I turn to the This Week in Tech podcast to learn about what's hot and what's not in the tech world. It's a great way to learn about new services, websites and gadgets. I've been a listener for the last two years and am pretty happy to sit back, listen and roll with the good and the bad. But that changed today. I listened to the TWiT in Space (186) episode today and scratched my head. Leo et al. kept commenting on how they should stop talking about Twitter and get on with the news. Yet a good amount of time was devoted to David Prager's home invasion video that he tweeted about recently. So let me get this straight: Leo is done with Twitter (because he's no longer in the top 10 possibly?) yet he and his guests wasted time talking about a stupid stunt? Look, if someone broke into my home while I had been sleeping, I'd call 911. David Prager could have whatever reasons he wants for not calling the authorities, but the guests talked about that rather than analyzing how media outlets are utilizing Twitter. There is great complaint on TWiT about how Twitter has become too big and it's not worth talking about, but I'd really like to hear what people think are good uses for Twitter and what are bad examples (David Prager's home invasion tweeting, for example).
I normally don't comment on the topics discussed on the shows, but I couldn't sit back on this one. When newspapers are going out of business and major media outlets are using Twitter on a daily basis (CNN is reading users comments [and showing them] on their programs), wouldn't it be a good idea to discuss how technology such is Twitter is changing how news is disseminated? Would it be too much to ask for a thoughtful discussion on Twitter to take place on the show?
It's Leo's show and he can do what he wants, but give me a break. There have been some excellent shows in the last year, but this one was a downer. We're in an era of social media breaking through barriers, enabling people to reach out and connect to others like never before. Let's discuss how to best use these tools and who's doing that rather than wasting air time putting Twitter down and discussing a stupid stunt.
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