Twitter: A Phenomenon? March 19, 2007
Posted by theexpress in rant, web 2.0.add a comment
No need to re-introduce myself. You and me both know that this blog is about as dead as they come, apart from the comletely inactive ones. WordPress has changed a lot since a year ago when I updated regularly, but besides a years extra knowledge, I am pretty much the same.
But, never the one for formalities, I’d rather get to business. Just because my posts are often months apart from one another, it does not mean that I’ve been living under a rock for all of this time. True, I have fallen out of the loops and circles that I once actively participated in a while back, but I still keep track of everything Web 2.0 (does anyone even use that phrase anymore, besides those outside of it). Because of my lack of contribution to the web and active participation in everything I could lay eyes on, I began to develop a clear head above the flurry of web activity. Don’t get me wrong, I love diggnation as much as the next guy, but my previous praises and condemnations have changed over the time.
Where, you may ask, am I going with this? Well, as I scan through my Google Reader, more and more often these days, I hear all of this buzz around Twitter. I admit, it looks kind of cool for a minute, but what is the point to it. Yeah, its cool that Tom from Baltimore just ordered a pizza 15 seconds ago…wait, no it’s not. Why would one want to know the mundane of another persons life when they have their own boring-ness to deal with. Not often does anything interesting come up on the title. Just looking at the front page now, there are two people updating their blogs, and one person eating. Not quite the jet set we have on this website.
And for those who claim it helps keep in contact with friends, I would liken that to looking your friends number up in the phonebook every time you call them, even though you have it programmed right in your cell. Your just going through a clunky middle man that serves no good. Yes, I am usually one for pointless web apps that dont serve much of a purpose (see my former praises of librarious), but this has crossed the line for me.
P.S. I am not a member of the Twitter community, so if there is some kind of killer app to it that I was too blind to see, please tell me. I wont be embarassed or upset, rather I’ll be happy that something with this much buzz is actually worth its weight.
Computer-Run Radio Stations March 23, 2006
Posted by theexpress in media, rant.2 comments
Here where I live, we have a few radio stations that are entirely controlled by computers with a fixed song list, and no deejays. I know that they are still playing music (whatever genre they want, or all genres), but I just dont get the same feel that I do with the DJ-operated radio stations. There are no call-ins from people, no requests, and no commentary or jokes from the DJ.
The main one in my area is called BOB FM, and it is supposed to play all music that is good, no matter what genre. In my opinion, the music that is played is not even that good (I wont base the musical choice by opinion, because we are all different) and it all seems to be within a span of 20 years. I feel like it is all from 1980 to 2000 with very few exceptions. Is that the only time period when good music was released? Another problem with having a relatively genre-less station is that you wont get too many frequent, loyal listeners. For example, say someone likes 90’s rock. They could chose BOB FM to listen to a few of the best songs from their favorite genre, but it will be sprinkled among other styles and periods of time. It would be much better for that fan to tune into to the local station that plays the songs they like much more often.
Not only are these stations impersonal, they are impractical. With listeners that are only casual, they cant make much of a profit, and certainly cant find out what they like more and less. I dont see the station lasting too much longer specifically because they are so out of touch with their occasional listeners. The lack of any real people behind the station also adds to the feeling that the radio station has nothing that will keep people coming back.
P.S.-I am also writing this rant because BOB FM took over my favorite radio station to listen to in the area, WRRK. Most peole I know prefered WRRK, but I dont know if it will ever be back.
