Confessions of a Former Twitter Skeptic
Confession #1: I have never been an avid Twitter user. It’s not that I necessarily dislike the social media platform or that I don’t have time for it. I am simply a wordy person. I love adjectives, pronouns & adverbs. I love painting an image with my words and letting my reader get to know me before I deliver my point. I love being limitless with my words, and Twitter stamps a big, blue 140-character limit on my word love affair.
Confession #2: Twitter scares me. The idea of confining everything I have to say into 140 characters or less is intimidating. If I have learned one thing from this course, it is that it requires a lot of thought and careful crafting to say everything I want to say in the way I want to say it. 140 characters does not leave a lot of room for explanation, nonetheless inflection, and don’t even get me started on hashtags…
Confession #3: The hashtag is my friend. Hashtags can make or break your post. They are a way to sum up your entire point in even less words, a way to be a part of a Twitter conversation (#GCWeb15 anyone?), and a way to get the attention of some pretty big tweeters. When you get your hashtag just right, you know. Your tweet either gets favorited, retweeted, mentioned, or you gain a bunch of new followers immediately after.
Confession #4: I never thought I would become an avid Twitter user. In tweeting about the social media industry and the books I have been reading, I have found it almost amusing to craft my tweets to my liking. What once intimidated me now excites me. It’s putting the pieces of a puzzle together. When I get my words to fit the 140-character confines and top it off with my hashtag or a bitly link, it is quite an accomplishing feeling. I love a good challenge, but I hate getting my toes wet. I realized that once I just jumped in, my preconceived notions about Twitter were actually what I ended up enjoying most.
Confession #5: I like the attention Twitter brings me. Simply put, when I mention a company (@JetBlue, @SlackHQ) and they either retweet me or tweet me back, it is a powerful feeling of recognition. An extrinsic motivator, if you will.
Confession #6: Twitter is a world of organization. I had never heard of a Twitter list before, and they are really the unsung heroes of Twitter. You can keep who you're following organized by ANYTHING. Industry, location, even personality (because Twitter gets privacy and knows you want to keep a list of all the annoying people you have to follow).
Final Confession: My handle is @socialgraceblog, and I am a former Twitter skeptic. After taking this media studies class, I have really found a joy in using Twitter to tweet my thoughts and interests about the media industry. Twitter does not fit my personal lifestyle (though I have a personal account), but it does fit what I want for this blog to become. So don’t worry Social Grace fans, @socialgraceblog is here to stay.
It's your turn! I want to hear all about your Twitter confessions! How long have you been a member? What's your favorite use for Twitter? What's your handle so we can follow each other? How about your favorite account you follow and why?
Sound off in the comments below!
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