In Defense of Those Who Don’t Tweet
I have a confession to make. I’m a twenty-something technology-crazed, small business owner who hates Twitter. I just can’t get into the swing of it – where’s the fine line between witty and purposeful tweet and 140 characters of blatant TMI?
On three separate occasions I have signed up to Twitter, promising myself that I would tweet and use it to make connections and to grow my businesses, but I never did. I just can’t seem to sift through all of the uninteresting and unnecessary minutiae to get to the meat of the tweet.
Sure, it works for some and as Sally-Anne pointed out in the last edition, it can be a useful tool for finding services and making friends with like-minded individuals. But for me? I can’t seem to get into the swing of things and I can’t really see the point of it. I want more than Twitter has to offer, more than just 140 characters at a time, more than having to be selective and manipulate my thoughts to fit into an arbitrary character limit.
I still have my Twitter account and I do use it sporadically – not to do anything radical, but to quickly communicate with a few group of die-hard Twitter friends and colleagues, but signing in once every fortnight doesn’t exactly make me Twitter savvy.
Delighted to hear such passion on the page Anyonita!
My ‘Beginners’ Guide to Twitter’ makes exactly that point – Twitter isn’t for everyone and there are hundreds of other social media platforms to service your on-line communication needs (if any!).
So many people join Twitter just because they feel they should be in this particular zone of cyber space; they simply give up when they are not sure what the point of being there actually is! Glad to see you’re no quitter though 😉
Until recently Twitter did not appeal to the twenty-somethings, but the popularity of smart phones and sport fans sharing news and opinion on Twitter has meant a huge rise in number of young adopters: 31% of all users are now aged between 18-24 and the number increased dramatically between May 2011 and February 2012*
There is no absolute definition of Twitter savvy – you can use is as you wish as long as your friends and business contacts know your preferred method of communication they will always be able to get in touch!
To quote the original man behind the concept, Biz Stone: “Twitter is all about having the freedom to either tune in or tune out.”
Personally I can’t wait for email to drop off the face of the earth and everything be communicated in 140 characters – my online time would be reduced enormously and I’d be far more effective!
Sally-Anne
*Source: Pew Research Center May 2012 (data capture February 2012)