What are your thoughts on social media?

[Gurn Blanston]

My random selection of you, Kesha and David Duchovny (yes, I'm, sooo exited about The X-Files Revival!) was to demonstrate how Twitter makes different people look similar. I didn't know about the 140 characters limit (why limit when our devices have gigabytes if not terabytes of storage capacity? One long well-thought message instead of 20 short pointless messages would be nice.

How could I say what I said above using only 140 characters? Most of my BS is much longer than 140 characters!

Getting your message across with that sort of constraint is a self-discipline exercise. You learn to either pare things down to their essentials or else cheat creatively. I prefer not to cheat, so I have to think hard for every post on how to say what I want without extra baggage. Hell, there are few people, who, left unchecked, are wordier than me!   

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

A lot of people seem to be complaining about the 140 character limit. Well, I usually use it just as a caption for a photo or a brief description of something that is fleshed out fully in a link I provide. I treat Twitter more like a news sharing thing, what's going on currently in classical music in my area, what compositions I'm writing or what works of mine are being performed. Who I follow are usually composers, conductors, orchestras, radio stations etc. to see quickly what's going on. I have no interest in reading bullshit.

[North Star]

I have no interest in reading bullshit.

I'm sure that if you polled everyone on the Internet, most people would say they agree. The definition of bullshit might vary, though.

(You should start your thread in the composition subforum.)

[bhodges]

A quick transmission of thoughts, moods, images, haikus.. et cetera, et cetera. Twitter can be stupid jokes, beautiful poems, idiotic shouting, surreal juxtapositions, the Arab Spring. The limits are what makes it special. It's simple, immediate. And in the case of interesting users, well, interesting! I use it more like a newsfeed, but for much more than just news.

The above is probably the closest summation of why I use Twitter (which - to be fair - is "just another site to check," as one friend put it). I use Twitter both personally and professionally, but try to be "not annoying" in either. It is not a good medium for nuanced, in-depth discussions of anything. What it IS good for: announcing news and keeping up with interesting people. I follow mostly music-related Twitter users, but also accounts related to art, architecture, food and drink, comedy, literature, typography, publishing, politics, and other subjects.

Facebook is a little different, since you control the audience (or should). It's a way of sharing a little more personal information, and with a lot of people - albeit a selected audience - rather than say, in separate emails. But I am also very cautious about what I post there: a few photos, a few "this was fun" type posts, links to things I find interesting...but as someone said, "Don't post anything that you wouldn't want to see on the front page of The New York Times." (Good advice for the Internet in general.)

I'm on LinkedIn but haven't used it that much, and ditto Instagram. My feeling: as long as you, the user, remain in charge (and recognize the downsides, as have been mentioned, especially for Facebook), social media in modest usage is a good thing. For someone tempted to be on Facebook for 12 hours a day...maybe not so much.

--Bruce

[James]

Or Stockhausen for that matter. If people didn't have an above average interest in certain topics, no book would ever be written (or read). That is far below the level of obsession, although I do appreciate your humor...

I think being obsessed in certain things can be and has been far more useful, obviously. Twitter, facebook and such crap? Nahh

Btw, I finished my Stockhausen exploration awhile ago. Got what I needed, now onto the next thing.

[Gurn Blanston]

I think being obsessed in certain things can be and has been far more useful, obviously. Twitter, facebook and such crap? Nahh

Btw, I finished my Stockhausen exploration awhile ago. Got what I needed, now onto the next thing.

Absolutely right. It is a McLuhanesque thing: the medium or the message. You and I want the message; the obsessives are hung up on the medium.

Well, you can't be totally off Stockhausen. I went through this same exploration several years ago with Mozart. Even though I am into Haydn now, I don't NOT listen to Mozart any more.   

[ibanezmonster]

Absolutely right. It is a McLuhanesque thing: the medium or the message. You and I want the message; the obsessives are hung up on the medium.

That's why I never understood the obsession for something like an operating system (especially to the point where, for example, I saw someone with an Ubuntu bumper sticker).

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I'm sure that if you polled everyone on the Internet, most people would say they agree. The definition of bullshit might vary, though.

(You should start your thread in the composition subforum.)

ahhhhh but don't judge me! I have a soundcloud page of random old compositions which are mainly practise/exercise things or experiments etc.....not anything I'm especially proud of, most of which is just me bullshitting through music.

I want to upload one or two pieces which were recorded once I work out how to upload sound files.

Are manuscript scores also welcome?

[James]

Absolutely right. It is a McLuhanesque thing: the medium or the message. You and I want the message; the obsessives are hung up on the medium.

Well, you can't be totally off Stockhausen. I went through this same exploration several years ago with Mozart. Even though I am into Haydn now, I don't NOT listen to Mozart any more.   

McLuhanesque wha? Sorry lost me with that .. but what I was meaning was more based on reality, the real world, i.e parenting, career path, nutrition, health & fitness or even .. folks exploring space, finding cures for diseases, getting into an art or craft in a deep and meaningful way .. etc., etc., etc.

I've been off Stockhausen for awhile now, and he's hardly in the rotation .. for me .. he's a composer that requires much time to get to know and i spent that time, i was compelled to. It opened up things for me, like most 'great' artists do. Now I feel like I can at least talk about him and his music because I know it well enough. I've did the same with a plethora of musicians even before the internet existed .. i.e. hitting libraries, record shops, concerts etc. This is how I arrive at personal favorites, viewpoints etc. .. when I get into something, I really get into it seriously ( a little obsessive ), but I always, eventually, move on ..

[71 dB]

Getting your message across with that sort of constraint is a self-discipline exercise.

How about limiting the available symbols? Only symbols A, C, D, G, J, K, O, Q, R, S, U, W, Y, Z, 2, 5, 9, #, *, +, $, (, ?, Ω, and @ are available!

[Gurn Blanston]

How about limiting the available symbols? Only symbols A, C, D, G, J, K, O, Q, R, S, U, W, Y, Z, 2, 5, 9, #, *, +, $, (, ?, Ω, and @ are available!

Forcing me to write in Finnish isn't really fair...

[Karl Henning]

Forcing me to write in Finnish isn't really fair...

Häj mäm mää, daddy-o!

[North Star]

Forcing me to write in Finnish isn't really fair...

Your puny keyboard can't handle the Ö's and Ä's...

Häj mäm mää, daddy-o!

Unlike Karl's, I see 

[Gurn Blanston]

Your puny keyboard can't handle the Ö's and Ä's...Unlike Karl's, I see 

Actually, I can do that too, but a simple 20 character tweet would take me 68 keystrokes!     

[North Star]

Actually, I can do that too, but a simple 20 character tweet would take me 68 keystrokes!     

â€ŧï õđǥø æʒŋ!

[71 dB]

Forcing me to write in Finnish isn't really fair...

Actually the set of symbols I chose isn't very "Finnish" in nature. Letter's such as C, Q, W and Z are rarely used in Finnish Language, and of course we have euros, not dollars.

[Gurn Blanston]

Actually the set of symbols I chose isn't very "Finnish" in nature. Letter's such as C, Q, W and Z are rarely used in Finnish Language, and of course we have euros, not dollars.

Don't be pedantic. I know that, it was a joke...

[Brahmsian]

Have deactivated my Facebook account.  I have done so in the past, and with thoughts that it would be a permananent hiatus, but I keep coming back. 

It can become too much of nuisance, time waster and distracter. 

[Karl Henning]

It can become too much of nuisance, time waster and distracter. 

Filtration is the key, mon cher!

[Brahmsian]

Filtration is the key, mon cher!

Well, I've done that quite a bit too, Karl.  I am just at that point where I need that hiatus (whether it is temporary or permanent).  I don't require Facebook in my life.