I just tweeted for the 10,000th time. So what the heck does that mean? I am a Twittering fool? 20 months, 10,000 tweets, 3,000 followers. What learning have I gleaned from all this (image by Sonny Gill)?
Twitter remains a strange place. That’s what I’ve learned.
It’s just weird in a captivating, yet maddeningly ugly way. Twitter represents heaven and hell at the same time. It captures the best of life, and some of its ugliest aspects. Twitter is a big ole bazaar, and there’s nothing quite like it.
There will likely be variants, imitators, and maybe even the acquisition of Twitter. Who knows, who cares? Given my longevity and frequency, I’ll probably still be tweeting.
Fourteen observations about Twitter:
1) Twitter sucks until you start following about 100 people.
2) It’s the most viral place I’ve ever seen. Ask Motrin.
3) You can follow everyone or not. It doesn’t matter, because people can still follow and “@” you, and you can still converse with them. I know that now. Since I can’t deal with more than 500 people in my stream, it’s hard to get me to follow you.
4) Isn’t it amazing that suddenly there’s a competitive marketplace for Twitter books with Warren Whitlock already published, and both Laura Fitton “Pistachio” and Shel Israel rushing to be next?
5) I don’t believe in Pistachio’s theory of micro-messages (an idea propagated by Joel Comm in his Twitter book, too) or micro-sharing. I find it hard to believe that Twitter is in itself a place to build a solely focused social media consultancy. I like Laura personally and am happy to see her prospering, but I don’t get it. Just saying, but hey, proof is in the bank account. I’ll shut up on that topic. Or maybe I’ll just ask her to ’splain it to me!
6) Qwitter is for the self-absorbed. Get over it, and get into real conversations, will ya?
7) Real people on Twitter don’t treat it like a popularity contest for their “personal brands.” They just be. Get it. Know what I’m sayin’, Shaq?
8) The amount of people following you doesn’t mean crap. It’s a number to drop in conversations. Influence is determined by value, and whether or not people believe in you enough to do something.
9) Stalkers, trolls, and not so nice people live on Twitter. Just like reality.
10) Trying to please all the Tweeple is impossible. Instead it’s better to find Tweeple like you or that at least can engage you so the conversation is worth your time. And their’s.
11) Twitter is a place people can take too seriously. The world exists without Twitter. Really. It does.
12) If you tell people to unfollow you, they usually won’t. Damn.
13) Jousting with Amanda Chapel is a serious waste of time. That’s why the last time I sauteed Brian Conolly – oops, Chapel was really the last time.
14) If you let the tyranny of the un-urgent — a.k.a. Twittering all the time — drive you, there can be seriously negative results in your life. Most weekends and every vacation I just turn it off.
Today I asked some other long-term Twitterer’s the lessons they’ve learned. Here they are:
Great post. One quibble if I may: I followed a trackback and was pleased at first that you had linked to my post, until I saw that you had used my post to make your point, somewhat glibly, if I may say. If you could in good conscience link your principle about people taking Twitter “too seriously” to my post on taking Twitter seriously, you clearly haven’t been reading my tweets. I have a lot of fun and I doubt anyone who follows me could in all honesty accuse me of taking it “too seriously”. In fact, when I read sometimes what some of the “gurus” say I wonder whether I could be accused of taking it seriously enough. Not that I take your implicit jibe “too seriously”. But fairness to a blogger’s intent and content, when linking, would be a better look, wouldn’t it? :)
Des, I went off your title. Was not a pointed link, sorry if it hurt, and it showed you covered the situation. Maybe you’ll get some new readers from it, eh?
I guessed so. Didn’t hurt, just wanted to get the record straight. Thanks for responding.
Congrats on crossing the 10k line!
You know the best part? You added a WHOLE bunch of value to it. : )
Congratulations! But please don’t kill the Fail Whale…I’ve grown attached to the big guy.
I feel conflicted about Twitterverse. I have learned a lot from it, but there is also a shallow aspect that I do not like so much. Sometimes it feels kind of narcissistic. I was there briefly for a while, then left, and now I’m back. I didn’t miss it while I was gone, but felt a little out of the loop with a few of my blog buddies.
I sometimes wonder why I feel compelled to tweet, but do I it anyway. We’re all kind of spamming each other. It’s a good marketing tool.
I like Quitter. So far, it has only told me that people, mostly peeps who were there just to sell something, who I didn’t follow back, left, which is fine with me. I don’t want to buy homemade jewelry. I don’t even attend friends demonstrations for that silly stuff, which breaks after the first time I wear it, and only bought it to be nice in the first place. ;-)
I think that more followers mostly means that you spend more time online. Hopefully, substance has something to do with it too.
I hope that I discover more smart and interesting people to follow. I love learning about new places and people! Right now, I’m still a social network n00b who is trying to make sense of things.
Hi Geoff,
Great insights. I enjoy Twitter for the conversation and all the smart people who are generous in sharing their time and their ideas.
I particularly like your observations Nos. 7 & 8, because the whole point should be to be yourself and engage people. And No. 11, because sometimes you’ve just got to have a face-to-face conversation or get outside and see the sun.
Best, Daria
Fun insights from a pioneer! I’d like to weigh in on point #1: I found that Twitter doesn’t get fun until approx. 100 people are following *you* (rather than the other way around). Until that point, if you ask a question you will generally hear nothing in return but chirping crickets. A sad feeling indeed.
I always advise newcomers to find people with common interests that have fewer followers, and sprinkle them in with the big guys. Those with 100-300 followers are more likely to follow you back, converse and become a real source of learning and support, which is why most of us join Twitter in the first place.
Good post Geoff. I took me a while to ‘get’ Twitter. But I’m there now. Agree with most your points. Especially about turning it off. I can’t seem to manage that one.