Twitter sucks, apparently.
By Angela Watson
Not ONE of you blog readers took advantage of the opportunity to pimp your Twitter username and gain more followers.*
Not ONE of you Yahoo Group members did, either, when I made my request a week ago.
And, not ONE of my real-life friends and family members are on Twitter. (My mom called after reading my blog. “Okay, so what’s the purpose of this Twitting stuff?”. She dozed off after my vague and repeated use of terms such as networking and driving blog traffic.**)
So that’s over 500 SUBSCRIBERS (not to mention the hundreds of random blog visitors and folks I actually see in person) who neglected to share a Twitter username here, on their own blogs, or anywhere, for that matter.
The only logical conclusion: Twitter may be gaining 5,000-10,000 new users daily, but none of them know ME.
Either Twitter is going to be a complete waste of time because no one of importance is on it yet…or it’s going to be life-changing because every single one of the people I’m conversing with is currently outside my current circle of reach. Each of the millions of Twitterers I could “meet” will be a person outside the familiar realm…a person I would have otherwise never had contact with…a new being with whom I can exchange brilliant ideas.
Kind of exciting.
Now if you’ll pardon me, I’m going to check my TweetDeck to find out what a total stranger’s cat just barfed up. Surely that’s the best use of my time.
*Other than someone who I was already aware of on Twitter (yay, Cardiogirl!) and one person who informed me that he joined but doesn’t use it (thanks for nothing, Wow, That Was Awkward). And note: Neither of these bloggers are educators.
**But not before retorting, “Wow, Twitter only lets you use 140 characters per post? That’s going to be REALLY hard for you, Ms. Wordy!”. Precisely why Twitter is such a great writing exercise. Right? Right?
Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
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Angela, you are fantastic. You got me through my first year of teaching successfully with your wonderful website and now you make me laugh with each of your posts. Keep up the great work. I’m glad you’re around!
Apologies. I read your blog via RSS and follow your comments on Twitter, I just didn’t bother to drop my username in.
If I were twittering, I would have twitted that I was happy to be of service.
The TweetDeck twitters,
Random rambles of the mind,
Do you Haiku too?
angela, ijust started following your blog (i am having them sent daily to my email) and i just joined Twitter and i think you and twit are great.!!check out the common craft video that explains Twitter for all your uninitiated friends and family…its swell. also just to let you know I am a 40 yr gal who never graduated college and just started back fulltime this semester (god…i USED to be good at tests…not any more!) i am a history major intent on teaching when i get through…your blog makes me laugh and i can’t wait til the day i am in your shoes…thank you and keep on tweeting…beth ann
Heidi, thanks so much for the encouragement. You have no idea how much that means.
Matthew, thanks to the wonder of Twitter, I was able to tweet a reply to your comment immediately. 🙂 But for the sake of others reading this, you were totally excused; your name was in the original post and you and I were already following each other. It’s all good.
Wow, that was awkward, thanks for coming back. At least you got some linkage out of this whole deal.
Anonymous, I have no idea how to respond to that. I am in awe of your haiku skills. What else ya got?
Baboatman, thanks for coming by and finding me on Twitter. Best of luck to you in school. Glad that reading my blog makes you WANT to be a teacher, and not run the other way. I wonder sometimes… 🙂
You are giving me sausages? Sweet!
:O
My Twitter name is johntspencer
However, I forget that I have it. I rarely update it. It’s sort of a “soundbyte” concept and I’m so long-winded I struggle to make the 100 word count.
Hey!! I joined after reading your blog…..and followed you!!!! and I think you followed me….. BUT then I gave up..
(Jumps up and down) Yay! I’m here! I’m here!
And I have to admit I use it as a writing exercise as well. Because I tend to over explain, but I find it an endearing trait. Can one be enamored of one’s own annoying trait? I think one can.
Anyway, thanks! And I’ll see you on Twitter.
p.s. I feel like I’m in a super-secret super-special club because I’m not a teacher, but I hang out with on the ‘net. Booyah!