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Twitter: It's just such a stupid name

I remember the first time I heard about this thing called Twitter. It was a little more than five years ago and I was sitting in an auditorium filled mostly with journalists and students.
Cale Cowan

I remember the first time I heard about this thing called Twitter. It was a little more than five years ago and I was sitting in an auditorium filled mostly with journalists and students.

We were listening to a panel discuss — to put it too broadly — the future of journalism. One of the speakers asked who was using Twitter.

A smattering of hands went up. I jotted down the name and promptly forgot about it.

The visionary on the stage claimed that Twitter — and "tweeting" — would soon become ubiquitous in the exchange of information. I highly doubted it.

Live and learn. (Although I did also sit in on a lecture in 1993 where an award-winning journalist from a national newspaper in Canada told us that this thing called the "World Wide Web" would put an end to print newspapers within five years. Still waiting.)

That guy on the stage so long ago (can't remember his name) was right. You can't run a news business without Twitter these days. That's where a gazillion of the readers are.

But I think I can be excused for blowing off something that appeared to be the sound tween girls make when they laugh.

The Times Colonist is on Twitter (twitter.com/timescolonist) where, at last count, 22,816 people follow our tweets, which consist mostly of the news we have posted on our website.

But it's also a tool for us to see what information other people and organizations are sharing. Twitter has reached the point where it is not only the first place that information appears (in 140 characters or less), but is used by almost everyone who wants to reach millions of people to get a message out quickly.

 

 

That tweet appeared shortly after the tragedy in Ottawa.

Of course, as we all know, our PM isn't just about business. He has a fun side, too.

 

 

If it's good enough for the prime minister, it's good enough for me.

I just wish the name wasn't so stupid.

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