To Tweet to not to Tweet

Imagine you are having some lunch at an outdoor café in the heart of Makati, when suddenly a young woman wanders into the throng of tables and excitedly screams, “I just finished watching the first season of Gossip Girl! I know I’m late, lol! Chuck and Blair were made for each other! Don’t you agree!” After her little speech, she then proceeds to look at everyone at the café earnestly waiting for an answer.

What can you possibly say after hearing something like that? I bet you wouldn’t even stick around long enough to reply to the woman’s question; you would have hot-footed it out of there, running away from the Gossip Girl-loving lunatic.

While it seems like only an escapee from a mental asylum would ever do something like this, many people around the globe make similar declarations everyday. Even you have probably made such a statement — it’s only 140 words long, and is said with the intent of getting others’ attention and opinion.

It’s a disease that has been spread worldwide. Millions of people have been bitten by this contagious bug, from well-known personalities like Ashton Kutcher and Barack Obama, to boring ol’ folks like me and you.

At this very moment, thousands of people are broadcasting their thoughts to the rest of the world. They’re not on the streets yelling at the top of their lungs — they’re in front of their computer screens typing.

This global phenomenon is called microblogging. A microblog is, from the term itself, a web log or “blog” post. However, being only 140 to 200 characters long, it’s more of a statement, a thought, or an idea compared with actual blog posts, which are basically journal entries.

Of course, no one calls this web service microblogging. Ever heard of a little site called Twitter (a glimmer of understanding, finally!)? It’s one of the most popular sites for microblogging. Once you create an account there, you can “follow” the “tweets” or entries of your friends, celebrities, and even organizations. At the same time, you also have your own followers who read your tweets.

Under the default settings of the site, all tweets can be read by the entire world. The more interesting your tweets are or the more famous you are (as it turns out, celebrities’ lives are not as glamorous as they seem on TV), the more followers you’ll have.

Some people, my friends included, like to collect followers — that is, they want more people to read their tweets. To attract more readers, they post the most outrageous things they can think of. Secrets, complaints, declarations of love and hatred are the usual content of attention-seeking microbloggers. These people are exhibitionists who want to be watched.

On the flipside, there are the voyeurs who enthusiastically follow anyone and everyone’s tweets. Twitter is a stalker’s haven, really. It’s so easy to follow someone’s tweets and, consequently, learn tons of information about that person. I’m still waiting for my crush to join the bandwagon and get a Twitter account (oh please! Don’t pretend you haven’t religiously read your crushes’ tweets!). I’ve learned many things about my friends from their posts — who likes caramel, who hates Marian Rivera, who has insomnia, and other similarly mundane facts. Gives new meaning to the saying “a little birdie told me,” doesn’t it?

Though it is the most popular, Twitter isn’t the only home for microbloggers everywhere. Here in the Philippines, Plurk, another microblog service provider, is also quite prominent. It’s a little bit more confusing to work with than Twitter and its chaotic interface is very different from the clean and simple one used by Twitter. However, it has its upsides too.

For one, Plurk has smileys, and the more you post “plurks,” which are the equivalent of tweets, the more smileys you get to use. Second, the whole site, chaotic though it may be, is more customizable; the background, font color, graphics, and even username can be adjusted according to your current tastes. Third, commonly used verbs such as is, wants, wishes, or loves, are provided in a drop down menu. These word cues, as I fondly call them, are useful when you want to say something, but don’t really have an idea what to say.

Other unique features in Plurk are difference between having friends and having fans and the concept of karma. Friends in Plurk can read and reply to each others’ posts. Fans can only read your plurks. You won’t be able to read theirs, and they don’t have the option of replying to your posts. They are, essentially, just like real-world fans.

Karma can be regarded as the rewards system of Plurk. The more you plurk, and the more friends and fans you have, the higher your karma. When you stop plurking or a friend request is rejected, your karma goes down. The goal of plurking is not only to share your thoughts, but also to reach Plurk Nirvana — a karma of 100. Often, it’s a race among friends to see who will reach Plurk Nirvana first. This system is ingenious because it keeps users coming back just to keep their karma up. Perhaps this is the reason so many people use Plurk: the thrill of competition is addicting.

But what of Twitter then? What of Jaiku, Pownce, and Yappd? Why do so many people still take the time to type 140 characters to inform others about what they had for dessert? More importantly, why do we keep reading about what others had for dessert?

Maybe humans are natural exhibitionists. We want to be noticed; it doesn’t matter what we want to be noticed for. It could be twittering to get support for an election campaign or plurking to let friends know what you think of Hayden Kho and Katrina Halili.

We continue stalking, er, following tweets and plurks because we want to learn what others think, and consequently agree or disagree with their opinions. It’s our way of trying to find something in common with those we know and those we only wish we knew.

We microblog for the same reason that we converse with one another. We’re all just forging bonds, making relationships stronger and gathering information needed for our daily lives (love lives included!).

So, you may never walk into a mall and start screaming about the terror teacher who failed you in class, but you certainly have the right (and the guts) to tell all your Plurk and Twitter buddies about her. For sure, if some stranger happens to stumble onto your post, he or she won’t stare at you in shock of your ranting. With luck, maybe he or she might even give you a kind word of sympathy and a thumbs-up smiley.