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Friday, December 19, 2008

Twitter Now EXTRA Uncool

Posted by on Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 2:20 PM

King County Executive Ron Sims already put a bullet right between the eyes of Twitter's street cred, and now the Washington State Department of Transportation has swooped in to pick at its corpse.

WSDOT has set up a Twitter account to keep you updated on accidents and road closures (spoiler warning: don't bother leaving the house), although it's not updating very frequently.

This is what happens when useful technology falls into the wrong hands.

[Confidential to the Department of Fish and Wildlife: please stop trying to friend me on Facebook!]

 

Comments (12) RSS

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1
God forbid useful technology be used in a useful way by uncool people!
Since when has Twitter ever been about being cool? The more people that use it like this the better.
Posted by N on December 19, 2008 at 2:31 PM
2
Twitter stopped being cool months ago, when scary tyler moore started using it.
Posted by Cookie W. Monster on December 19, 2008 at 2:39 PM
3
Twitter was never cool. But the WSDOT using it actually serves a purpose, which is more than you can say for 90% of its users.
Posted by meeps on December 19, 2008 at 2:49 PM
4
WSDOT is having a smoke right now
--------------------------------
WSDOT is having another smoke
--------------------------------
WSDOT is knocking off for the day, and having a brew
Posted by twitter this on December 19, 2008 at 2:58 PM
5
I think I've figured out this whole "how does the City decide where to plow/sand?" thing:

Look up the addresses of SDOT employees, then check to see where those fall in proximity to the arterials & streets that have been plowed and sanded.

Seriously, doesn't it seem like THEY manage to get back and forth to work a little TOO easily?
Posted by COMTE on December 19, 2008 at 3:15 PM
6
The WSDOT twitter updates are incessant and useful only in justifying why I refuse to leave my apartment. They should just send the same twitter (tweet?) out every 30 minutes: this sucks, stay home.
Posted by Jessica on December 19, 2008 at 3:22 PM
7
@COMTE - I wish that was true. I walked halfway and sat on a sardine-d bus halfway to get to work and will have to do the same thing to get home. I can't believe you are pissed that some City workers managed to come to work today...no wait, you're right - the nerve of us to even bother!

If you want real info, here is the snow and ice priority
routes map: http://tinyurl.com/54lcc9
Posted by Allie on December 19, 2008 at 3:41 PM
8
Ditto @1. God forbid we be uncool by being informed and informing others. PS: You guys post news on a blog. So that would pretty much make you all the pot sitting next to the kettle, wouldn't it?
Posted by EmilyP on December 19, 2008 at 4:13 PM
9
I thought twitter was hella lame until WSDOT started using it. When I saw this earlier this week i was like oh cool! this can have a neat use besides people telling me shit too short for an LJ post but too long for a facebook status update, blech.

Posted by LBD on December 19, 2008 at 4:34 PM
10
It hasn't been updated in two hours (as if this post).
Posted by elswinger on December 19, 2008 at 8:27 PM
11
Shit. Some poor kid/tech friendly adult tries something new and potentially useful at work, and all you can do is bitch about how Twitter can't be cool anymore because it's being utilized by something mainstream and lame. They're trying new things, dammit. Someday this might lead to something helpful.
Posted by snakes on December 19, 2008 at 8:35 PM
12
Dude, fuck you, Jonah. I get news via twitter hours or days before you ever fucking see it. I'm surprised Anthony Hecht hasn't pushed for Slog to send your bigger headlines via Twitter, too. search.twitter.com is an a amazing source of realtime news, I'm addicted to it more than news.google.com

Posted by NaFun on December 22, 2008 at 10:18 AM

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