Newsflash: Joining Twitter is NOT required by law

I've long been annoyed by people who are annoyed by Facebook and Twitter. I found the epitome of this viewpoint in a chat on WashingtonPost.com today with food writer Tom Sietsema, who recently starting Tweeting:

Washington, D.C.: Just me, and I'm not a Luddite. I don't really need to read your Twitters or Tweets. If you have a good enough Web site, a good enough blog, and you have discussions on a regular and scheduled basis, then, to me,
that's sufficient. I don't see why everyone needs to be available on every "social network". Heavens' knows I appreciate all that I read under the Sietsema banner, and find almost all of it useful and/or interesting, but I doubt that I need to get minute by minute updates of each and everything. Even if it means I might be missing some minor piece of information in the global scheme of things, or missing out on the most immediate of things critical to the immediate survival of the world.

Sorry, but I don't have a Facebook or MySpace or...or a lot of other ways you can communicate with me, let alone Tweeter.

First of all, it's annoying that this person uses "Tweeter" in the second paragraph, since he or she obviously knows that it's "Twitter," having correctly used it (and "tweets"!) in the beginning of the post.

But honestly, this is sort of the height of what frustrates me about people who complain about Facebook and Twitter. "Who needs all that information? I don't need to know what someone is doing every minute!" Apparently they don't grasp that nobody actually posts what they're doing every single minute. I might check in to my Facebook and Twitter accounts twice or so during and average workday, and it'll take me maybe 10 minutes to scan what people have posted. I enjoy Facebook because it's a good way to have a vague idea of what miscellaneous friends are up to without the hassle of emailing--it makes staying in touch easier! I enjoy Twitter for a combination of similar updates, humorous comments from famous people, and deals on plays and things.

But more than anything else, dude, you don't have to sign up for Twitter. Tom is not decreeing that all must follow him. It's not like he'll offer special 140-character reviews of restaurants. It's just a way to get a different feel for what his life is like. It's like so many other things--television shows, websites, books, movies, people: If it annoys you, don't read it/watch it/hang out with them.