Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Twitter turns 7...here's why I love tweeting.
Do you tweet? Or do you think it's for the bird brains of this world?
It was Hugh that persuaded me to open my Twitter account and although sceptical at first and feeling like I was spending my time tweeting (I thought) to no one in particular, the moment I had my first conversation I was hooked. Now it's my news service, the place I find new music, somewhere to chat with people with similar interests, debate and discuss but also express frustration, little moments of joy and pleasure, observations about being a parent, order books from Big Green Books and yes...even sometimes tweet what I had for lunch.
On Twitter, I've been offered opportunities, got free Lego from a Twitter pal, free music, free kids books and found out about places that I knew nothing about. Twitter is about serendipity too.
Twitter is also a place to learn. There are lots of twitter streams that will lead you to resources on any subject you like. My interest in history has led me to all sorts of interesting sites and articles that I doubt I would have found by googling alone. It's also a place to keep up with latest developments in subjects of interest or breaking news.
Finally Twitter is about fun. Although there are days when everyone seems to be up in arms about something or depressing people like Clarkson pop up in your timeline, there's usually lots of laughs and wonderful things to restore you faith in humanity.
So do you tweet? What's the best (or worst) thing about Twitter for you?
Tags for Forum Posts: Twitter
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Middleton on
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Best thing about twitter is being able to have searches permanently set up (for me its Ally Pally, Alexandra Palace and Alexandra Park) so that I can find out as quickly as possible anything that might impact on @FriendsAllyPark. (I use Hootsuite for this.)
Worse thing about twitter people who follow without reading (which seems to be the majority). I keep the number of people that I follow down to 100 so that I can read what they say.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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How on earth do you find the time to " follow " 100 people ?
I have two e-mail accounts and read three forums ( one of which is pretty dormant ) and that seems to take up half the day
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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How? By taking a "smart" phone everywhere you go.
Hard to believe I once stood quietly in front of the Taj Mahal without having one.
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Probably, because a lot of them don't tweet very often, some I just scan rapidly if not of interest and others I read properly.
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Least worst thing: can act as an ad for something I'm glad I followed-up.
Worst thing? There are too many to list. But it does seem to deter and discourage longer thoughtful more ambitious forms. Plus its contribution to the ever-growing number of people whose first priority is: look at your phone.
Overall, the noise to signal ratio always teeters on the edge of cancelling my Twitter account.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I absolutely disagree with the idea that it discourages longer, more thoughtful forms. It's a gateway for me very often to longer writing that would probably have stayed hidden without the initial tweet. Yesterday I read a Marxist analysis of the Harlem Shake meme, articles from Citizen's Advice and JRF about the impact of the budget on child poverty and the dreadful persecution of Lucy Meadows by the tabloid press.
Two things I think people have to get over on Twitter.
1. You can't read everything and neither should you try. It's a river of information, let it wash over you or like Stephen suggests use filters like searches and lists to manage the information better. Link to longer pieces you think deserve attention including your own writing. Don't try to express complex thoughts in 140 characters. Invite people to your corner of the Internet to explore them.
2. Its a conversation. A useful way to ask questions and get intelligent crowdsourced answers. (yes there are idiots on there, but then there are idiots spouting off on the pub...and as in the pub, just ignore them). Anyone on broadcast mode only (newspapers/celebrities/some politicians) simply doesn't get the full benefit of it.
We all have our pet hates when it comes to people's use of smartphones. Mine is people who film gigs on them, spending the entire time watching a screen rather than the band they choose to pay good money to see. Spending the 10 minutes on the top deck of a bus to Wood Green (which I've taken because its raining) reading Twitter is a relatively useful way of spending my time. Sometimes I even take photos through the bus window and post them on Instagram. What a monster I am, I could have read two pages of Moby Dick in that time
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