after laying off a third of their American staff. Facebook, a marginally more simple site, is still growing, but its popularity will fade and the active users will decline, just like its predecessors. Anyone remember LiveJournal? It's still around. Friendster? Bebo? Tagged is another up-and-comer that will grow and recede like HotorNot. The popularity curve of these kinds of sites isn't as harsh as your average Internet meme, but applies nonetheless. Twitter is the next 'big one' to soon retreat into the depths of our bookmarks folder, somewhere between Myspace and that dramatic prairie dog video link.
Every time I read a story or watch a news clip that mentions Twitter (which, gratefully, isn't very often), I sigh. Loudly and drawn out. When TV news anchors are wowed by something, or using it to draw more attention to themselves or their channel, it reeks of FAD. I'm not postulating that Twitter will go the way of Lolcats and Chuck Norris jokes, but it will not remain important. The only reason I see that it is as popular as it is right now is due to mainstream America's declining attention span. No one has time to read more than a 180 character message anymore, at least not people who aren't preoccupied with the lives of celebrities and those dull enough to condense their thoughts into 180 characters. A well thought-out and interesting article or blog post does not interest these people. They would rather browse a list of tweet's from twits and your occasional twat. It's one-way text messaging that you can send to everyone who might want to read it. We all know how intellectual those conversations are.
Eventually,Twitter will fade into a memory, the nascent idea will mature and grow old surprisingly quick. The one thing I do see having some staying power is the blog, or the weblog, for those who actually know where the alien-species-like name came from. Blogging has been growing steadily for years, and I believe will continue running strong. Those who mock it as a poor-man's form of journalism may actually not be too far off. I don't see the blag as the new face of journalism, but as a new journalism, a form of storytelling for the masses, by the masses. Anyone who has the time to actually sit still and read something like this without wondering what's new on Perez Hilton or TMZ, anyway.