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Feb
16
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In a recent article called If You Can’t Let Go, Twitter, author Michelle Slatalla recounts her failed attempts to get her family to use Twitter to communicate more efficiently. Slatalla tried to recruit her husband and three daughters - 18, 16 and 10 years old. Of the four recruits, her husband was the only person that managed to slightly grasp the concept. Her 18 year old was quoted saying “It’s too complicated” and her 16 year old said the site was “confusing”. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, responded saying “We do have a lot of work to do to make it simpler and clearer to use”.
Confusing? Too complicated? Make it simpler and clearer to use? What could be simpler than typing 160 characters (or less) and hitting update? Twitter doesn’t suffer from feature bloat or an over complicated UI. I understand people not “getting” Twitter if they’ve never used it. I even understand people not liking it once they try it. But not even being able to figure out how to use it is just asinine.
I imagine that Slatalla’s children are not as dense as this article makes them seem. Instead, I assume her children were not interested in Twitter because their mother wanted them to use it. If my mom had suggested we text each other when I was 16 I may have reacted like her children did to Twitter. In a month they will probably be twittering away to their friends and acting like they discovered Twitter all on their own. That should provide Slatalla with some material for another article.
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One Response to “NY Times Author’s Children Can’t Figure Twitter Out?”
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Agreed, twitter is insanely easy to use. However, many of my friends still fail to realize it’s potential. It’s a shame, it’s a great way to keep in touch, make plans, etc.