'Jumping the Shark'—Are ‘Happy Days’ Over for Twitter?

By Julie Tangen
A colleague and I were discussing all the celebrities now on Twitter and she said 'Oh yeah, Twitter jumped the shark.' What does this mean? I'm interested! She reminded me about the episode on Happy Days where Fonzie jumps over a confined shark while water skiing, and how that event signified the end of the series.

The phrase has been used more recently outside the realm of popular culture, representing anything that has reached its peak and has declined in quality. With Twitter ‘Kingpins' like Oprah, Ellen, and Kim Kardashian signing up for an account, along with that silly Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN stunt that I blogged about last month, one could argue that Twitter has reached its peak, or "jumped the shark." Do these celebrities even matter?

As editor Harry McCracken puts it in a Technologizer article earlier this week, 'I have nothing against following the rich and famous via Twitter, but it’s not the thing I’d be proudest of if I’d invented Twitter." Well said.

Twitter has proved to be useful in my line of business, but for how long?

Let me know what you think. And, of course, follow me
on Twitter :-) @julietangen

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