when birds aren't the only ones who tweet

People's need to connect has been addressed by the postal service, then by the telephone, and now with an unbelievable fashion, the Internet has connected people unlike any other. I can still remember my amazement upon receiving my first SMS. The magic of reading a message and the ability to reply instantaneously, unlike its pager predecessor, is amazing.

Message sent, these are two revolutionary words at the turn of the millennium. We have come a long way from that.

In math, we were taught several relationships exist, one to one, many to one, one to many and many to many. Micro-blogging sites such as Plurk and Tweeter, have put a different twist to one to many.

And now this addicting need (for some anyway) to publish status updates or post one-liners, which keeps you up to date with your friends' whereabouts and sometimes outpouring of rants or raves. These sites have been repositories of simple random thoughts that we feel the need to share. Some rambling may be too revealing and yet we reveal ourselves to our network with more openness than we may have allowed face to face.

So what is this need to be heard? I think as individuals when we need to say something, and you think everyone seems to have heard you but nobody seems listening. And this attempt to reach out is maybe a cry for attention when we feel like nobody's listening in this crazy, busy world.

These social networking sites have allowed even the shy ones to post a shout out to increase the sample size of those who can hear and hope that at least one will listen. But I think even if nobody is listening, we sometimes get a little attention or our own five minutes of fame, in this case, few lines of fame.

Like any form of communication, the message has to be sent first. And that's the initial step.

Or maybe these status updates are just the culmination of our ego-centric culture. This nagging feeling that says "Hey look at me and look at what I have been up to!". Maybe the truth is only a few people care. Some of us just want to put it out there.
Coincidentally, I chanced upon this Venn diagram which attempts to illustrate the implications of these sites.

Source: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/social-media.png

Maybe we're just bored and have nothing else to do. Whatever the reasons maybe, I'm hooked on these status updates. It's nice to be reminded that wherever we are, we go through a myriad of emotions parallel to someone else’s and that we've got company. Reading others’ updates may also serve as reminders that we have nothing to brag about because we’re all in the same boat fighting the same race.

Eventually, I"ll outgrow these updates.

For now, gtg, I have to post a new status update.