What is going on?

“Twitter is for Old People”

“Lost in the new media Universe”

What Is Going On?

Although Jenna McWilliams is very sceptic about what Matthew Robson said and why it has become such a big deal, it seems very clear to me. Instead of all of these CEOs, who are most likely all in there 50s, worldwide asking each other “Why can't we get through and capture the younger generation?” and then thinking that the answer is that they need more technology, they looked at it from a view point of their target market. I have seen many adults try to grab a hold of any technology that they can and try to use it. They assume that once they are a part of all of these technological advances, then they must be able to get a hold of the younger generation. However, in this mind set they miss one crucial problem. They do not know how to use all of this technology.

There is definitely an art form that can come about from figuring out technology. There is a huge difference between what is there to use and what should actually be used. Like the example that Matthew Robson uses with Twitter. I have had a twitter account since March 2009. However, I have used it to write things to my “followers” ten times since then. On top of that, I never go to check to see what everyone is doing. Twitter is not something that I ever need to go and check or figure out. It just sits there and I have no motivation to use it. This is mainly because of Facebook. All that Twitter is is a status update. I already have somewhere to update my status, it is called Facebook. However, on Facebook, there are so many other things that keep bringing me back to it, such as the social interaction and games, that I go on for those things and update my status, pretty much just because.

Jenna McWilliams poses a very good question though at the end of her news article, she states “How long until we realize that the guide may be walking quickly as if he's following a path but is in fact just as lost as everyone else?”. Clearly, she is an adult wondering what is going on just like everyone else. She starts out her article with a list of ways that we can look at to know that we are in a social revolution. And that is where her problem starts. What she does not understand is that random people speaking out and getting heard is the social revolution. Everyone wants to be heard and everyone wants to make an impact. Matthew Robson is just another one of the people that becomes famous because of a following. The reason that people update their Facebook is because they want people to know what they are doing. They want to be noticed. Matthew Robson was probably not even thinking that his work would be read, much less published and heard about worldwide.

This new generation is the reason that the world becomes smaller everyday. People like Matthew Robson is the reason why are society is so interlinked with every other choice that we make. This is exactly why the older generation cannot, even when they try really hard to be “cool”, make sense of what the younger generation is doing.

Links to the News Articles that this Post is in Response to:

Twitter is for Old People http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6703399.ece

Lost in the New Media Universe: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jul/14/twitter-teenage-media-habits