Yesterday I began to receive text messages from a number I didn’t recognise, from a person called “Jay”. These messages were full of descriptions of what Jay wanted to do to me - and they were disgusting! Normally when something like this happens, the first person that I would talk to is my husband, but he was very busy with work. So I turned to my other quickly accessible network - Twitter.
The reactions were quick and they ranged from supportive to advisory:
debbiemet @ellybabes Oh gross. Can you report the number and get it blocked?
lexia @ellybabes Sorry to hear. Time to call the guards, I think
PixieVonDust @ellybabes a friend of mine had that hassle. Reported it and gardai got address and went round to guy and gave him a talking to.
Tupp_Ed @ellybabes five messages would be enough to make a complaint, I’d feel. Success depends on whether the number is a bill or pre payone.
This morning I found myself thinking about why Twitter keeps us coming back, even with the large amounts of downtime and the current pagination and IM issues. Is it our need for acceptance and reassurance?
Personally, I use Twitter for several different reasons:
- A place to vent when I haven’t the time for a full blog post
- An answer to questions that Google can’t manage
- Advice on products, services or issues
- A path to reassurance when feeling low
- A method to track the movements and activities of my friends
There have been a multitude of blog posts from very influential bloggers on this very subject and also comparing the relative benefits of Jaiku/FriendFeed/etc. Yet there’s something about Twitter that nobody can put their finger on, that even when it abuses us, we keep crawling back for more…
Are we all suffering from Stockholm syndrome?
