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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

My Love/Hate Relationship with Twitter

I can't remember how I first got introduced to Twitter. I think I saw a few people throw the word around and I became curious. This was before I had a smartphone. I signed up and then thought "now what?"

Once I got a Blackberry, Twitter made a lot more sense. I was home with a new baby and it was my lifeline. I could stay connected to what was happening in the world without turning on a TV or radio. Nights when the baby woke me up and I couldn't fall back asleep? You got it, I could read tweets from those on the west coast or other insomniacs. In those early days (nights?) I remember Soleil Moon Frye was always posting late into the night when she should have been asleep. I remember being able to see weather maps with Al Roker before the sun was up.

It was during this time that Twitter was so good. And I loved it.

Fast forward to just a about 6 to 9 months later and suddenly Twitter was growing at a rapid rate. I began to get the urge to re-vamp my blog and suddenly all the new blogs I was finding had their Twitter names attached to them. People were interacting even more than before! It was instant gratification with other moms out in cyberspace. But I felt like suddenly I was just a small fish in a big pond. I wondered if my voice was even being heard.

At this point Twitter was still so good. But I began to hate it.

Twitter can be hard to grasp. It can also make you feel like an outsider, even when you have tons of followers. Followers are the same as friends on Facebook. So here you are tweeting about what you're doing or not doing. Or trying to interact with someone you admire and getting no where. It can make you feel like that wannabe in school who follows the cool kids in hopes they give her/him one kind word or look.

Last week Jaci over at Ravings of a Mad Housewife lamented on how she just didn't get Twitter. And all her commenters said the same thing, how it was lame, boring, etc. I may have been the only one who praised the service. But I got their frustration.

At the same time I wondered if they were using Twitter the right way. Were they forcing it, instead of just going with the flow? Were they expecting too much from Twitter? After all he's just a small blue bird. You can read Jaci's post here,along with all the comments.

A few weeks before that Melissa at Adventuroo posted a wonderful article about Twitter and making sense of it all. Because it really can be overwhelming at first. Tweet, Twit, twhat? If there ever was a guide to Twitter, Melissa's post should be in it. See for yourself. She compares it to a cocktail party...I don't know about you, but I love me a good cocktail.

Do you get it? Is the thought of 140 characters making you salivate with anticipation of creating your own Twitter handle and hanging with the masses? Then now you need some more great advice from Melissa on what to tweet about. Here are her top 9 things. If you read the comments not everyone agrees with her list. But that's what so great about social media...ideas don't have to be all right or all wrong. You can do what is comfortable to you and for you.

I still go back and forth with my love/hate for Twitter. But love it or hate it, I won't be leaving it anytime soon.

Are you on Twitter? Want to follow me? Look for the "Tweet x2" on my sidebar.

7 comments:

  1. Ok... I read her blog, and I see where she's coming from. And I think that's a good idea - to look at it as a cocktail party. But still my hangup is that half the time I can't even read the dern things because of #and @ and names and... I just get confused.

    maybe if more of twitter were plaid.....

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  2. Oh, I so totally hear you. As much as I do love Twitter, it's hard to not have those intense moments of feeling like a total outsider in a giant party.

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  3. Thanks for the shout out.

    I don't think I'm using Twitter right. In fact, I just opened up the new twitter and like it waaay more. I can see when people @ me! From days ago! It makes much more sense.

    I'm getting the jump in/jump out thing more and more. It's baffling at first, but it's growing on me. And seriously? It's taken almost a whole month of screwing around with it to reach *slightly* liking it.

    I must be getting old!

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  4. When I started I didn't get it entirely. Now I have friends on there {who I met through blogging} and this is a great way to catch up with them. I love seeing what they are tweeting about and chatting with them. I also LOVE reading articles that people tweet out. I am addicted to that!

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  5. First, thanks for the shout out-- you're awesome!
    Second, I think everyone felt like this about Twitter at some point. I know I was so baffled by it and really didn't get into it until I started using TweetDeck (I now use HootSuite but same concept). I also feel like an outsider at times but it really doesn't bother me that much. We all have our circles of influence and when we treat those well, our influence grows too!

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  6. Im off to read the blog, (that sort of seems like it should be sung to the tune of wizard of oz dont you think?) that you recommended right after this comment. I do not like twitter, nor do i get it. I'm trying, but feel like it makes no sense at all, as you say, like an outsider.

    what i don't get is if someone posts something that is "sort of" interesting, and by sort of...that's usually a stretch but I'm trying, so anyways, if they tweet something i want to comment on, but by the time i see it they have like 10 more tweets can i still comment on that old one? or is that lame of me...so 10 tweets ago sort of thing?

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  7. I love Twitter but I have trouble keeping up and the app for my BB suck the battery so fast it is scary...I mean scary like I might be with out power for my phone at any time scary.

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