In just the span of one hour, I've read a deluge of "tweets" (or "Twitterrhea"): downright mean and monstrous words from a friend to an ex-boyfriend; a foodie friend's blow-by-blow account of what she had for her three-course dinner last night and that someone out there had just watched Fast & Furious 4.
And I confess - like millions around the world, I tweet too. Every couple of hours, I tweet about what I am thinking ("humankind and humidity should not coexist"), how I am feeling ("morose on a Monday morning") and even what I am doing ("tossing in bed after three-quarters of a tall latte at ten").
The thing is, whenever I post tweets that are vaguely narcissistic, I wonder why I do it. After all, who but my friends (a grand total of five perhaps?) would be interested in the routine details of my ordinary life?
For the uninitiated, Twitter is the hottest online social networking site of the moment. The premise is stunningly simple - you post 140-character updates called "tweets" and "follow" other Twitterers. It is similar to the popular social networking website Facebook in that you post "statuses" to stay up-to-date with friends, but minus the mash-up of features like e-mails, instant messaging, image- and video-sharing.
But what takes Twitter to the next level in social networking is its positioning as a micro-blog, where one can easily grab the thoughts of millions of others around the world, but in easy, byte-sized chunks.
You don't even need to be an approved "friend" (like Facebook) to access someone else's account, whether it's US President Barack Obama or Hollywood couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher (the latter is the first to amass one million "followers").
Twitter closes the gap: we feel connected to the likes of CNN host Anderson Cooper, and by the same token, a then-presidential candidate like Obama has a shortcut in getting his message to voters.
I Tweet, Therefore I Am
Now, I can understand Kutcher's appeal on Twitter. After all, it is only through Twitter that we can get a sneak peek into the thoughts and lives of mega-celebrities. (Kutcher has made Twitter an art form in just the way he tells us he had a lousy salad for lunch.)
What I'm struggling to understand is why so many people tweet about themselves, well, that much. While writing this article, I kept Everytweet (everytweet.com) - an ongoing filter of the public Twitter feed - on my browser and let tweets from every corner of the Twitterverse flash by.
What I observed: most tweets are stream-of-consciousness shout-outs to nobody and everybody. It seems like nothing in one's life is not worth mentioning ("can't decide what hairstyle to have"). Really, what is the point of such trivial updates?
Daniel Koh, psychologist from Insights Mind Centre, suggests that this constant broadcast of personal updates is like a call for attention. "When friends reply to your tweets, it boosts your ego and gives you satisfaction, which in turn encourages you to tweet more. That's why sites like Twitter, with its power to easily broadcast one's thoughts to millions and get immediate responses, allow a person with narcissistic traits to thrive."
Be Meaningfully Narcissistic
But the tendency to tweet constantly about your life isn't necessarily a bad thing, says prolific Twitterer and face of popular blog Popagandhi.com, Adrianna Tan. The 24-year-old photojournalist and founder of travel video-blog, fortylove.tv, started Twittering in October 2006, just months after Twitter was launched.
She explains: "Sure, you can just tweet about yourself all day, but if you have interesting thoughts and lead an interesting life, it can be pretty entertaining."
More than just entertaining, tweets can be an opportunity to be meaningful and beneficial. Wherever she is in the world, Adrianna shares, through Twitter, from restaurant recommendations ("World Top 50 Restaurant thingy: El Cellar de Can Roca climbed from #21 to #5. Gonna try make that booking NOW") to travel tips ("best $-changer rates in Beirut on Rue Hamra outside bikini shop near Costa").
She asks: "Isn't it better to add why the lunch was good, or whether it is Singapore's best-kept food secret?"
More Than Just About "Me"
Perhaps what I, and millions of other similarly self-absorbed Twitterers, should try to understand is that Twitter can be more than just about "me".
In an article on the online business journal of the Wharton School, Kevin Werbach, a legal studies and business professor at the Ivy League business school, explains: "Like most of the big Internet success stories, Twitter is taking off because it serves the needs of many different communities. It's fun and a way to socialise, but it can also be an information gathering and business tool."
And therein lies the popularity of Twitter. For months now, the more sophisticated Twitterers are already using it in a variety of ways: as a news source, 24/7 helpdesk and virtual water-cooler.
Because it allows you to micro-blog by handphone, Twitter is emerging as a major force in breaking news. Singaporean filmmaker and lecturer Tan Siok Siok, who has been Twittering since late 2007, played citizen journalist and tweeted live from the dramatic Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) last May 2.
"I sensed a desire for information by those who are not able to attend, such as overseas Singaporeans."
From her audience seat, she updated the Twitterverse on the twists and turns of the meeting at a speed that mainstream news simply could not match. ("Current exco gone missing. Nowhere to be found. Old guard declared that the new exco is considered to have resigned. #awaresg").
On that day, the topic "#awaresg", was the top tag searched on Twitter worldwide. Siok Siok adds: "Even while this tweet may be inaccurate and that tweet misguided, [overall it] is often surprisingly accurate and illuminating."
Twitter is also where Adrianna goes to for help on anything and everything. "When I had to look for help to shoot a short documentary about Tamil cinema, all I had to do was tweet about it. No matter how obscure a question or request, someone in the far corner of the Twitterverse would know."
Social networking at a faster speed and a wider platform than ever is why sociologist Gui Kai Chong thinks Twitter is a force to be reckoned with, and almost impossible to ignore in the digital age.
He adds: "Sure, there may be lots of rather meaningless bits of information floating around the Twitterverse. But this does not mean that meaningful content cannot exist on Twitter."
He's right. Now excuse me, while I go tweet about how the new Benefit Brow Bar did a great job with my brows.
Get a copy of the June 2009 issue of Her World to find out who has made it onto Her World's annual 50 Men We Love list. Also, check out our eyewear special for the coolest shades and lightest glasses, and find out which are the best mascaras around. Her World published by SPH Magazines is available at all newsstands now.
Jaclyn Lim is Features writer with Her World magazine by SPH Magazines.
