QUOTE: "Yes, there's talk of "monetization," but in some cases that is truly an afterthought, with the sudden and unexpected elegance of a new idea taking precedence. That may be the sign of another bubble, but the lack of commercial exploitability doesn't diminish the originality rocketing it. Indeed, it might amplify it."

Any examples? Please don't tell me Facebook and Twitter were in 'in' creative ideas. If you think Twitter's brain dumps are the new thing, you obviously haven't tried Facebook's rapid-fire profile changes, messages, FunWall/SuperWall posts, pokes/SuperPokes, and such -- what is the world coming to, and what precisely makes this so 'creative', worthy of over-the-top valuations? Examples, Adam, examples. That's why we come to FC, not to read yet another twitter :)

Great post. Its quite an interesting thing to say how creative the tech world is. Because the world of creativity is often seen as art, design, film etc.
I often see creativity as a portrayal of someone's view on life or the things around them.
So instead of being the end result like a painting, film etc. Technology is the platform that allows creativity to happen and in turn creativity in technology is openning up creativity.... Making the platforms easier, more specific or better is now creativity in technology. Its no longer just for Warhol its for little jonny and his computer at home. As warhol once said 'everybody in the world will get their 15 min of fame'... creativity is for everyone

Creative types IMHO are the only kind of people who actually navigate through all levels of the Maslow Hierarchy. While creative types are able to think outside the box, being the specialists in needs analysis they are, they do so because they don't live inside a box, instead they are triangulated inside a needs prism that constantly pushes their experience of life up the needs hierarchy.

Twitter, (IMHO again) is the means for creative people to escape the pressure that must surely exist for those who make their living living inside the pressure pyramid of a needs triangle.

Twitter then can be viewed as a human form of reconnection towards either simplicity or a form of connection which is reality that exists outside the needs triangle.

So creative people whose line of work is to be the engines of needs creation should find twitter as a pathway out of that hierarchy of needs they reside in. Even philanthropy in that regard becomes an economic engine that serves learned helplessness rather than teach people outside the triangle to think for themselves, so surely Twitter is a release from having to push the envelope constantly on all forms of creativity.

Inside the triangle there is the promotion of image and fame, outside however there is a view of delusion and idolatry from those who live inside the box.

The circle of life connects both and what is twitter but little puffs humanity emanating from a world that comes designed rather than a world that is actually natural.

(Again all of this is IMHO...an acronym which is usually a proxy for "I don't know any better than this, because otherwise I could have said all of this as a one-liner, as a tag-line of existence...but then I would personally have to recognize that I have also been dragged back into that triangle").

M.

The result of creation is that something comes into existence that wasn't there before. There's no doubt that apps like Twitter and Facebook facilitate the increase in keystrokes and therefore the amount of text that is "out there."

It's too early to say what the "value" of that creation is - let alone assign a quality scale to it - but it exists, it is stored and it is searchable - ultimately, there is going to be value in that data - even if it requires a paradigm shift in how we view it.

Creativity is simply doing something new with things that already exist.

Yes, you are right that Twitter is an exercise in self-absorption, as are all other forms of social networking. These sites create an addiction to that self-absorption that is so great users focus only on the next stage of the fad.

Some of these "fad"-ulous technologies certainly will develop meaningful uses at some point and in some realms. However, we do ourselves, and everyone else for that matter, a grave disservice when we hype what is new and different simply because it is new and different and not because it actually delivers something of value.

Twitter is digitized graffiti and an outlet for vapid individuals in an attempt to create meaning in their lives.

I love technology, don't get me wrong. As long as the technology helps to enhance what I do and how I do it...not for the sake of creating another diversion.

And I agree that there is far too much copy-catting around in popular culture. That is what happens with fads and what diminishes what could have been a good concept. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace are no different in that regard. Originality is scary. It also isn't for everyone. Neither is songwriting, painting, writing, practicing medicine or anything else that requires some special skill set. This is not meant to say that because certain people lack talent they shouldn't try something. But if people creating odd gadgets such as throwing sheep at someone on Facebook think they are revolutionaries, have them go to a local karaoke bar, or revisit the old days of original computing.