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A few weeks ago I wrote about seeing Geoff Manaugh speak. I noted Geoff’s excellent defense of Twitter as a medium and utter confusion at its critics. Jason Kottke’s In defense of Twitter published today with a link to Manaugh’s own post both carry on in that great tradition of incredulity to the contention that Twitter necessarily leads to the end of civilization.

Both articles were responses to Maureen Dowd’s facetious and ridiculous article in the New York Times, where she rudely insisted the interviewees only respond in 140 characters or less and then when they slipped she exclaimed:
“(They’re spilling past 140 characters now, but it must feel good to climb out of their Twitter bird cage…)”

She went on to ask the co-founder and creative director Biz Stone:
“Was there anything in your childhood that led you to want to destroy civilization as we know it?”

I’m not one to shy away from calling it like it is. Twitter can be abused and I’ve never claimed to be its biggest fan, but it’s getting to the point where it’s being so consistently bashed that people may turn to it as a kind of rebellion.

I think Biz himself says it best (while enduring the bashing in good humor):
“If people are passionate about your product, whether it’s because they’re hating or loving it, those are both good scenarios.”

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