The online world was abuzz this week with Twitter news. There was speculation far and wide that Google was in late-stage talks to buy Twitter. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone didn't exactly deny the rumors, but did say Twitter was committed to being an independent company. If you missed it, Biz Stone appeared on The Colbert Report to chat with @StephenAtHome about the ins-and-outs of communicating in 140 characters or less and whether Twitter will ever actually make money.
Biz is right, sometimes you can say a lot with a little and you'd be surprised how creative some people can be with the limited space. The key is finding interesting people, discovering the gems in their network, and expanding your own network. The combination of real time insight and news, following engaging people, reading the links they provide, seeing who they "retweet" (forward) -- all of these elements can lead to a wider conversation and vastly more information about topics which might interest you. Sure, the mundane is widely available, but even those can be funny, enlightening, sad, and/or thoughtful at times.
And with that, below are some of the quirkier tweets of the week, as submitted by Kossacks and Tweeters at-large. Starting with Stephen Colbert who sent this note while doing the interview with Biz Stone:
note to self: send robot to past to invent twitter before this guy
10:49 PM Apr 2nd from web
He then followed with this zinger:
these are the same questions i used to interview the wikipedia guy
10:49 PM Apr 2nd from web
I asked Kossacks to forward tweets they found particularly funny or painful and a number of readers suggested the tweets from markosmoulitsas about his major minor surgery updates, saying they were both funny and painful:
Doc says off the bike for at least 5 days. Procedure took only about 10 mins, but like getting kicked in the balls for 10 mins.
4:41 PM Apr 2nd from Tweetie
Kossack TiaRachel summarized the painful tweets and ensuing responses. Here's to hoping Kos is back on his bike soon. The GOP will be relieved to know he has no plans to keep making future progressives from his own radical DNA.
Shoq provided some insight about using Twitter as a dating service:
Twitter Dating (n) -- a romantic matchmaking service where people communicate with each other using brief, 140 character lies.
Congressman Michael Burgess let it be known he really, really hates any possible carbon taxes (hat tip michaelleza):
I can not think of a more self destructive economic set of policies than the proposed carbon tax.
about 20 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Really? That is the most destructive economic policy he can think of? Has he seen the latest unemployment numbers? We didn't get here from carbon taxes.
Actress Demi Moore received a note from a fan threatening suicide. The note was not a hoax and the person is reportedly receiving psychological help after police found her "unharmed but in need of help."
Former Obama campaign blogger Sam Graham-Felsen was live from the G20 conference and noted this historic moment:
#g20voice blogger Richard Murphy gets a question in to PM Brown. First blogger question ever at a global summit
10:29 AM Apr 2nd from TwitterFon
Inspired by Daily Kos' Big Tent in Denver, OxFam set out to give bloggers a voice at the G20. One of those voices was Cheryl Contee from Jack and Jill Politics who noted how special the moment was:
#G20 it cool to be here watching Obama in person address the world as one of its top leaders. As an African-American, it's a proud moment...
1:07 PM Apr 2nd from twhirl
For a collection of blogger voices and real time reaction from around the world to the G20 summit, search #g20voice on Twitter.
The right-winger reaction to Obama's G20 appearance was both hilarious and sad on Twitter. Instead of focusing on the heavy topics of the day, they preferred to set the Twitter lines abuzz with talk of Obama's iPod gift to the Queen. No links to the chatter, but it was abundant -- and absurd.
And finally, Red State Editor-in-Chief Erick Erickson doled out some advice for followers:
People concerned the earth is overpopulated have in their hands, garage, knife drawer, pill box, etc. the power to solve the problem. #TCOT
5:42 PM Apr 1st from TweetDeck
Just the kind of sage advice his readers are looking for in violent times.
Not to worry, he followed it up with a note about bible study.
Must have bed. Too much fun out with Bible Study tonight. I must go to the only Bible Study that starts and ends with adult beverages.
10:42 PM Apr 2nd from TweetDeck
Gotta love those conservative values!
If you have other funny, insightful, scary, or otherwise interesting tweets -- feel free to share in the comments below or send them to me on Twitter @Scout_Finch.