I was quoted by reporter Chuck Barney for his Contra Costa Times article about celebrities using Twitter:
He says that, for many celebrity-obsessed fans, the glory of Twitter is all in the details.
"I'm astounded by how mundane some of the interactions are," says Goldberg, a Walnut Creek native, who joined Twitter three months ago. "But it seems that the more mundanity there is in the tweets, the more personal and intimate the experience is for those involved. It's like, 'Hey, Madonna's having her period, and I know about it!'"
It's even more mundane than that. My Mom was totally thrilled to get a tweet from Neil Diamond letting her know that he was eating a Club sandwich for lunch. It allows people to feel like they have a intimate relationship with someone they actually don't know at all…and who doesn't know them, either.
It’s like, ‘Hey, Madonna’s having her period, and I know about it!'”
Thats…just…ewwwwwww
I can’t think of a single celebrity whose mundane activities I am interested in following — the “what I ate for lunch” posts that are spotlighted in articles like Barney’s give the impression that Twitter is completely vapid and pointless. However, I am following a handful of people who provide useful links and concise news bits in a timely manner — folks like Sarah Weinman, Daniel Fienberg and Aaron Barnhart, and the New York Times feeds. I think they will endure, while the likes of Neil Diamond and Britney Spears will eventually get bored with broadcasting their every move. I’d urge people not to knock Twitter ’til they explore the full range of what’s out there.
It looks to me, from Guelph, Ontario, Canada that the world, for whatever reason, wants DETAIL. The “indepth approach” that connects all the dots from start to finish of any given process requires concentration from the audience, and they do it, and they love it, seemingly. The more detail a story goes into, the “better” it seems to be while the more vague a story is, the “less quality” it seems to have. Why?
Aristotle said that the best pleasure is that which comes from learning. I guess that when our stories teach detail, they are providing the best pleasure for the audience.