There have been a few interesting things on the web, particularly on Twitter, that I've found intriguing. It's probably the cultural/societal aspects that have caught my imagination.
For instance, there is the Susan Boyle thing (#susanboyle on Twitter), the woman who appeared on Britain's Got Talent and seems to have fascinated and delighted everyone. Unemployed, age 47, she surprised everyone by singing the pants off of I Dreamed a Dream. (Good grief! She's got her own web site now!)
Today, there has been a great deal of buzz on Twitter about reaching a million followers, which I find utterly uninteresting, but also about Oprah getting on Twitter, @oprah - and yes, she's there. I don't care one way or the other about her being there, but the interest was a bit fascinating. And the best tweet? It did not come from Oprah but was a response to her first tweet:
@BrentO: HI @OPRAH. WELCOME TO TWITTER. YOU CAN TURN YOUR CAPS LOCK OFF NOW. EVEN THOUGH THERE'S A LOT OF US, YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL.
Well, it made me laugh.
Also interesting, though more serious (albiet with a dash of humour tossed in) was Nick Carr's blog post, Hashmobs, a response to the recent Amazon kerfuffle. He concludes with this:
Fortunately for Amazon, a "long time" in realtime is equal to about five minutes in clock time. Being beaten with the virtual pillows of a hashmob may not have been pleasant, but it's not going to cause the company any permanent, or even passing, harm. It was a tempest in a tweetpot, a ripple in the stream.
I loved the phrase, "tempest in a tweetpot." I'm not sure, however, that I agree with him about the seriousness (little, he suggests).
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