After several months of having an active Twitter account, in which I've mostly fluctuated between posting a couple of times a day to several days of silence, I have come to the same state of suspended decision I've struggled with all along: Twitter seems like a great idea, but I have no idea how to really take part in it.
Or, in other words:
As far as reading other people's tweets, well—that's my television. It takes me less than one sitcom of time per day, and it's pretty nearly as entertaining; people can be creative and funny and interesting, and I enjoy following.
But I never quite know how to jump in there myself. Oh, I've read article after article on How to Use Twitter—after all, it's considered a good skill to have in the publishing industry—but in some ways, those just freeze me up. Every time I pull up Tweetdeck and start to type, I hear all the warnings about not being overly self-markety (so I rarely tweet a blog-post), not tweeting a constant self-broadcast (so if I haven't retweeted someone else's post in the last day or two, I don't dare tweet at all), and making sure you're contributing to the conversation (what conversation? Everybody's talking at once! This is so not polite English talk over tea....)
All I know is: I'm not quite ready to give it up yet.
Do you have the secret to updating your Facebook status or managing Twitter? What do you like best about the people you follow?
Best non-paralyzing Twitter links I've found: Nathan Bransford's How to Use Twitter
Rachelle Gardner's A Few Hints on Twitter
Maybe you're over thinking it? :)
ReplyDeleteMy approach to twitter: I ride the fluffy whale through the milky sky and let happy pony songs carry me through strawberry fields of understated and under-thought memories like the singing of merry leaves with the fuzzy birds tittering above me and the sunshine in the haze of warmness and cuddliness and cute little stuffed ponies that vanish, with a little sound like sighing.
ReplyDeleteOr, more frequently, I in its general direction, and get on with life. Real life. And take time to communicate with people.
(I once read a passionate article by some theologian announcing that we should all be tweeting for the glory of G-d, and I think I've despised Twitter ever since...)
George, yes. Over-thinking is a big part of my life. :)
ReplyDeleteMr. Pond, I like happy pony songs and the singing of merry leaves. But yeah, an article like that theologian's would not have made me want to tweet either.