Friday Punch: A Cautionary Note on Twitter

At 10 PM last night, when I was sending out my final Twitter message (a Tweet) before bedtime, I was pretty sure my brain was still in working order. But when I woke up this morning, I was no longer so sure. This press release (forwarded by my editor Steve Robbins) gave me pause:

Twitter Use Causes “Serious” Brain Damage, Media Expert Says

NEW YORK, NY (MMD Newswire) May 13, 2009—Social media expert and author David Seaman claims that frequent Twitter use causes the “equivalent of brain damage.”

“We’re seeing thirty- and forty-year-olds acting like overly emotional teenagers on Twitter,” Seaman said. “It’s not all that healthy.”

Though I felt I’d never acted like an overly emotional teenager on Twitter, I am, after all, 40, therefore fitting squarely in the endangered demographics Seaman is talking about. So I was prompted to dig deeper.

I soon found out Seaman has pulled the press release. It’s no longer available at Mass Media Distribution, the news wire service where the press release came from. Did Seaman suddenly have a change of heart (or brain)?

I found the explanation in The Big Blog, affiliated with Seattle P-I. Blogger Monica Guzman received the following answer from Seaman:

I had the release pulled after it unintentionally upset someone ... Anyway, though, an email came in from an editor that said: “David Seaman obviously knows nothing of the real pain and anguish victims of brain damage must live with on a daily basis, or he wouldn’t trivialize it in this manner” ... I’ve been reading some good Buddhism stuff this week, and felt like this was the perfect opportunity to practice compassion. So there’s your answer.

Looking into Seaman’s works, I discovered that, in a recent interview with ABC’s Money Matters, he audaciously proposed you quit your job now, the dire economy and the grim job market notwithstanding. He was promoting his latest book, Dirty Little Secrets of Buzz: How to Attract Massive Attention for Your Business, Your Product, or Yourself.

I haven’t read his book, but it’s obvious to me one of the self-promoting methods he routinely uses is stirring up controversies. You know what? It works.

Today, on Twitter, people are yapping about Seaman. One Tweet reads, “Social Media expert David Seaman says Twitter causes brain damage. Me so stupid.” Another points out, “What David Seaman really means [is] ‘Damn, I wish I’d thought of Twitter first. Wah!’ ” Someone else simply exclaims, “Oh puh-lese!”

To be fair, I think Seaman has some good points. He believes Twitter use “takes complex ideas and boils them down into ‘overly simplistic soundbites.’ ” (Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters.) He thinks Twitter “[is] making us all a bit stupider.”

But that’s kind of like denouncing a fruit cake for being too fruity. Twitter isn’t designed for writing and sharing essays; it’s a micro-blogging platform.

By the way, the fact that I can churn out about 500 words in less than an hour is good proof that I am no “stupider” for my Twitter use.

But I’ll check my brain cells again, just to be sure.

Note: If you’re like most people I know, come Friday afternoon, you’ve probably had enough of the work week and are already gazing out the window, plotting your weekend mayham. I don’t think you want to be saddled with my thoughts on cloud computing, LEAN manufacturing, or compliance. To that end, I’d like to reserve the Friday slot for absurdities, eccentricites, and other topics that simply make us go “Hmmm!” This serves as the debut of the Friday Punch series.