Sentinel Watch December 26, 2011 Issue

Tweeting the good news

Thomas Mitchinson

Do you “tweet”? No, I am not asking if you are a bird, but if you communicate on Twitter, a form of social networking on the Internet. Other forms include Facebook, Linkedin, blogging, texting, and e-mail.

Some critics of on-line social networking observe that in the impersonal realm of online communication, people can hide under made-up names. They suggest that social networking can hinder normal relationships by creating the desire to be on the Web instead of going out with friends. It’s also been said that since Twitter limits tweets to 140 characters, habitually reading such short messages inhibits the expression of deeper thoughts and may even reduce people’s ability to comprehend them.

Of course just about every situation involves varying perspectives. You and I can go out for dinner, and talk about a good book, or about helping the unfortunate, or solving a local problem. Two other people can go to the same restaurant, at the same time, order the same thing, and yet gossip or plan to get revenge on another person. It’s not the location that’s the problem. It’s the quality of the conversation that matters. What’s vital to any social networking (the location) is how and why we use it.