Twitter Me This
Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 04:44PM I have a love / hate relationship with Twitter. I love the ability to write silly little blurbs that may inform or entertain others.
I often enjoy reading other people's blurbs, their thoughts and ramblings. I sometimes find very useful information or tools that I can use.
Yet, there is also an awful lot of drivel. One has to go through quite a bit of "I'm eating a sandwich!" or "My feet hurt" before stumbling across a news item or cool tip that catches your interest.
But for the writer, Twitter can be a fabulous tool.
For one thing, it forces the author to be succinct. After all, there's only so much you can say in 140 characters that will make an impact.
(And you should be trying to make an impact -- if you're not, you're just contributing to the litter of Twitter.)
And by "impact", I don't necessarily mean something profound . . . but enlightening would be nice. Funny is good. Something that would make someone go "Hhmm . . . "
Twitter, if used properly, makes one focus their thoughts and consider their words, something that is not done often in this world of saying whatever you want, however you want.
Trust me, I'm not against free speech, but I do think some kind of intelligent consideration should be exercised. Just blathering about having a sandwich or sore feet really is pointless.
It would be nice that, like everything else we write, we put some thought into our Twitterings. And with 140 characters, we need to choose the words with as much thought.
And sometimes with those 140 characters, we run out of space. Some folks resort to abbreviations or strange misspellings to get their thought across.
did u no susan is hvng a save sarah twitter day? Will u join us 2? pls RT!!
The irony is that tweet isn't 140 characters, with room to spell everyting correctly. So why not? Have we gotten lazy, or is this the new language?
I shiver to consider either might be close to the truth. Yet, there it is
Twitter is a tool, and could be a great tool, if used well. There are a lot of members who are amazing for who they are and the information they provide.
How much can you say in 140 characters? And how well can you say it?
Give it a try. It's free, and you can practice all you want.
I'll have the turkey & swiss on white.
Reader Comments (3)
Sandwich? Sore feet? Could be interesting to deli owner or podiatrist. However, too many people giving same tips about how to use grammar correctly; no semicolons!
Mayo with your sandwich?
Yes, I know. I need practice with 140 character thing.
What a great idea - a podiatrist who serves you a sandwich while working on your toes. No jam for me please :)
I hear ya! It can be quite aggravating to navigate through a bunch of "junk" just to get to the "good stuff". I have unfollowed people, people I originally thought would be a great resource, just because I got tired of hearing about how many times they walked their dog today. But I am guilty myself at times. One day, to my horror, I discovered I'd told everyone I ran over some creature with my lawn mower, (don't recall what it was), and was making biscuits and gravy for supper - IN THE SAME DAY! Well, who cares?
Yes, the 140 character limit has been a great tool in and of itself for me. It has helped me learn to better say what I mean without all the wish-wash, (sort of like this response).
Enjoyed this; will RT. Thanks!
I SO agree. For me, first it was Facebook- the need to be topical and intriguing in few words. Now Twitter. They both completely force me to use words and paint images carefully. Alas~ now I even think in FB/Twitter phrases and seemed to have left my blog high and dry. Hopefully my upcoming NaNo romp will do much to bring this sensibility back in step with some in-depth writing.