The Tweeting Dry Cleaner

As I was on my way back home this morning, I was driving on Laurel Canyon to avoid the traffic on the 101.  For those of you outside the Los Angeles area, yes- there is traffic coming into Hollywood on Saturday morning.  There is ALWAYS traffic headed into Hollywood on the 101.  While I was headed west on Laurel Canyon, I passed a dry cleaners.  This appears to be one of those old Hollywood locations- its probably been there for a hundred years (when it was a corner store or something).  On the marquee (you heard me right) the message the dry cleaners would like you to know that you may find them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.  Why would I follow a dry cleaner on Twitter?  What is Twitter?  I have heard the lingo and I have a general ideal of what it is, but I think that technology has gone a bit too far.  I don't really care what the dry cleaners is doing moment to moment.  Come to think about it, I don't know if I care what anyone is doing from moment to moment.  Now, don't get me wrong- I care about the overall scheme of what my loved ones are doing, and that is why I call them and talk to them on the telephone.  I don't envision myself  being kept awake at night wondering what I missed from the dry cleaner's tweet. 

Technology is a lot like high school.  I joined Facebook about a year after everyone else already had a zillion friends.  And just like high school, I found my self wrapped up in finding the clever status lines and racing to sign up more and more friends.  I find my self hoping to be "friended" by people who didn't like me in high school- yet there am I- hoping that we can be "friends".  Hell, I am friends with people I don't even know!  So when someone chooses not to be my friend, it's like high school all over again.  Facebook is all of the embarrassing things on record-- and Farmville reminds me of the Valentine's suckers that we used to spend $1 on to send to our friends in middle school.  Gosh, I hope I get a farmville (JUST KIDDIN-- it's the best analogy I can think of).  And then there was Twitter.  Now I can follow any one of a million people while they wait to get their coffee... or wait at a stoplight (isn't texting while driving illegal?)  I clog because it forces me to write- something I actually like to do.  I don't know that anyone is reading- that's not really the point of my blog...

So what, then, is the point of Twitter?  I get the point of the dry cleaners, but not the point of Twitter, and certainly not the dry cleaner on Twitter.