Twitter The Wave

Maybe I'm speculating too far as I have no idea of the timing/background of events, but I have been wondering whether questioning Twitter contributed in any way to stirring up the hatred and death threats...

As I understand it, the point is that essentially, Twitter users have been conditioned to keep pressing the button, not because of their awareness of "social interaction" taking place, but through a lower level addiction response of "intermittent variable reward". But is it the case that certain people would rather not admit that their "social technology" is just another internet craze that is better explained using the psychology of addiction and gambling?

Although Kathy in her post, defers to the opinion of her (mostly Twitterfied) readers, I think she is being too nice. It's hard to find fault with her perception of Twitter, and she seems mostly correct when she talks about the ways people are tricked by their brains.

I have no doubt that pointing out the emperor's lack of clothing will have caused an emotional reaction. People don't want to be told that their supposed consciously chosen behavior is actually driven by unconscious psychological forces. They want Twitter interaction to be valued as true social interaction, and they don't want to be told that their feeling of connectedness is just a cognitive trick.