I am not a politician, a revolutionary, a business, or a person selling stuff. I am just a regular person.
I'm writing this note to explain how Twitter works for me because I’ve started to notice that when I talk about Twitter most people look at me like I have three heads. I can just hear the storyline running through their mind - it’s the same line that my husband says to me out loud “what’s so great about twatting or tweeting or whatever you do?”
Ok, look – I get it. I understand why people don’t “get it. “ I didn’t get it at first either. The fact is, it’s kind of hard to explain.
According to Twitter, Twitter is:
“a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting.”
And that means what exactly? What is a “real-time information network?” Is it like instant messaging? Not quite.
For me, the fourth time was the charm with Twitter and there's a good reason why. Even though I thought I “got it” the first three times – I didn’t really “get it.”
Ok, let me explain:
My First Time – no one cares that I’m drinking White Castle decaf
The first time I got on Twitter, I got discouraged because I tweeted and had no response. I thought this was supposed to be like the BestBuy commercial where the lone person stands in a stadium field, asks a question and a million people scramble to answer it as fast as they can. That is not how it works. So that didn’t happen and I was disappointed. Apparently no one in the Twitterverse cared that I was drinking White Castle decaf and heading to Indiana for the weekend. So I thought, “forget you” Twitter.
Second Time – hookers or something
The second time I got on Twitter, I simply composed more uninteresting tweets. Then I started to get followed by what appeared to be hookers harking their personal sex site. I’m still not sure who those people are… in any case I found it creepy and quickly lost interest.
Third Time – business tweeting thrice daily
The third time I got on Twitter, it was because I was mandated to promote the startup mobile advertising business that I worked for… our CEO directed the sales team: “thou must tweet thrice daily!” And so we did… more or less. However, when the company went out of business I stopped tweeting.
Fourth Time - topical comedy is the charm
Finally, I returned to Twitter a fourth time on a whim. This time I did something different: I started following people for fun such as Albert Brooks and Steve Martin. And oh by the way, if you like topical comedy (comedy that relates to current events) @albertbrooks is really really funny. Then I found that @albertbrooks was following @NellSco and I got hooked on her too. This was good stuff. This was starting to get fun.
Then I did something different too – I thought, 'if I’m going to say something I need to make it more interesting than a Facebook status' – after all, the people reading my Tweets aren’t necessarily my friends who find everything I say hilarious (right friends?)
I resolved to hold my Tweets to a higher standard. I resolved to try and make them interesting to a person who may not even know me. As it turns out, the way that I feel most comfortable doing that is to inject a bit of humor... and so was born my Twitter voice.
Famous People Versus the Ordinary Joes and Janes (like me)
Famous people who start using Twitter get followers fairly quickly and people want to respond to what they say. They actually have conversations. This makes adapting to Twitter very easy.
But for most of us – those of us who don’t have a lot of friends on Twitter and who aren’t famous – it can be somewhat discouraging to Tweet and feel like no one hears you other than the @amallnearyou that wants you to come and shop with them. For the regular Jane like myself, not many people follow us or respond to our tweets. So there you sit just talking to yourself. However, I’m having fun on Twitter now because I’m entertaining myself and my husband with my Tweets at the very least.
The other value is that I get to pick up on some interesting conversations. My experience on Twitter is that it’s kind of like sitting in a noisy café listening to different people talking - however, this is no ordinary café – its filled with millions of people. Pick the ones you like and take a listen.
Yours Tweetly,
@akberry
No comments:
Post a Comment