Question about twitter

Im uh asking if its safe on behalf of a freind.. my freind wants to start twittering but he is unsure what is really is.. he has heard you can get virus's and that a bunch of weirdos follow you around and things..

he wants to know if its worth signing up for for ranting about things that dont belong on message boards he uses..

Is it safe for him to use?

Er, all it is, is a social networking site with everything ripped out but the status comments.

Nomad said:

Er, all it is, is a social networking site with everything ripped out but the status comments.

so it would be safe for just Random venting.. discussing stuff of interest and things? Theres no way I'd get a virus accidently or anything?

As long as yo--er, your friend does not put up any specific personal information about yours--ahem, himself, he has nothing to worry about.

Nomad said:

As long as yo--er, your friend does not put up any specific personal information about yours--ahem, himself, he has nothing to worry about.

Sweet.. now my " Freind " can post his Fake extreme Right Wing republican opinions to see what reactions he gets.. heh..

Nah JK.. :P my freind just wanted to make one to see what was so good about it.

Its generally for posting random thoughts you have. For example: "I just lodged a chaingunner corpse in the Icon of Sin's nose, awesome"

If I posted that on Facebook, or LJ, or Mysoace, or any other social site thats out there, I would get people plaguing me with "lol wut" "what are you on about" etc etc. Twitter even limits you to 140 characters per post. Its great for small things you dont want to take time on, just throw your thought on ther while its there.

Ragnor said:

Its generally for posting random thoughts you have. For example: "I just lodged a chaingunner corpse in the Icon of Sin's nose, awesome"

If I posted that on Facebook, or LJ, or Mysoace, or any other social site thats out there, I would get people plaguing me with "lol wut" "what are you on about" etc etc. Twitter even limits you to 140 characters per post. Its great for small things you dont want to take time on, just throw your thought on ther while its there.

heh seems Myspace,facebook or LJ is what im looking for.. for my freind of course.. lol I think I picked the wrong site

Myspace and Facebook anymore are basically interchangable. Livejournal is just that--an online journal/diary community. Twitter is just verbal diarrhea, 140 characters at a time.

Twitter is the best way to assure that everyone you don't know knows exactly where you are and what you're doing.

You know, I've honestly been feeling my life has absolutely no meaning and if I were to die this instant I would have no friends or legacy to represent my existence on this planet. So...maybe...just maybe posting about my random events and thoughts to the world in hopes some one will read them and post comments about them. It could just add some purpose and maybe even a little self-esteem to my existence and myself.

Technician said:

You know, I've honestly been feeling my life has absolutely no meaning and if I were to die this instant I would have no friends or legacy to represent my existence on this planet. So...maybe...just maybe posting about my random events and thoughts to the world in hopes some one will read them and post comments about them. It could just add some purpose and maybe even a little self-esteem to my existence and myself.

We post responses to your comments here, Technician. That's better than you could possibly hope for on Twitter, which will only confirm the universe's extreme and absolute indifference towards you.

You're always there to back up your bros, Creaphis

Technician said:

You're always there to back up your bros, Creaphis

Word.

Ok, now my girl friend (I'm on doomworld therefore it's a lie >>) wants me to make a twitter. I've been trying to explain to her the whole 'it's just a facebook wall'. It took some perseverance to get me to make a Facebook so I'm probably not going to make a Twitter. Plus I hate blogs, just for the simple reason that I Don't Care. I don't want to hear about that 'super awesome PB&J sandwich you totally just ate'.

[/Nonsense]

Nomad said:

Myspace and Facebook anymore are basically interchangable. Twitter is just verbal diarrhea, 140 characters at a time.

Yes, but as silly as that seems, Twitter has probably saved Facebook from being a lost cause. I think everyone has at least one of "those friends" who insist on posting about every single little thing going on in their day in their Facebook status, which gets kind of annoying. At least Twitter thins out their numbers a bit and keeps most of it in a place where I don't have to read it, heh.

Twitter is a very good way to tell a bunch of people that you never met what an ass you are. The fact that a person wants to do this thereby proves they are indeed an ass. :P

Twitter is the worst thing ever. The only one worth reading is Trent Reznor's. :P

John Campbell's (Pictures for Sad Children author/artist) is pretty funny. http://twitter.com/itsjohncampbell

Read from the first "tweet" if you have the energy. It's a touching story about alcoholic centipedes and eating disorders.

Nomad said:

John Campbell's (Pictures for Sad Children author/artist) is pretty funny. http://twitter.com/itsjohncampbell

Haha, that's great. But it only confirms that the only interesting tweets are parodies of the form.

Twitter is mostly a bunch of people with nothing to say saying it constantly.

I use it to keep up to date with a few friends, people and pieces of software that interest me, but in that way it's just another form of social networking or RSS feed.

However, all these people uselessly bantering is useful for tracking major events in realtime before news sites get them. Such examples are this morning's 100-minute Gmail outage, or a power blackout in Sydney a few months ago.

Some places also use Twitter as a marketing tool, I remember reading of a popular traveling food fan which tweets where it is, and people line up for hundreds of meters.

I have friends who find it useful for tips relating to their work. Get stuck configuring a Cisco device or on a programming language and you get answers pretty fast sometimes.