I gave it a try. But, well, let’s face it, Twitter and I are not meant to be friends.
I was never one of the popular crowd. In high school I had a friend–a best friend–who was a cheerleader. But, well, I never hung out with the other cheerleaders. There was something unspoken and mutually understood about my place–or UNplace–in the social gatherings of the day.
Also, for Twitter? I don’t have the time. Even if it does only require (less than) 140 characters. I mean, I know I write about this all the time, my lack of time. And maybe it’s getting old. (It feels like it’s getting old.) But if I can’t find the time to write about something other than not finding the time, then, really? Twitter? (Also, in keeping with the friend theme, I have found so many blog friends that I’m not feeling like I need Twitter–the cheerleader equivalent–you know?
I don’t have the knack. (I know I could practice, even improve). It’s just not me. I am just not that clever. In fact, I’m so not clever that I can’t even expand on how not clever I am. I’m just not.
I understand Twitter. I can appreciate Twitter. I’m even glad I gave it a try. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll even check in periodically.
But, I’m not good at Twitter. I’m not going to suddenly be one of the in crowd. I’m not going to acquire more time. And I’m not going to all of a sudden become more clever.
So, So Long Twitter. For now, at least.
(As far as I know, Sarah is still a Twitterer. You can find her at Momalom. I guess it’s good she got the real blog name as her Twitter name, you know? Perhaps she knew Twitter wasn’t going to be for me–Momalomjen.)
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Don’t go…not yet! Twitter got me a replacement dishwasher when I couldn’t get anywhere with the actual company that sold me the POS I am sitting against right now to run the cycle as I write this to you.
I should also have included that I’m not savvy. Twitter for a dishwasher? Never would have occurred to me to go there. This is where I rely on Sarah. She’s my first resource for everything. Do you think I could get a replacement house? That might prompt me to join back in.
I’m terrible at it, too! I’ve tried, and for many of the reasons you listed above, I think I only get on it maybe once a week. I stink!
.-= TheKitchenWitch´s last blog ..Hawaiian Vacation: Then and Now: Part I =-.
Yeah, I’m no good either. I just think facebook is better. When you post a status, people comment, and you can see the comments together. With Twitter, I might post something, forget what the hell I posted, and if someone responds, I have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s like some foreign language. Throw in a follow Friday (I had to ask what that meant), where you write a bunch of Twitter names after a pound sign, and I’m even more lost. But I’m sort of forging ahead, if only to feel like I have somewhere to put my myriad thoughts. (But like you, I do not feel I am clever in such a short number of characters.)
.-= Jana@Attitude Adjustment´s last blog ..Piecing the Puzzle =-.
Jana, you need to use a Twitter app, I highly recommend Seesmic (or I think you are on a iPhone right?) echofon is fantastic. The reason I suggest it is, it links back the conversations so that with the click of a mouse you can see all that was said in response to the original tweet. (Just a suggestions :-)
.-= Christine LaRocque´s last blog ..Moments of happiness =-.
I have to tell you I love Twitter. I have made so many friends and found out so much news before I would have otherwise. I wouldn’t totally give it up.
Example 1: I have made friends with an extremely cool group of people in Ithaca through Twitter. We get all together every now and then.
Example 2: Library at #2′s college evacuated due to man carrying gun seen on video going into library. I knew before the college sent out alert text to students and was on the phone with #2 when text came through.
.-= Nicki´s last blog ..Ed Tech Day =-.
OK. Maybe this lame post is going to elicit lots of reasons for why I shouldn’t give up on Twitter! And, maybe when I get my iPhone next month I’ll feel a little more engaged and connected?
When I got my iPhone Twitter became so much easier. They have several great apps, and it’s easier to pop in once in a while when you use them.
.-= Christine LaRocque´s last blog ..Moments of happiness =-.
I don’t tweet either. I figure, why tempt myself? The time suck alone would push me (or my husband) over the edge! But maybe one day … It is so tempting to see what the fuss is all about.
.-= Stacia´s last blog ..Haiku Friday =-.
I like twitter. As a marketer. And for a number of other things. But only in very limited ways. As with many things, I thinks it’s incredibly useful (and also fun) – but moderation is the key.
I find it disturbing that people are “tweeting” their activities and thoughts non-stop – rather than enjoying them. But it’s indicative of our culture these days.
So the issue that concerns me – just how much more public, more superficial, and more cavalier will we become in these global media outlets where there’s no “taking it back” and no validation if anything is even true? What’s next?
.-= BigLittleWolf´s last blog ..What’s the perfect icebreaker? =-.
Gotta jump in here to say I agree regarding the nonstop tweeting of daily activities. It’s a bit egocentric, is it not? And as you said, it takes away from the moment, surely. I use twitter as a marketing tool too, and leave personal comments largely to Facebook.
.-= Amy at Never-True Tales´s last blog ..The Better Parent =-.
If you have to be a cool cheerleader type to be on Twitter, I don’t know what in the world it is that I love about it so much. Seriously. It’s weird because I hate the feeling of TRYING TO GET IN. I guess I’m just THAT isolated :) I love the quick little connections I can make with people I do actually know, or blog-know. To make each other laugh in the midst of the mundane. I don’t like A WHOLE LOT about it, but it has grown on me too. All that said, I haven’t tweeted since yesterday morning :) My life is still full offline, so I use Twitter as an aside, because I REALLY believe it should just be an extra thing, here and there, not an all-the-time-oh-my-god-what-if-everyone-forgets-about-me-I-better-say-something-oh-my-god-i-can’t-think-of-anything-witty-oh-the-pressure kind of thing. That’s just silly. When it gets that way (and it does) then it’s time to step away and engage in what’s around me. Wow, why am I writing a book about Twitter? Sheesh.
.-= Heather of the EO´s last blog ..Transcending =-.
Heather. I think I kind of missed the loop on the writing of this post. I had a good idea w/ the whole popularity thing, but I didn’t quite come full circle. AnyWAY, I think you have a good point. Twitter can be fun to check in to, and like everything in this virtual world, when it gets to be too much, it’s time to step away. Maybe I need to try again w/ fewer expectations for myself.
I’ve found there are different levels of involvement regarding twitter. I use it mostly for my travel site, but like to promote great blog posts I come across, too. But because it can be such a time sucker, I’ve made a rule for myself that I can only read and write twitter status’ for 15 minutes a day, and never on the weekends. I schedule tweets for later in each day, but only write them in that 15 minute block of time. It helps me maintain my sanity and still keeps me in the twitter loop.
.-= Amy at Never-True Tales´s last blog ..The Better Parent =-.
OK. So. You can SCHEDULE tweets? That is very cool. See? I am just not savvy. I should have put that into this post too. I like the 15-minute limit. And Twitter is a good way to promote other people’s posts, I agree. I’m coming to think that maybe I’m giving up too soon.
I am so with you on this one! I absolutely SUCK at Twitter. I think part of the reason is because I don’t fully understand why it exists. And yet, I have an account, and for some reason I keep trying, offering up a random tweet every now and then. I should probably just throw in the towel.
Lauren just described my Twitter experience exactly.
Reading your post reminds me that I haven’t been on Twitter in a few days. And I wasn’t missing it – so if I’m not missing it, maybe I don’t really need to be on it after all?
.-= Kristen @ Motherese´s last blog ..On the Road Again =-.
I don’t Twitter either and I feel as though I have missed the loop… Should I try it? I don’t even know where to start….
.-= Maria´s last blog ..April 9, 2010 Friday Follow: A Celebration of Followers =-.
I can’t figure out it’s purpose. I feel like a stalker if I follow someone and I don’t feel like I’m important enough to have anyone following me…and, what would I say? Weird. I have yet to completely dismiss it because I was not a Facebook fan either – but now totally love it. I keep thinking that something might change with my opinion and use of Twitter.
Jen, I first found your blog because of Twitter! :) I like it more now than I did a year ago when I first played around with it and then (temporarily) abandoned it… I think part of the trick is finding the right people to follow. Either people who use twitter the same way you do, or people you’re really interested in hearing from, or people you can have great conversations with… but not people that you feel lame in comparison to. Maybe.
(Adding to some of what’s already been mentioned above: you can schedule tweets by using a twitter client instead of logging on to twitter.com. I use HootSuite; another one lots of people use is SocialOomph. Another neat thing about those is that you can import your facebook account too, so you can check everything all at once. And you can send status updates to both twitter and fb, or just one or the other. Am I still making sense? Eh, well.)
.-= Melissa´s last blog ..fruit bowl packs a punch =-.
Melissa,
You totally just convinced me that I’m mostly following the wrong people. And the scheduling tweets thing is just cool. There you go with the business-y stuff again!
:)
Jen, I get what you’re saying. Totally. My twitter usage comes in spurts… when I’m feeling in the loop ;)
Honestly, most of the time if I tweet I feel like I’m talking to a wall. I want conversations, not snippits. I’m not clever enough for 140 characters either (totally loved that line in your post).
I’m also not a huge Facebook fan. Don’t get me wrong, I still check both FB & Twitter more than I should, I just don’t participate in those social media outlets as much as I do with blogging.
.-= Corinne´s last blog ..Silly gifts & chances of rain =-.
Hey, everyone? Thanks for all of your great responses to this post. I honestly didn’t expect so many great thoughts on this. I love the support and the suggestions. And although I’m CERTAIN that I’m not going to all of a sudden become Twitter savvy, with your great input I just may not swear off of it altogether! Hootsuite, here I come?
Jen, I understand you Twitter part but I was more interested in your time comment.
Time.
Why does it slip from our fingers so easily? I wake up and BAM it’s already lunch, I’m behind on dishes, laundry, cooking, and then BAM it’s dinner. Where did the time go?
I am not tired of hearing you talk about it. I hear it and relate. Completely. It can be so tiresome to not have the time to do the things you need to do or even the things you enjoy doing.
Time.
There doesn’t seem to be enough to go around.
.-= Amber´s last blog ..The Devil Made Me Do It =-.
I haven’t picked up the Twitter knack either. I just don’t get it. The funny thing is that social media is a part of my job which includes Tweeting.
.-= Erica@PinesLakeRedhead´s last blog ..Randomness =-.
Oh, but “in” is wherever you are. Stats and followers are like freckles, not meant to be counted, but rather enjoyed for the way they dust and beautify their surface.
I like Twitter for the way it lets me check in as often or as infrequently as I fancy.
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Intentions =-.
Twitter is funny for me. It’s all about my attitude/mood of the day or moment. There are times when I feel an insecurity I didn’t even have in Highschool where I’m thinking, look at all the cool people that I would like to know better who all know each other better than I know them/they know me. I have realized that I will not spend my time on something that makes me feel like shit. So instead, I pop on when I have something funny to share (or mundane, at times) and don’t really check if people are responding. I just like putting certain things out there.
Other times, I just butt right into someone else’s conversation. :) But really, I mostly use it for getting links to new posts or linking up my own new posts. I have found that even if I’m very sporadic in logging in, people are usually friendly if I engage them. Like replying to their tweets, rather than just waiting for someone to reply to me.
For me it’s definitely a small-dose kind of thing, otherwise the mental crud starts to build up and I end up wasting way too much time on a whole log of nothing. ;)
.-= Boy Crazy (@claritychaos)´s last blog ..{from the coffee shop} =-.
And I meant to say ‘lot of nothing’ but I think ‘log of nothing’ has its own really funny connotations. heh.
.-= Boy Crazy (@claritychaos)´s last blog ..{from the coffee shop} =-.
I guess I still cannot figure out what I am supposed to do with Twitter. I have FB and use it to keep in touch with my friends. I can write as much as I want in updates and do so intelligently without having to abbreviate like I’m in high school. I guess I just cannot figure out why the average person needs it. If I were a famous celebrity it surely is a lot easier than having to accept a million friends but I don’t have that problem!
.-= Heather´s last blog ..Avoid Potentially Hazardous Drinkware Pitfalls =-.
For some reason I feel very intimidated by Twitter.
.-= Tracy Todd´s last blog ..I Am a Horse =-.
I read most, but not all comments, so I apologize if I’m repeating. I couldn’t resist jumping in, and perhaps I’ll be embarassing myself, but I am a Twitter addict. When I was on maternity leave, it was very much a life line. When the baby was napping, I tweeted, created relationships, got advice and generally felt less lonely. That said, it is a VERY BIG time suck, and now that I’m working again I have to limit my time on it. There are many elements to Twitter, too much to go on about here (ironic really), but I think the biggest thing I learned what that it is about connecting, not just broadcasting (though, of course, I do my fair share of that too). So when you send out the random tweets that might seem useless about your day, what happens is people pick up on that, use it as a starting point for conversation and then engage from there. If you use it only to broadcast you’ll never understand it’s real power. I’ve made countless friends on Twitter, some I consider to be very good friends now. I’ve met many of these people in real life and have been further rewarded. Anyhow, I could go on and on! But I do hope you’ll try again :-)
.-= Christine LaRocque´s last blog ..Moments of happiness =-.
I know, I’m late on this, but…no time. Ha.
Jen, THANK YOU for this line: “I’m not feeling like I need Twitter–the cheerleader equivalent–you know?” And this one: ” I’m not going to suddenly be one of the in crowd. ”
This is me.
.-= Liz´s last blog ..Sorting it all out (but perhaps still not making sense) =-.
I’m giving it up, too. I have sort of gotten obsessed with FaceBook and Twitter is too much about self promotion. and Lance Armstrong. And the ability to be witty in 140characters, which I don’t have.
.-= Barb Cooper´s last blog ..Why Coop is the Best Dad on the Planet, No. 763,897 =-.