When people look back at the NBA Finals from Anno Domini Twenty-Thirteen, they’ll likely avoid sifting through all the narratives, subplots, and hijinks that came along with the Greatest NBA Finals Of The Twenty-First Century™. That’s not to say those gif-able moments, ensuing Twitter eruptions, and ESPN “First Take” reactions aren’t important; it’s just that […]
Twitter as a labyrinth of people who vaguely known each other talking past everyone around them.
Thanks to savvy marketing by the likes of Apple and Google, free virtual places eventually become just as real as the corner store. But now Google Reader has a “Closed” sign at the door.
I, who so often eschewed the phone, am now glad to lean into those long, meandering conversations that it can inspire, those sorts of chats that would not be punctuated by bathroom breaks or impromptu meetings with managers and where a lip-twisting grin and hastily typed “lol” wouldn’t suffice as an expression of amusement.
On December 29, the Twitter account @itsrealTED tweeted, “I’m pretty sure that if Walt Disney watched Disney Channel today, he would cry.” Never mind that Disney died in 1966, 17 years before his eponymous channel was launched in 1983: that truism is worthless in isolation, except for the nearly 1,000 retweets and nearly 400 favorites it’s received. Stack those gaudy stats next to those racked up by other messages sent from @itsrealTED and hundreds of other popular parody Twitter accounts, though, and a clearer, if seedier, picture emerges.