节目资讯
刊物:科技前沿
日期:2009-08-06
难易度:High
关键字:elite, remarkable, so forth, mainstream, banter
Advanced Studio Classroom is on the air.
Tweet, tweet.
Have you read all the Twitter comments this morning?
”I had my cereal and it was so delicious along with a great latte” - That might
be a typical tweet, right, Naomi?
It would.
One of the tweets that I tweeted this week was: I have an extra ticket to the
concert. Any takers?
Is it free?
It’s free.
Wooh! All right. Maybe I’ll talk to you about that later.
What about you, Howie? Do you tweet?
Not often, Bill. I... I find it not very...
Ha, ha, ha, ha!
I don’t know.
Just to let people know that, hey, I... I had a coffee with, uh, sugar this
morning, uh, extra light...
that... that doesn’t feel like it needs to be out there basically.
Well, you could put a tweet on there maybe about, uh, your baseball team, your
favorite baseball team.
I... The thing is on Facebook, they’ve incorporated, within... within the last
six months, a feature that’s very similar.
The Twitter... It’s called the status.
So you can put on... on Facebook what you’ve been doing.
It’s like a little status of what you’re doing basically.
Right.
So it’s pretty similar to that.
So I... Since I do it on that, I don’t need to do it on Twitter.
But there’s a feature I think Naomi has it, where if you updated on Facebook,
it’ll automatically updated on Twitter.
Right.
Hmm.
OK. Now, listeners, what are we talking about here?
We’re talking about Twitter, Social Networking 101.
Today is August 6th.
The article starts on page 16.
We’re gonna be on page 17 in your Advanced Studio Classroom magazine.
But first, before we get into today, let me get a thought from yesterday from my
two panelists.
First is Naomi Biesheuvel.
Well, we were talking about how Twitter is a big deal right now.
It’s all the rage; it’s very popular.
But something that’s important is that people have to understand that
information that’s moving online is different from communications that we’ve had
in the past.
It’s different from a phone call.
It’s different from writing a postcard.
This is stuff that will stay online and in a sense, it’s public property.
OK.
And Howie Chang.
I think it’s good to try out new technology.
If you’re interested in social networking, try Twitter.
It’s very simple to create a... an account.
And if you have friends, it’s even better because you can send updates, you can
communicate with them through Twitter.
So I think if you’ve never done any kind of social networking, Twitter is
probably the best way to start because it’s very low maintenance.
There’s not much you have to do. There’s... You can post once a day; you can
post once a week or five times a day.
It’s up to you.
So even somebody like me, I could understand it.
I think so, Bill.
OK.
You’re... you’re kind of smart.
Ha, ha, I have my moments.
Now, Naomi mentioned something about being careful with your information,
and it’s something learning how to use the Internet and these tools is a
learning process.
I use it much different now than I did five years ago - very differently.
And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s about the information I put out
there.
I try to be more careful today than maybe I was even last month as far as what I
typed up and sent the people or even posted on things,
because it’s going to be there forever, right?
Right.
And so sharing certain kinds of personal information might be something you
don’t want to do.
Another thing is you have to be responsible about what you... what you write.
For example, someone tweeted this week that, uh, a celebrity had passed away.
Right.
Well, it was a rumor. I wasn’t actually true.
And so that kind of thing can happen as well and that does something to your
credibility.
People aren’t sure whether they can trust you.
OK.
All right.
Well, Twitter is very popular, but we were talking about the program, or before
the program, Howie, about the idea of a fad, F-A-D, fad.
And is Twitter a fad?
It’s interesting that you mentioned that, Bill,
because in the reading that we’re about to hear, it says ”here to stay,” which
means that it’s not temporary, it’s permanent.
But I don’t... I disagree. I believe that Twitter is a fad.
I believe that it’s... it’s a trend, it’s something that’s hot now, it’s very
popular now,
but maybe in a year from now, people would have forgotten that it was so popular
or that it was so cool at the moment.
Right.
I don’t know what’s here to stay.
I don’t think anything’s here to stay.
Well...
I... I disagree with Howie.
I think that Twitter is going to be popular for a while.
I think it’s going to have a... a time of success.
And then maybe in another five or ten years, we’ll be moving on to something
else.
OK.
Well, here on Advanced Studio Classroom, we agree to disagree.
It’s very healthy to have that exchange.
And in fact, listeners, I would encourage you to agree to disagree with, uh,
maybe your friends.
And when you have conversations, be polite, but don’t be shy if you do have a
different idea.
Uh, say, ”Well, I might disagree with that.”.
So...
Right, and don’t be shy about sharing your opinions.
You can always go online to the Studio Classroom and go to English Corner and
tell us what you think about this.
That’s a great idea.
Naomi, we’ve had some entries that have been submitted to us.
And some listeners have raised questions, and it’s OK, it’s OK to say,
”Hey, well, I don’t know about this,” or ”I have a question about something that
Howie said,” or maybe Bill said something.
So it’s OK.
Feel free to express your thoughts there at the English Corner.
Just be kind.
Now, speaking of Advanced Studio Classroom, open up your magazine to page 17.
It is August 6th, and let’s start at ”Here to stay”.
Here to stay.
Setting aside its dangers, Costa does believe that social networking is here to
stay.
He cites a statistic from a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey that
said 11 percent of online American adults use Twitter or some other service that
allows users to share short updates about themselves - called ”tweets” in the
Twitter Universe.
”That’s a pretty remarkable number,” Costa said, noting that the figure includes
both Twitter and Facebook users.
He said that Twitter’s audience is changing as it grows.
”Twitter used to be very elite,” Costa said.
”Technology enthusiasts, investors and so forth were getting together on it.
Now it’s much more mainstream.
The audience still tends to be younger, more connected, more into wireless
technologies, heavier cell phone users.
They’re pretty much your average early adopters.”.
All right.
We still are hearing from this gentleman Dan Costa, executive editor of PCMag.
And he talks about some of the dangers or he’s setting them aside, Naomi.
Well, he says that if you set aside the dangers...
Basically what we were talking about yesterday, about how public, this kind of
microblogging on Twitter can be.
If you... if you set aside those dangers, those concerns about privacy, he does
believe that it’s here to stay.
Um, so something’s here stay - it means it’s... it’s going to stay popular; it’s
going to continue to be successful.
OK.
There’s an important distinction just right in that sentence there.
He believes that social networking is here to stay.
He’s not saying Twitter’s here to stay... stay.
He’s saying social networking is here to stay, so...
And Howie, you had talked about that maybe over time it might change, it might
just morph into something different,
or a new product or service will come along, right?
Exactly, because Twitter... I mean the purpose of any of these websites is to
make money.
And I fail to see how Twitter will make money in the future.
Maybe someone will use it to be, I guess, very successful in generating some
kind of revenue,
but for now I don’t think that site can make much money right now.
OK.
Well, there’s not enough space for it, right?
All you got is these little one-line comments, so it’s not like you’ve got a
whole page to post ads on.
Now, he doesn’t just come up with this on his own, does he, Naomi?
No, he cites a statistic.
To... to cite something is to use information from a source. It’s other than you
and you identify that source.
We talk about this often: When we’re writing essays, we talk about works cited -
So what did you quote from?
So he’s citing a statistic from the survey that was done.
It says that 11 percent of online American adults use Twitter or some other
service that allows users to share short updates about themselves.
So in the Twitter world, these are called ”tweets”.
But in Facebook, they’re called status updates, and maybe there are different
ones as well.
The idea is these... these very short little pieces of information about
yourself.
OK.
I’ve found that surprising - 11 percent.
What do you think about that, Howie?
That sounds about right to me.
But I’m... I think this is just in America. It says here of... uh... 11 percent
of online ”American” adults.
So, in the world, in Asia, in Europe, I’m... I’m curious about that statistic.
OK. All right.
So let’s go to the top of the right-hand column there on page 17, and... and
just like me, Dan Costa thought that’s a pretty remarkable number.
And, I had under... just underlined ”remarkable”.
”Remarkable” means very surprising, startling, and maybe usually in a good way,
we say. That’s remarkable.
Maybe something that you set up and take notice of.
”Remarkable” means you... you’re paying attention to this. It’s worth paying
attention to.
Hmm.
OK.
And Costa noted that both Twitter and Facebook users were included in that
figure.
And, now we have talked about the status update on Facebook.
Howie have mentioned you have that, and Naomi, and it automatically updates.
I haven’t figured out how to do that yet, but I know it’s possible, and a lot of
the updates on either of them, it’ll say how you update it.
So there are various ways of updating your status on... on many of these
different platforms.
And it’ll say, you know, update it via, you know, their iPhone, via BlackBerry,
via TweetDeck, via Facebook, whatever.
OK.
Well, like so many technologies, there is a big change in who is using it.
Costa said that Twitter’s audience is changing as it grows.
In the next paragraph we hear more from him on this, Howie, line 5.
Right.
It says Twitter used to be very elite.
And ”elite” is one of our vocabulary words.
It’s... it’s a group of people with a special interest.
A few people.
And it used to be technology, uh, enthusiasts, investors and so forth.
They used to use it a lot.
They’re kind of an elite group of people.
Well, of course, the technology enthusiasts would be the early adopters.
Investors?
Why investors?
Because they want to know: Hey, what’s this technology about and can we make
money off of it?
OK.
Well, I thought of two things on that.
One, people that might be investing in this technology.
I’m wondering if they also mean just investors as far as like in stocks.
People play the market, maybe.
They might want to know the latest because a lot of people will trade stocks all
day long,
and they might be looking for the smallest little uptick or downtick on a stock.
Yep.
So they need that quick information.
And ”so forth,” I had underlined ”so forth.” What that meant, I thought that
might be confusing to our listeners.
What does he mean by ”so forth,” Naomi?
Could also replace that with ”and so on” or ”etc.”.
People like that.
OK.
OK. We’re talking about rest of the people, other people.
But now it’s much more mainstream.
Mainstream simply means widely accepted.
The general public uses it now, not just those elite people.
OK.
The audience still tends to be younger and more connected, right, Naomi?
Right, also more into wireless technologies,
because ideally with this sort of constant updating, you wanna be able to do it
from some sort of portable mobile device.
Um, heavier cell phone users, so people who... who do regularly text message,
check e-mail via, you know, their iPhone or something like that.
Now you mentioned on your iPhone you have these capabilities.
Hmm.
Do you utilize them?
Sometimes, but I actually an iPod.
An iPod?
So... so only if I have wireless service can I use this...
But you have done this.
Mmhm.
Yeah.
Really?
Sure.
OK.
Why?
Well, um, for example, if I want to connect with some friends about something, I
can do that quickly.
If I’m sitting at Starbucks and I just have a few moments while I’m sipping my
coffee, then I can just go online and update.
I’m glad you brought that up, Bill, because that’s what makes, I think, Twitter
so powerful.
Normally, Bill, if you want to blog something, you have to sit down at your
computer and you have to think about something,
and... and... a keyboard and a full computer set up to blog,
and you probably type several paragraphs, at the very least.
Yeah.
Now if you have Twitter, it’s actually very mobile device-friendly.
You can have a BlackBerry, an iPhone, even your cell phone.
Anything that’s small that you can connect to the Internet too.
You can just type in a sentence or even two, three words.
”I’m at home.”.
Right.
And then boo! You can send it to Twitter and people will know, OK, you’re at
home now.
Or ”I’m at work.”.
”We’ll be home late.”.
Yeah.
Whereas if you’re blogging, you can’t do that because you can’t carry a keyboard
with you to 7-Eleven or Starbucks.
I think those of us who are on Facebook and have been for a while have noticed
that it’s replaced a lot of the e-mails that we’ve sent.
Um, instead of having to sit down and write a big update to people, saying, oh,
this is what’s going on in my life,
if you’re Facebook friends with them, you can assume that they have a general
idea of what’s going on in your life.
They can just check your Facebook page if they wanna know.
And so in some ways, this kind of social networking has replaced some e-mail.
I think Twitter, uh, is on its way to replacing text messaging.
Hmm, good point.
Because basically your friends, if...
if you’re running late, instead of texting you, they might just check your
Twitter and see if you said anything there first.
Mmhm.
OK.
And it’s free.
Mmhm.
Whereas for me to send a text message, I have to pay for that.
Well.
So...
And... but you know... seem like a big deal.
But over the course of a month, I don’t know how many text messages I sent.
And I... I think most of us would agree with Dan Costa that this isn’t for
everyone.
This isn’t something that’s going to be useful to every person on the planet.
But for some people it’s extremely useful, and they’ll really get a lot of
benefit out of it.
Well, that’s... that’s actually why I asked that question why, you know,
because being a caveman that I am and being the late adopter that, uh, I have to
wonder, OK, everybody’s using this great. Why should I use it?
And I... I try to approach it with, well, maybe there is a good reason.
I’m learning more about this.
And I can see how e-mails are cumbersome and, uh, maybe not quick enough if I
need to communicate.
Right.
Another great example is for me if I... if I take a trip home to North America,
I’m going to be in a couple of cities,
I might, uh, want to be able to meet up with friends but not have to call
everyone.
I can just say on... on Twitter, you know, I’ll be at this place tonight. I’ll
be at this restaurant on Wednesday night. See you there.
And then anyone who wants to come can come.
Exactly.
Otherwise Naomi would have to type up a long e-mail, and, OK, which friend
should I include in e-mail?
Oh, I have to think about all these things.
If they’re on Twitter already, everyone will see it.
Right.
And then, uh, I can see also not only the expediency, the time issue being able
to send it out,
but also the shortness being a plus as far as you only need to communicate a
tiny bit of information.
You mentioned blogs, Howie, or even e-mail.
Sometimes the stuff’s too long, especially like blogs, and there’s all the stuff
typed on blogs and...
No one likes to sit through pages.
Mmhm.
That’s right, that’s right.
Maybe Naomi only wants a sentence from me, the key information.
You know, another thing that I’ve noticed a lot is people who are traveling tend
to update, ”Oh, I’m at this airport.”.
Hmm.
”I made it to this...” You know.
”My flight was delayed but I’ll be on the next one.”.
That’s a great example of how it could be really useful to people.
Maybe you don’t have a chance, you’re in a foreign country or whatever, and your
cell phone doesn’t work,
but you can find an Internet connection no problem these days.
So it’s... it’s interesting how I really think this is a... a valid form of
communication.
OK.
All right, listeners, let’s finish our reading there on page 17:
Multifunctionalform.