Everyplatewebreak just removed you as a friend
You know, when I first discovered it, I thought Facebook a thing of beauty. Unbelievably simple to use, easy on the eye and a cut above MySpace and Bebo (which were just self-assembling web pages in all but name,) when I joined Facebook I became instantly addicted. All my friends were on there! People I hadn't seen since school! We could share pictures! Leave messages for each other! And those applications - what fun! I never knew having a Zombie fight over the Internet could be such a blast!
And then, somewhere between my 2000th request for a hug and an attempt to find out which member of High School Musical I was, something snapped. I realised that contrary to my previous appraisal of Facebook as the premier social networking tool of the 21st Century, it was, in reality, a load of horseshit. Friends aside - ACTUAL friends, friends for which I WOULD expend piss if they were to catch fire (and I mean that in a loving way) - the site is populated by people with the intelligence, grace and humour of groin putty. Folk that put capital letters in weird places. Who alternately tell me via status updates that their boyfriend 'is da best fing eva xxx' or 'I hate mark. His an arsehole :o('. Who complain that the newly designed layout is as bad... no, worse, much worse, than Hitler himself.
So except for photos, for which the tagging system works very well, and to hurl the occasional nefarious poke, I have withdrawn from Facebook and moved to the nerdier end of the Web 2.0 scale. I have found myself not only a member, but an enthusiastic tubthumper, for the excellent service offered by Twitter.
Fundamentally, Twitter is a collection of status updates (known as tweets) much like Facebook's, which build to form a sort of mini-blog. Update regularly in 140 characters or less, about any topic you wish - what you're doing now, what you'll do next, a song you love, a thought you thunked, a stream of consciousness or even the dreaded song quotation that helped make Facebook so tedious (of which I'm regrettably a culprit) and soon a holistic picture builds. Add other users to follow (they needn't be friends, there are many popular Tweeters such as Stephen Fry, Penn Jillette or until recently, the Mars Phoenix Lander - Twitter is distant enough to allow strangers into your circle without worrying they'll turn up to the next event you forget to mark as private) and you'll receive a list of new updates when you log in. You can comment on others Tweets, receive replies and soon you're sucked in.
It's hugely addictive, and aimed squarely at the modern user. Add one of the applications for iPhone, Blackberry or other handheld device and you can Tweet on the go. It sounds tedious, but it really isn't, I swear. Stephen Fry is currently tweeting from the African jungle; I updated yesterday from the coffee machine downstairs - now that's Twitter. You can also update from your mobile for the price of a standard text (although some service providers naughtily charge an international rate; I'm looking your way Three and T-Mobile,) email new posts or add photos to a sister site, Twitpic, which then automatically posts a link to your profile. For those of you still reluctant to let go of Harvard University's premier twatwork, there's even a Facebook application.
Here's my page: http://twitter.com/everyplate. Purty, isn't it? I write in often, and it keeps me sane when bored. I'm regularly adding new followers to light up my dark and pointless life so I can receive more updates. If you join, be sure to send me a Tweet, I'd sincerely like to follow you - on the Internet, in person, into the bathroom, wherever...
i understand your frustrations, the appeal of spacebook and myface have
peaked and gone