Down the Rabbit Hole - Understanding the Subtleties of Tweeting
As a new Tweeter I am astounded, actually no, I am gob-smacked (a great British euphemism) at the incomprehensible amount of time people and I mean a LOT of people are spending tweeting, following and being followed.
In the short while, maybe 2 weeks, since I joined this tsunami of social media insanity I found how easy it is to get sucked into the void of the tweeting world.
It's rather like going down Alice in Wonderlands rabbit hole you never know where you are going to land and what you are going to find.
It's a conundrum.
As a new member of the sexagenarian club the learning curve was steep - well it was for me and I consider myself pretty computer savvy...
a mostly self taught talent as I had my children a little later than most so it was important that I understood what my offspring were doing on their computers, and then later 'follow' them in order to keep in touch with their lives in the way this wonderfully dynamic new generation do...
completely remotely.
But I digress.
My understanding, and I am open for discussion on this, is that the purpose of having a Twitter account is to be seen and heard in the virtual world.
I was told it was a must for anyone who wanted to be discovered for their talent, their business or their popularity.
So as I am in the process of promoting a new business I decided to join the show and see if it would work for me.
This is what I know so far:
What I discovered is that they tweet a few times every hour every day...
seriously.
I had to ask myself, really?..
these two famous people have that amount of spare time to spend that amount of time writing inspirational words of no more than 140 characters each time, every day.
I don't think so.
Ah, scepticism begins to creep in.
First off if it's not them, then who and secondly all the tweeting "they" were doing made it difficult for me to scroll through to see what the other few people I was following with interest had to say.
So consider this, if I find it frustrating or time consuming to scroll through the couple of hundred tweets that hit my screen every hour I wonder how much reading those who follow upwards of 350,000 people do if most people are tweeting 2-3 times a day - its mind bogglingly incomprehensible.
I don't believe you would have enough hours in the day to read that many tweets.
As I navigated the hall of the tweeting world I have to admit I came across some very interesting people who had some very interesting things to say - once I had dug down a few levels to reach their blogs or websites.
But its still begs the question - what is it all about?
Cynically I could think it was because they had something to sell and thought I was a good candidate for their product, or I could optimistically believe that they clicked because they were inspired by what I had to say and wanted to hear more...
I'm not sure I will ever know.
From a bigger picture perspective I ponder on this Twitter phenomena as with any other social media outlet, what is it doing for the greater good of the individual.
Is it as some say, giving us the opportunity to connect with people beyond our own backyard or is it as others would say, an insidious process of disconnection between individuals.
What do you think?
In the short while, maybe 2 weeks, since I joined this tsunami of social media insanity I found how easy it is to get sucked into the void of the tweeting world.
It's rather like going down Alice in Wonderlands rabbit hole you never know where you are going to land and what you are going to find.
It's a conundrum.
As a new member of the sexagenarian club the learning curve was steep - well it was for me and I consider myself pretty computer savvy...
a mostly self taught talent as I had my children a little later than most so it was important that I understood what my offspring were doing on their computers, and then later 'follow' them in order to keep in touch with their lives in the way this wonderfully dynamic new generation do...
completely remotely.
But I digress.
My understanding, and I am open for discussion on this, is that the purpose of having a Twitter account is to be seen and heard in the virtual world.
I was told it was a must for anyone who wanted to be discovered for their talent, their business or their popularity.
So as I am in the process of promoting a new business I decided to join the show and see if it would work for me.
This is what I know so far:
- you find people that interest you and you then "follow" them
- you then hope that in turn people will find you equally of interest and then they "follow" you
- anyone who is "anyone "or would like to be considered a "someone" Tweets
- famous people follow few but are followed by many
- the not-so-famous ones have mostly equal numbers, they follow those who follow them and vice versa
- if someone follows you it is sort of expected that you follow them
What I discovered is that they tweet a few times every hour every day...
seriously.
I had to ask myself, really?..
these two famous people have that amount of spare time to spend that amount of time writing inspirational words of no more than 140 characters each time, every day.
I don't think so.
Ah, scepticism begins to creep in.
First off if it's not them, then who and secondly all the tweeting "they" were doing made it difficult for me to scroll through to see what the other few people I was following with interest had to say.
So consider this, if I find it frustrating or time consuming to scroll through the couple of hundred tweets that hit my screen every hour I wonder how much reading those who follow upwards of 350,000 people do if most people are tweeting 2-3 times a day - its mind bogglingly incomprehensible.
I don't believe you would have enough hours in the day to read that many tweets.
As I navigated the hall of the tweeting world I have to admit I came across some very interesting people who had some very interesting things to say - once I had dug down a few levels to reach their blogs or websites.
But its still begs the question - what is it all about?
- Is it a numbers game?
- Is it in the hopes of using the theory of percentages? The more people you have following you the better chance you have of captivating a few serious buyers?
- Is it desperate people trying desperately to be found?
- Is it the new way of communicating?
Cynically I could think it was because they had something to sell and thought I was a good candidate for their product, or I could optimistically believe that they clicked because they were inspired by what I had to say and wanted to hear more...
I'm not sure I will ever know.
From a bigger picture perspective I ponder on this Twitter phenomena as with any other social media outlet, what is it doing for the greater good of the individual.
Is it as some say, giving us the opportunity to connect with people beyond our own backyard or is it as others would say, an insidious process of disconnection between individuals.
What do you think?
Source...