Two Thoughts

Firstly, I'm afraid that Twitter is becoming too commercialized. It seems like The World At Large has discovered a hive-mind of people - people who are generally living way too fast for their own good - and is taking the opportunity to advertise to them there.

And it's not just advertisement in the form of 'BUY OUR STUFF', 'SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY', etc. Warning: the following is an advertisement. Take the Starbucks twitter feed - http://twitter.com/starbucks - it almost acts like public customer service in shorthand. Trying to build that grassroots community support at the lifestyle speed that Starbucks likes to cater to. Do you get what I'm saying, or is this too far out there? Starbucks: energizing people who move fast - now addressing their thoughts 140 characters at a time.

Or CNN, for example - http://twitter.com/cnn - keeping the world up-to-date in it's slantist-fashion, 140 characters per serving! Here's a great headline: "Jobless father kills family, self."

I can't get over the idea that twitter was created, and wasn't monetized. It's free - anyone can create a twitter account ( http://twitter.com/protodeka ) - including companies like Starbucks, and CNN, for example. We can even see squatters - http://twitter.com/generalelectric - and they all come together and feed into the stream.

The fans follow, like the fans do. Those who don't care, don't follow. With more and more comapnies joining the fray, and more and more people on twitter who may be fans of Brand X whatever, the framework has been built for a complex opt-in spam / adverts network.

Except you get to pick-and-choose what you want to see adverts for. Like Starbucks. But what happens when you get enough Twitter followers, and you start subletting your 140 characters (say, one Twitter adspot every eight tweets) to hock Brand X Ware. It's reaching an audience measuring in the tens of thousands. That's gotta be worth something.

That being said - my favorite Twitter feed to date: http://twitter.com/marsphoenix - GO PHOENIX, GO!

This concludes the first thought. Onto the second thought: DOG WALK

I'd love to figure out how to make walking the dog slightly more efficient. The following snapshot outlines our path tonight.

Now, to put a GPS in the dog. You know, for plotting purposes. Can mark where she goes, in order to compile a list of favorite spots over time.

And in case she ever gets lost.