12 Seconds To Say 'Good Morning'

I vaguely remember an exhibit in New York several years ago that was designed to give you the feeling of being a voyeur, looking into someone's apartment. I think most of us have voyeuristic tendencies, whether it's the temptation to look at what's in someone's medicine cabinet at a party or peek into people's open windows for a quick snapshot of someone else's world, what show they're watching, how they decorate, etc.

Technology has given many of us a way to feed this "guilty pleasure" by allowing us to watch people's webcams or "lifecasts," or to read strangers' extremely personal blogs (see my previous post on confessional culture). But watching strangers' lifecasts or reading lengthy gut wrenching blog posts are for people who have lots of time to lurk or for the lifecasters or bloggers who have time to create that experience for their viewers/readers. Micro is fast becoming the new way for everyone else to share a sliver of their thoughts or of themselves. Now there's a new Twitter-like video site called 12 Seconds, where you basically get 12 seconds of video time to say or do something…like say "good morning."

While I'm not convinced that teens have embraced Twitter en masse yet, the micro update - what are you doing now on Facebook, MySpace or wherever is the new sound bite exhibitionism. In a way it started with your "current mood" represented by a safe emoticon leaving people to wonder. Now it's being expressed in words or video. Not that everyone uses these status updates to reveal what's in their medicine cabinets or the purely mundane or if you're a teen, something decipherable only by your friends, i.e. " sO rESSA gOT sUM Stalkers/Jockers/Haters…{OVER LATAISHA'S HOUSE}..Cant Wait Ta C You Again ". But it has become a way to let people catch a glimpse of what's inside your head, as if your audience is suddenly watching your thoughts.

I've been Twittering since March, and I wonder if you just read my "tweets" and nothing else what kind of picture it paints of me out of context? What do you think are the social implications of this sort of micro-sharing are (when you're not sharing a link or something factual?) for youth or really for all of us? Why are we doing this? Because it's there, i.e. fill in the blank, what are you doing now? Because it's another aspect of who we are online? Because it's another way to feel validated by an invisible audience?

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