Image via Wikipedia
Image via CrunchBaseMost of us are now faced with the quandary of which social media platform is the best one to be on and as a consequence we join more than one, and in some cases many. Twitter is running a close race with Facebook and for many is the social networking platform of choice. I have finally given in and caught the Twitter bug.
I'll be honest about this--I don't entirely get it. When I'm on the Twitter page I see a lot of random messages that seem to have little interconnection. Sometimes there is interaction like brief instant message exchanges, but mostly it seems to be users saying random things to no specified person or promotional bits touting some book, product, or link.
There were times when I was scrolling through the tweets that I would find a potentially interesting link that I would visit. I did find a few items that caught my attention and even found a couple of blogs that I ended up following. But quite frankly I mostly just skimmed through the tweet lists and most of it just whizzed past my eyes in a blur. A person could just sit all day following tweet links. And it looks like some people are tweeting links all day--sometimes over and over.
So I'm probably having some of the same thoughts that some of you are having. And my approach to my initial tweeting experience is based on what I saw others doing. What is the primary purpose of tweeting? Is there a right or a wrong way to approach the Twitter message?
Rosalind Adam, one of my blog friends, greeted my arrival on Twitter and then added "Twitter's an excellent way of getting feedback and chat but it's not for just selling."
She was a bit miffed about the practice of some Tweeters of only promoting product and suggested that she might stop following some of those who were doing only this. I can understand some of her frustration as their were times when I felt like I was looking at an online version of newspaper classified ads with some that were duplicated periodically. I for one ignored these for the most part. I'm wondering if sales result from these promo tweets? Or is it like a repetitive message that gradually embeds its way into ones psyche for later retrieval?
There were a few instances of banter that I saw and I even engaged in a few brief exchanges. However with so much going on it feels like being in a crowd or at a party where everyone is talking at once and any real meaningful conversation gets lost in the hubbub. Do you ever have an exchange of substance? Or do you merely joust in inanities and minor pleasantries?
Then I saw a lot of quotes and absurd statements. That's mostly what I ended up doing as I engaged in experimentation. I wanted to see if I could generate interest in my Thursday post on A Faraway View by interjecting cryptic mentions of "Federal Duck". In a sense I was trying to test the medium as a means of messaging a concept that might stimulate curiosity and draw readers to the post later. I did get some new readers so I guess my attempt worked in a minor way. Then again, maybe "Federal Duck" sounded so inane that most people just ignored it as stupid. Well, I thought it was funny and I think I came up with a few clever lines, so if nothing else I entertained myself.
So is that a big part of not only Twitter, but much social media--especially social media in the short form such as Twitter? Are we mostly just tossing our words out there hoping that someone will latch on to something? Does most of our twitter chatter fall on deaf eyes unless we are Angelina Jolie's leg or Lady GaGa or some such entity? And even then, are they idle words that fill a temporary space in time with little lasting value?
Is Twitter most effective as marketing, communication, or fulfillment of self? I'm curious to hear from those who have more experience with this or who have given the Twitter concept more thought? I often walk through life in bewilderment and like to see if the explanations that others give me can clarify the way I see things. So what can you tell me? How can I best spend my Twitter time? Or should I run away and not look back?
Oh and by the way, don't forget to click my Twitter button in the sidebar--there are two of them. I want more followers. It will increase the odds of somebody hearing this Bird tweet.
