This just in from Gaebler.com: Harvard economist blames Twitter for down economy:

Twitter usage compared to DJIA

I must admit that while the coincidence is interesting, there is little evidence to suggest whether the causing event is Twitter or the economic slump. Did Twitter usage cause a huge slump in productivity, leading to economic collapse? Or did all the attendant layoffs leave a large number of people to sit at home Tweeting instead of doing something productive like, say, starting a business that meets a compelling market need?

Perhaps extending these two cases to the future provides some insight. If Twitter is the cause, then its increasing popularity is a harbinger of the End of Days, economically. If this is true, then verily we will ride this slippery slope to a future already predicted in Mike Judge’s film Idiocracy, reduced to mouth-breathing troglodytes incapable of any expression greater than 140 characters.

If, however, the economic crisis is to blame for Twitter’s popularity, then what happens when all those unemployed tweeters get back to work? Will they forget Twitter as the social media fad du jour? Will 140 characters be too much of a time investment for those involved in the frenetic work-a-day world? Maybe. The busy types will have to find some other social media wave to surf.

For them, I suggest Grunter.

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OK, I’ve got to admit. This is pretty clever. In fact, it could actually be a reservoir for Terrible Tweets of the Day for months to come.

Check out TWItoShirt. This is a clever site where you can order a t-shirt with your favorite tweet on it! Yes, you can memorialize the bullsh*t tweets that are completely ridiculous and wear them around like a moron!!

Most popular? Obama’s tweet “Yes We Can…blah, blah, blah”. News flash. Election is over. Obama doesn’t really tweet. It’s his spin doctors. Glad it helped him win an election but not sure tweeting really mattered. Certainly doesn’t matter now. But you can buy a t-shirt if it makes you feel better.

However, there are some very funny tweets on this site…and I just may have to order me a shirt. And some very stupid ones as well. Let’s pick some candidates for Terrible Tweets of the Day:

“my wife just shut the light off in the room I’m working in. I’ve officially become furniture”. Get a life. Your wife turned the light off on you because you are a moron that tweets all day and doesn’t pay any attention to her. Tweet that.

“eyes burning with the fire of a thousand suns”. Very inspiring. I’ve got to follow that guy. What does this mean? Should I call an ambulance? Or should I quit my job? I’m so confused.

“Got a call at 6AM from school saying no school!!!!! WooT!!” Who did this guy talk to before he had twitter? And what’s he going to do with the rest of his day now that he won’t be working on his education? Oh, of course. Tweeting. “I just took a poop!!!! WooT”

Another deep thought that apparently was worth memorializing in a t-shirt: “Sometimes when I finish an article, I dream into space and wonder how much my this would have amazed me when I was a child.” First, it’s a grammatical piece of crap (I wonder how much my this). Second, who cares. Third, what article is it if it was so great you were dreaming into space. Lastly, what made you think it was so great it was worth wearing around on a t-shirt?

One of my favoirtes: “zZzzzzzzZzz”. It memorializes how I feel about twitter.

There are some pretty funny X-rated t-shirts as well. I’ll leave it to you to find them.

And there is one very exciting t-shirt option coming soon. You can soon get your actual followers as a mosaic on a t-shirt! Can hardly wait for that one!!

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Check out Jon Stewart and Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee. They have a pretty funny segment that Twitter Bashers will find some joy in. Check it out here.

Old Man Stewart Shakes His Fist at Twitter. Good for Jon. Some pretty hilarious cuts about congressional folk tweeting while watching the prez last week as well as their take on the new social media outlet: Grunt. We’re grateful they are only kidding…but it may not be far behind.

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If you watch CNN, you’ve seen this clown babble about Twitter. His name is Rick Sanchez. The dude has over 58 THOUSAND followers (a clear sign the unemployment rate is up…people with nothing better to do than follow this knob at 3pm ET when he’s on CNN).

Anyway, we picked something up from Wonkette that was fall-out-of-your-chair funny. Seems Rick decided to document his knee surgery and got all wonky about his hot nurse, talks about what it feels like to be in hospital clothes (riveting!), and talks about shaving his knee. Check out the hilarious comments at Wonkette. 

By the way, in case you’re wondering, Rick has over 1700 updates and just 4 minutes ago updated his 58k followers that he’s going to watch a skinhead special on the Discovery Channel.

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Twitter was established in 2006 and is currently forgoing the silly art of generating any revenue “because we don’t want to distract ourselves from the more important work at hand which is to create a compelling service and great user experience for millions of people around the world.”  That is where the investor whose check has been cashed should say “Excuse me?!?”  Obviously from their latest cash infusion, investors are still willing to lay down the jack for this experiment.  To those investors, I ask “What is a fad worth once it’s time is past?”

It is not like the Twitter Masters need to look very hard to find an idea for generating revenue. Doing a Google search on “Twitter Revenue” will not only provide the folks at Twitter a laundry list of people giving advice, but the act of searching should also itself set off a few bells in their thick skulls. Google has certainly cashed in on shorter strings than the 140 characters the micro-bloggers are putting on Twitter. 

These guys have amassed enough data to create a market for mining the data of the mind as Twitter is a leader in capturing the thoughts and actions of many.  This could lead to ad targeting that would make even Google jealous.  That being said, Twitter’s fate is completely reliant on the web user staying interested, and heavy weights like Facebook not making simple tweaks to their ‘Status Updates’.   This is their Achilles heel that will eventually take them the way of the Dodo, and make the decision to ‘create a compelling service’ seem silly. 

The one certainty for Twitter is that they are getting their 15 minutes of fame.  Time will tell whether or not they get the illusive 16th minute.  Either way, their waiting game is a foolish play since that 16th minute is in the hands or better yet the attention span of the tweeting public.

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Twitter Sucks and So Do You. Probably.

Ahhh…this headline was made in heaven for TwitterBashers like myself. I got an anonymous tip on this great new article from the CNET UK folks where Rory Reid so clearly articulates what annoys us all about Twitter. This is a must read.

One point he makes that has certainly resonated with me in the past few weeks is the stalker phenomenon. I started following a few marketing ‘gurus’ just to keep up with the cool kids and suddenly there were a slew of folks following me…most of whom I have no idea who they are.

One clown followed me and I followed him back just to lurk after him for a few days and see what he was up to. He cleverly responded to my follow with a direct message of  ‘Thx for following - now DM me a business question and see if  I can help you’. Yeah, this is exactly how I want to be courted by a consultant. Anyone game for having some fun with this tool?

Another key point from Rory’s article is his closing argument: Twitter (or some variation thereof) will have some place of value in the future. The problem is a lack of Tweetiquette (wow, new word! Let’s tweet about it!) that is ruining it for the rest of us. Marketing spam. Tabloid gossip. Stalkers. Worthless personal tweets. Please, spare me.

Do yourself a favor and read this article.

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I follow an RSS feed on TechCrunch but lately it has been getting VERY old because every other post seems to be about Twitter. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who noticed…in fact, it sounds like more than a handful of readers have pelted TechCrunch about it. 

Today, they decided to defend themselves. Interesting read and you should check it out:

Why We Often Write About Twitter And Will Continue To Do So

The funny thing is in the comments. Flaming comments on both end of the Twitter spectrum. I think I’m beginning to understand why I’m part of a Twitter-Bashing movement. It’s not because I don’t see some value in Twitter…I definitely do. It’s more because of the people who abuse it with annoying tweets coupled with the staunch defensiveness that Twitter Nation insists that it is the most brilliant advancement in technology since the Apple IIe.

Anyway, check the comments out on their post. One of my favorites is from mikeb:

“Twitter is simply an AOL chatroom from 1997 that uses text messages. Being able to share a link to a group of friends, or strangers, or have a remote online meeting is nothing new. In 2001, we had 80 person dev meetings via Yahoo IM.

Just like chatrooms, the vast majority of traffic is crap. Now it is just crap via Blackberries and a lot more people happen to be online these days.

It only gets hyped for the reasons you mentioned (i.e. Evan Williams, etc ), IMHO.”

I can only hope that something else “hot” comes around soon so bloggers at TechCrunch and other media start focusing on something else!!

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