Comments on: 10,000 Tweets: Heaven and Hell

By: Sherrilynne Starkie

Sherrilynne Starkie — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:11:41 +0000

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.

By: Kellye Crane

Kellye Crane — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:15:32 +0000

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.

By: Daria Steigman

Daria Steigman — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:53:44 +0000

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

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:45:26 +0000

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.

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:49:29 +0000

Congratulations! But please don’t kill the Fail Whale…I’ve grown attached to the big guy.

By: Shama Hyder

Shama Hyder — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:48:04 +0000

Congrats on crossing the 10k line!

You know the best part? You added a WHOLE bunch of value to it. : )

By: Des Walsh

Des Walsh — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:55:25 +0000

I guessed so. Didn’t hurt, just wanted to get the record straight. Thanks for responding.

By: Geoff Livingston

Geoff Livingston — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:28:17 +0000

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?

By: Des Walsh

Des Walsh — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:23:23 +0000

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? :)