------->art adventures in twitterdom?

Well, I've been hearing about thiseer Twitter thang for sometime, how it's going to revolutionize art and such. And as an artist with a specific interest in new modes of expression and technology, my twitter-lack would seem an odd oversight.

Although I've long been a skeptic, some friends finally convinced me to join the twitter world. And because of them, I'm glad I did.

And though I'm fairly convinced that the Twitterboom is little more than short-lived advertising hype, I will try to be an open-minded skeptic.

But let me voice my skepticism. May the gods prove me wrong.

Can something like art be made on Twitter?

Well, I'm not sure, but I don't think so. At least not good art. If any, it would be a literary art like haiku. But Twitter brings nothing new to haiku. Relative to the web-publishing ability of blogs to integrate pictures/audio/video/text and hypertext, Twitter is very limiting. The Twitterature movement? I'm trying to stay open-minded. Will Twitter bring something new to Art?

Does Twitter represent the new read/write best of the web--the kind of democratic format that allows artists to build audience?

Absolutely not. Twitter, if anything, represents a read-only regression from blogs. It is not, as I've been told by the media, the new punk rock. It is the opposite of punk. It is much more like a pyramid scheme. In fact, it IS a pyramid scheme. Were you bottom level? Then Twitter is going to be GREAT for you.

Is it good for advertising?

Definitely yes, at least until the pyramid reaches it's mid-level burn-out. And especially for low-level pyramiders.

Is it good for making friends?

Maybye. Well, because of the format, more like acquaintances. Certainly not as good as more democratic tools like forums or blog communities.

However, its top-down read-only nature makes it a good place to meet a certain kind of person... the kind of person who'd want a top-down read-only soap box. And that appeal, to that certain kind of person, and the promise to others of meeting this kind of person is the whole hype of Twitter! Of course, I'll retract my cynicism and remain in obscurity for a while.

But I will go out on a limb and say:

without major changes: multi-media integration, longer format, alteration of pyramid structure, well everything that separates Twitter from blogs, Twitter is but a fad. In fact, those things are the only difference between Twitter and blogs:

1. More limited in expression--no logical persuasion (too short for syllogism,) no image/video/sound integration.
2. More "read-only." Less democratic.
3. More pyramid-like in structure.

This last was clearly the whole point! Twitter was based on the business idea that blogs were a fad and clever marketing could move bloggers to Twitter, which, because of its more pyramid/read-only structure is better for centralizing profit. Blogs give those little people too much opportunity to profit off their work!

The oft-stated meme is that people who missed the blog "fad" could be sold a "bottom level" product. But as always, business men know the "cost" of things but the VALUE of nothing. Blogging, as multi-media self-publishing is revolutionary. Twitter is a pyramid scheme, and with new twitter-gaming technologies, guess what, it's probably past the burn out level. Alas.

If you want to be "bottom level," go bet on the next big thing and ride it to networking success, fortune and fame! THe NIN forum and DeviantArt are due some media exposure soon....

But so far Twitter can be fun! So if you like, you can catch my inane, cynical Twittering at: http://twitter.com/zamyatin_lives