There are some who still think Twitter has something to do with a yellow bird cartoon character in Warner Brothers cartoons voiced by the late Mel Blanc. But those are most likely some of the people managing some of the ailing daily newspapers…
In fact, much of the media is now twittering. And ABC’s George Stephanopoulos did a “Twitterview” with McCain — getting questions from ordinary citizens. When the computer unfriendly politico John McCain not just twittered but reportedly got INTO IT and became a full fledged “twit”(?) was it a harbinger of Twitter’s future — that it had finally arrived into mainstream? Was it like the day when Grandpa discovered Google and sent unwanted email jokes to all and sundry?
Or was it an indication that Twittering has peaked and will soon be as cutting edge as disco, pay phones and newspaper classified ads? REMEMBER: Twitter debuted as an important journalistic tool during the November terrorist attacks in India.
Go here for some reaction to Twitter, McCain and George S.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.