Tweets are Not Nothing

Most people would agree that most of the content people produce and share on Twitter are ephemeral brain farts. But Merlin Mann has a good point and something that has a lot of room for debate. There’s a mini book called Tweet Nothings and it’s a collection of many twitterers tweets, and Merlin Mann was one of the lucky ones that was spotlighted. That as you can see has ruffled some of his feathers.

Any ethical adult who thinks something is valuable enough to sell necessarily understands that it’s also valuable enough to buy. So, in my own case, all those “free” online writings, videos, and podcasts I’ve “given away” have apparently been valuable enough to someone to form the basis for a comfortable livelihood. I’m insanely grateful for that. Still. That doesn’t mean a bowl of Jolly Ranchers I leave by the door can be scooped into a trash bag and sold at the flea market—simply because someone has a spare trash bag and the bonehead desire to make a fast buck.