I Hate It, But I Love It

"I hate it, but I love it."-Tony Horton 

Twitter is an amazing part of the social media. You can get up to the second updates from people involving their own personal feelings, breaking news, humor, and everything in between. Twitter can be cruel, funny, witty, playful, and infuriating. To quote P90X salesman/exercise hocker, Tony Horton, "I hate it, but I love it."

I feel that way about Twitter. It can be really fun. You can chat with friends who are 3,000 miles away. You can read about breaking news as soon as the story is posted. You can laugh at all the fake Twitter accounts who mock certain people or events.

Then there are the aspects of Twitter I despise. Celebrities, athletes, and writers responding to trolls. The abundance of rumors that get floated that lead to absolutely nowhere. And then there are the people who shoot themselves in the foot by saying something mean, dumb, or cruel on Twitter and then say their account was hacked. And then there are people like Michael Wilbon who really do have their accounts hacked.

There's a lot to love and hate about Twitter. It's all fascinating to witness right in front of you on your computer or phone.

I to convene at the Mos Eisley Cantina with the Colonel for the Sunday Night Football game. It had been a while since I was in the Cantina and had some free time on Sunday night. The Colonel was wearing his customary white suit and was drinking an old fashioned as the game started. I figured this would be a great opportunity to talk to him about Twitter.

"Do you have an account with Twitter?" I ask the Colonel.


"I do," says the Colonel. "I don't tweet though. I just follow various news people and athletes. I really have no use to tweet. I like to keep my sarcasm to this bar. I don't want to tap myself out on Twitter."

I never knew the Colonel had a Twitter account until Sunday night. It makes sense though he would just follow people and not tweet. His sarcastic humor is too much for 140 characters. And he's not someone who's going to waste time saying he needs a nap on Twitter or tweet about his lunch with some colorless client.

"I do find Twitter fascinating," says the Colonel. "It's like a combination of people who make comments on the SF Chronicle website and Facebook. It's both ugly and tremendous. It does amaze me though when people respond badly to trolls who are only looking to get a rise out of them."

"That's the ugly side of Twitter," I say. Which is true. Go read an athletes Twitter timeline one day. I'm sure you'll find in that timeline where he responded very badly to someone trolling him. Those responses usually involve profanity and the athlete either telling that person they'll die of some horrible disease or they should go and kill themselves.

"There are certain aspects of Twitter I do enjoy," says the Colonel. "I do enjoy the mock accounts. It's hard to find some writer, athlete, or celebrity who doesn't have a fake account mocking the real person. I also enjoy the up to the second breaking news. Not even TV can talk about breaking news that fast."

"The speed of Twitter can also be a curse," I say. "Rumors are constantly floated with about 80% of them being wrong. People can react to events faster and without thought which usually leads to someone making an ass out of themselves."

"That's one of the reasons why I don't tweet," says the Colonel. "Instant reaction isn't always the best reaction. Most of the time you'll get in trouble with that type of reaction."

We both agreed about this on Twitter; it's fascinating. Instantaneous reaction is interesting and can be dangerous, funny, or sad.

Twitter: I hate it, but I love it. 

(Wilbon photo via Awful Announcing)