First I wrote this.
For smirks and giggles I started a Twitter account last week. And to date, I am underwhelmed.
I can see that if you have family and friends who are on Twitter, you could have a fun time staying in touch and sharing info that is of interest to your group. I don’t have any family and friends on Twitter that I know of.
I can see that if you were a fan of some celebrity, then it might be fun to see what this person had to say. I am not a big enough fan of any celebrity to care about their day-to-day thoughts and actions.
I can see that if you had a smart phone and were in a boring real-life situation– at the doc’s office– on the bus riding home from work– waiting at the airport– visiting a crazy old relative whose politics were the opposite of yours– it could be a blessing to have to check your Twitter account. But my phone isn’t smart, so I don’t have that option.
I can see that if you had no access to the internet via a desk or laptop computer, then a Twitter account could give you a fast RSS-style service that would keep you up-to-date on your favorite topics, websites, mags, and newspapers. But I am very fortunate and have both a desk and a laptop computer with internet connection that are available to me at any time.
So, what am I missing about Twitter? Is there something there to hook my interest so that I might begin to smirk and giggle as I had hoped that I would? Or is it as pointless as it seems to me?
Then I did some research and found this information.
Twitter Looks Chaotic: Don’t Be Afraid – “But behind the churn of news and trivia there’s a remarkable depth of knowledge and opinion.”
Twitter Tweets Some Big Q1 Stats – “Twitter is now seeing 155 million tweets a day.”
Twitter in Plain English – “Real life happens between blog posts and emails.”
Now I am left really wondering.
So I’ll ask you, gentle readers? Do you twitter and tweet? And if so, what do you get from the experience? Explain Twitter to me. Please.
THE SPECTACLED BEAN 
I don’t because my phone is “dumb” and I don’t have any interest in being constantly communicating. I like to read, have actual face to face conversations and not be glued to my phone all day long. In my job as a teacher, I couldn’t tweet anyway during the school day. My friends who use twitter say that they find out lots of news, jokes, and gossip plus they meet people and form bonds.
LikeLike
Margaret, I don’t like to constantly communicate either. I tried it because it seems to be mentioned online everywhere, and I got curious.
With no one I know in real life on it, I’d always be tweeting with strangers, I guess. And I don’t think that I’d be very current with my tweets because, like you, my phone is dumb [but very cute and I love her dearly]. So Twitter may not be for me.
Time will tell, I suppose.
LikeLike
Psst! (whispering) Sorry to tell you this, ally, but those tweets from the stars? Most are not sent by them but by an assistant or PR firm. (done whispering) And I do not have an Twitter account either, I can not see the point. If people would just think about whether or not they would call some on up on the phone to tell them what they are planning to tweet about- Twitter would have died by now. Plus why tweet if you can text?
LikeLike
I agree with you and both of the other comments. There is so much more to life than being stuck to some kind of a machine 24/7! I already have to make myself check e-mail and FB daily. We all need to get out and enjoy the beauty around us and the people we actually come into contact every day.
LikeLike
la p, someone else writes those tweets?!! I’m shocked! However will I go on?
Beth, I agree. I can’t get into having a cell phone attached to me all the time and I think that might be how one uses Twitter most effectively.
I love your idealism about getting people to talk with you in real life. In my experience there isn’t any way to engage people in a conversation in every day life when they are so consumed with whatever or whoever is on their phone. I don’t exist to them– even if I am standing right in front of them.
So I go about my daily life by myself– quietly– and with a very small cell phone bill each month. 🙂
LikeLike
i do twitter and tweet. tho’ sporadically. and pretty much never from the actual twitter site, because it sucks. you have to get tweet deck or hoosuite or another twitter client, because twitter itself bites.
next, follow things like the daily show and the new york times and the guardian and the BBC (if you’re me) and people that you like on etsy, because they tweet when they’ve listed something. oh, and i also follow kat von d – she’s deeper than you’d expect.
but you’re right, it’s mostly for people who are sitting with a smart phone in a waiting room or on a train. and i cannot believe that phones still exist that aren’t smart phones. you should probably take yours to the smithsonian and get an iPhone like everyone else! 😉
if you want to find me on twitter, i’m @julochka. and i promise to talk to you there.
LikeLike
that was “hootsuite” (not hoo suite – i can’t spell)…
LikeLike
julochka, thanks for the advice. I can see that the Twitter site is wonky. It took me more time than it should of to even set up the account. I’ll look into the sites you suggest because what Twitter has suggested to me is goofy.
And I know, my phone is ancient. One of these days I’ll spring for a fancy new phone like all the cool kids have. But until, I’ll be tweeting from my equally ancient computer that still works, bless her heart.
LikeLike
I resisted Twitter for ages, but once I tried it, discovered a lot of like-minded individuals; news about latest technology; breaking news and new friends. In my humble opinion, Twitter is a vast improvement over Facebook. I left Facebook months ago and have never looked back.
LikeLike
Tara, funny you should find this post today. I just this hour discovered you on Twitter. 🙂
Since I wrote this post I’ve gotten more comfortable with Twitter. It is beginning to make sense to me. I’m enjoying it more, thanks to all those commenters who took the time to clue me in to how Twitter worked/what to do once I was there.
I deleted my personal FB about a year ago and haven’t missed it at all, either. I created a FB fan page for this blog as a lark. Time will tell if it is worth the effort, or not.
LikeLike