Praise for Twitter
Aug 24th, 2008 by Jen
One does not have to search very hard on the web to find articles that speak of reasons not to use or why people have given up on Twitter. I’ve read arguments that Twitter, and its contributors, are boring, heard complaints of too much noise and griping about its unreliability. Even in my office groans pour out of the cubes when the Fail Whale rears its head.
I, however, could care less about all of these downfalls. Twitter is a free service. If you don’t want to use it and think that it’s doing you a disservice then by all means do not use it! If you can look past the negatives, you may discover a tool useful for networking, friendship, and entertainment.
Twitter, when it comes down to it, is pretty entertaining
My Twitter following breakdown goes something like this:
- News/media outlets
- Internet/media celebrities
- Family/friends
- Coworkers
- People I do not know personally but find worthwhile to follow
I follow news and media outlets such as Fox News, CNN, Fark, and various gossip sites because I find it convenient for news to come to me rather than the other way around. I have Twitter set up on my mac to use Growl, so any time a tweet comes through, I see a visual notification. Sometimes this creates a lot of noise, but I never miss a headline.
I’ve always been the type that loves celebrity gossip. Maybe it’s that voyeuristic look into a life that I know I’ll never have, but there is something about celebrities that fascinate me. Following them, even minor internet celebrities, on twitter gives me a little more of a personal peek inside their heads. It’s surprising sometimes what is revealed.
Following family and friends is a given. I love to see what everyone is up to on a day-to-day basis. Yes, my friends are boring in the whole scheme of things, but it is important to me to know how they are doing and feel a connection with those I cannot physically see or talk to daily.
I’m fortunate to work with people who are funny, talented, laid-back, and intelligent and I follow them because of these reasons. On Twitter, there is always a running inside joke going on between us and it’s fun to take stabs at each other knowing the rest of the group will read it and get a kick out of it. It’s also nice to see what project people are currently working on or what they feel like having for lunch. Yes, we all sit next to each other in cubes. It’s difficult to explain.
People who I don’t know very well provide a wealth of entertainment. I tend to follow people who are interesting or funny. Some tweets from “Twitter friends” keep me hanging on, waiting for more and others make me laugh out loud.
Twitter friendships are worthwhile
I love my Twitter friends - the people who I have met and know from Twitter alone. They are people who I have never seen face-to-face but feel a connection with through the tweets that they post and my interaction with them.
I’ve sought advice from and given advice to these friends, have laughed with them at the silly things that happen around them, sympathized with them through their trials and have viewed their posted blogs, Facebook pages and photos to get to know them more. When I view my received tweets, I am delighted to be greeted with posts from these once strangers, now friends.
Twitter is by far the best networking tool I have used
I am usually a shy person. In order to go up and talk to someone I do not know and attempt to carry on a conversation, I have to mentally prepare myself well in advance. This does not always work out in social situations.
A couple of weeks ago I attended erubycon. It is a conference that is presented and attended by many influential people in the Ruby community. Before the conference, I started following erubycon on Twitter and shortly after the organizer, Joe, started following me and I followed him in return.
Through Twitter I was able to learn what Joe was doing to organize the conference, discovered his love for fine scotch, and realize how passionate he is about what he does. It is so interesting getting to know someone this way.
When I arrived at the conference, I was excited to meet him because of all I had read about him. Had our Twitter relationship not been established prior to the conference, I doubt that I would have talked to him at all, which would have been terrible! I probably would have never attended the after-conference get-together, at which I was able to get a lot of face time with some truly exceptional people in the Ruby community. It was, without a doubt, one of the most positive experiences of my professional career.
Keep on keepin’ on
Say what you want about Twitter. Complain when you see the “Whale of Fail” and gripe about it’s unreliability. I will continue to use the service to keep me informed, make me laugh, meet new friends, and establish contacts.
Oh look, I haven’t tweeted in a few hours. Time to take care of that…
I agree - Twitter is an incredible tool for building relationships and has helped the local Pittsburgh social media community come together. Though the failures of recent months have done much to hinder it as a medium.
I do still use it semi-frequently, but I’ve found myself using Plurk more. More than for anything else to more easily track conversations. If you miss something on Twitter and a day passes, it’s so hard to go back and see what you missed.
Check it out if you haven’t already. But, if you do let me know so I can send you an invite!
I just discovered your blog (thanks to twitter
).
I agree completely. I love getting to meet people through twitter and still remember seeing you tweet about coming to erubycon. I’m always excited to meet people in person who I have gotten to know through twitter. I find myself following people for professional reasons, but then connecting with them on a personal level.
On a separate note, I love your writing style. I’ve enjoyed reading your posts and will definitely be back for more. Keep it up.
I, too, found you via Twitter, and also plan to keep reading your blog. I started using Twitter last year b/c some of my co-workers were using it and encouraged me to sign up.
For the longest time, I barely updated at all, and usually I only tweeted a link to something I found interesting, and professional, at that. I also started with an anonymous account tied to an anonymous e-mail address. I decided to switch to an account tied to my real e-mail address, and recently changed my Twitter name to match my real name. All this because of my coworkers and others I have found in the social media space that encourage everyone to “be themselves.”
This ties in to my real point: I follow most people for one of two reasons; 1.) Professional - I am a former programmer turned sysadmin, so I follow people in the tech world that I find interesting. 2.) Pittsburgh - I am passionate about Pittsburgh, I grew up around here, and I enjoy the perspective and love of it that so many others in the region have.
I am like you in that I find it difficult to start conversations with others that I don’t know, but, like you, once I have been following them on Twitter for some time, and especially if I’ve @msg them, I feel connected and can talk with them much more easily.
Sorry for the long comment; I’m glad you are expressing yourself online, and I share many of your sentiments about it all. Enjoy!