Twitter Quitter

James Spann coined the term for someone who abandoned or avoided the new service as a Twitter Quitter. This week's Chronicle gives us the Queen Quitter in Melissa Hart. Hart gives us a considered dissertation of why Twitter is the Anti-Christ. She has some good points, and I'll recommend folks read them.

With its laughable name that itself suggests foolishness, Twitter has become the butt of media jokes.

Hart goes from there with some nice little peons to long-form journalism. Perhaps quaint.

Let's get over the name. Micro-blogging really doesn't do service to the greatest value of this tool. I'll repeat here -- it's real-time journalism, and it is a specific skill set to separate the citizen observer and snarky haikuist from someone quality reportage. My recent personal example was keeping up with our recent city council goings on.

Did anyone believe USA TODAY's radical format change would last? No. Last time I checked, Al's great experiment has pretty much paid for the high alter of journalism -- the Newseum.

I have plenty of respect for long writing, but I'll argue it is much more difficult to write short and convey the vital information.