I am happy to see this story, but pay attention to the commentary. Keep in mind that CNN is a HUGE user of Twitter. Tell me these suits didn’t plan this story out in advance to avoid coming across as anti-Twitter. Hell, both of these guys have stated how they have a Twitter following; they don’t want to offend their followers. I would make a big wager that most of the celebrities, journalists, and politicians who use Twitter view it as a huge nuisance in their lives. That’s where I have to agree with Gregg Doyel in that this is the high school of adulthood. It is a popularity contest. Even Rick stated in this story, “What is wrong with connecting to people that want to connect with us?” and “It had made my newscast a better show.” That just proves my point; this guy is happy to have X number of followers, and he has to do half as much work because these followers can do it for him. I have an idea, follow some people you don’t like, learn the opposition so you understand the argument rather than digging yourself into your side more. It is a giant boost for his ratings; that’s why he likes it. Twitter is a way to join a clique, but now the person you are joining for is happy they can ignore and avoid you; otherwise, they wouldn’t have let you in. My favorite comment by this guy is the giggle he makes when he says he can learn from CNN. Even he knows it is useless. Then, to top it all off, he contradicts himself. He states how Twitter allows regular people to converse about and update each other on situations they want to hear about, but then at the end he states how over the next year he sees Twitter censoring the feeds to make sure the predominant information gets around. Who do you think is going to have the predominant voice, because I know it’s not going to be me. It is going to be the journalists and the celebrities who are just continuing their lifelong goals of being popular. I think Doyel has some great points. There have been studies of school children that prove we butchered the English language. These studies are, of course, contradicted by stories about how we have “diversified” and “improved” the language. In the stance of being politically correct, the latter normally wins. I promise you now, you’ll never see me on Twitter. How would I tell this or any story in 140 characters? I actually ask people I meet if they have a Twitter account. If the answer is an enthusiastic “Of Course!” then I interrupt them after a few sentences. That’s all they need, right?