To Tweet or not to Tweet

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/opinion/22dowd.html?em
This op-ed was written by Maureen Dowd, in which she discusses the Twitter phenomenon that is sweeping across the country. Dowd, who makes it clear that she is not a fan of this new technology, scheduled an interview with the two masterminds behind Twitter. However, to keep the article creative and upbeat, while also playing off the short “tweets” created on the website, Dowd limits the interviewees to answer her questions within “140 characters.” I think this is a humorous aspect of Dowd’s editorial because it accomplishes the task of combining humor with her personal opinions in order to inform the public of how Twitter is overtaking our society. Personally, I think that Twitter is a fun and interesting technology, and although it is not essential to daily functioning, it can be a big part of people’s lives. I think that it’s an even faster version of emailing, all created in attempts to keep up with the fast paced American lifestyle. However, one of the best parts of the op-ed comes at the end when Dowd expresses her distaste for the technology stating that she’d rather be tied up to stakes in the Kalahari Desert, have honey poured over me and red ants eat out my eyes than open a Twitter account.” When she asks the creators for their response, they reply by saying, “Well, when you do find yourself in that position, you’re gonna want Twitter. You might want to type out the message ‘Help.’” This was a clever statement and it puts an ironic twist on the overall tone of Dowd’s article.