My Web 2.0 Blog

I was just looking through my Mashable feed and came across an article about Tweetube, which allows Twitter users to share video. When I initially read this, I thought that meant the video would be embedded into the person’s Twitter page – and thus all that person’s followers. That had me thinking, um, no, not cool. The point of Twitter is speed. 140 characters and a cloud of dust. Think of the bandwidth issues! Oy.

But, thankfully, the site simply provides a way to share videos with a shorter URL, a la tweetburner, etc.

I’m by no means a Twitter expert, but having spent a little more time there of late, I’m noticing how many more links outside of the site are popping up in people’s messages. When I first got on the site, it seemed to be mainly about what people were doing (or not doing).

“Eating at Rick’s. The service here sucks. And this hamburger smells like foot. Why is the waiter smirking…?”

“Picking the kids up at school, contemplating the meaninglessness of my existence.”

“That bitch did NOT just look at my man.”

And now that I’m following more people, more and more are posting links to news items, funny stories, etc. Maybe the little things in life aren’t enough to entertain people or this is just the natural transition of Twitter. Will there eventually be videos embedded into the site? Would Twitter then collapse in upon itself?

Well, as the article mentions, there are sites such as 12 Seconds and Seesmic that are specifically for posting very brief videos. But people don’t “Tweet” there so much as they briefly vlog.

Okay, let me just step back and mention that my brain just went a little haywire. I’m finding this happens on almost a daily basis as I realize how far behind the times I am online (or how clearly I’m showing my age).

Back in ’98 (11 YEARS AGO!! There went my brain again.), I started working for a company where I surfed the Web all day, as did all my coworkers, so we all knew the Web ridiculously well. Sure, the Web was a lot less packed than it is today, but there was still a ton of stuff and we all had a pretty good grasp of the newest, coolest sites. It’s what we were paid to do. But now – zoinks!

This is not to say sites like Tweetube, 12 Seconds or Seesmic shock me. I guess it’s just coming to grips with the realization that there’s no way I’m going to truly catch up. Technology is coming at us too fast and won’t stop. It’s something that was brought home by an article I read about Ray Kurzweil in the most recent Rolling Stone. Pick it up if you have the chance. There are some mind-blowing possibilities in the near future.

Let’s face it, though, should I really expect to keep up? I mean, writing this blog is my attempt at that very pursuit. I’m sure within six months, a year, I’ll have a much better idea of what’s out there – and realize how much I’m unaware of. What did  Socrates say? “I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.”

I suppose my hope is that Twitter doesn’t stray too much from its current raison d’etre. Many times, there is beauty in simplicity.