Tweet Tweet My Sweet ~ Time Suck In A Bottle

A few weeks ago I posted about not "getting" Twitter. Love Facebook, totally "got" Facebook.  Wouldn't ya know Facebook went and tried to turn itself into Twitter... but that is another story.

I challenged myself to face my fears and Twitterdom embraced me instantly.  I had followers coming out of the woodwork.  My own tweetiness was a little rocky at first, but I stuck with it and I think I'm doing OK.  I didn't really enjoy it at first but something clicked after a few days and now my chatty info junkie self can't get enough of it.

At first I'd get excited when someone would send me a DM (direct message).  But then I realized that a lot of the DMs were like canned spam.  Like this one....

spammerjoe - Hey thanks for the follow. I made a special 2 minute video for you.

I didn't go check out Joe's video because frankly, spammerjoe could have been some psycho perv and then I'd have images to go with the creepy feeling the DM gave me.

Here is another one....

nittwit - Thanks for the follow.  I look forward to getting to know you through your tweets.

Really, do you?  For real?  'Cause trust me, I can tweet my little bootie off if you need me to so that you can get to know me better.

Then this girl DM'd me and sent a link with "what you can expect from my tweets".

Uh, are we dating? Am I interviewing you for something?

Just a little note, if you DM me something wack, I usually unfollow.  I'm not as quick to unfollow as some people are, but unless your DM is written fresh for me, or you've been tweeting with me and I like you, I unfollow.

I've made some "friends", found some great blogs and been led to interesting news articles, learned a ton about twittiquette and my blog traffic is definitely up.  I even followed a tweet to a Blog TV show and that was a hoot and a holler..... and a huge time suck in a very large bottle. 

The one downside is that I can't write,  I have a genius moment and then the little bird on Tweetdeck tweets to tell me who is tweeting, and then I have to go see what has been tweeted and then I have to answer tweets, RT (retweet) cool stuff, follow links to other blog posts and news articles, and by the time I do that at least 100 more tweets have occurred and PHEW, it starts all over again!

My advice?  Unless you plan to become infinitely less productive.... stay away from Twitter.  

FOLLOW ME AND I'LL FOLLOW YOU!   (unless you are creepy and DM me pervy videos)

Do you Tweet? Wanna Be My Friend?

Social networking isn't just the "buzzword" of the day.  It has become a part of our culture - if you are hip anyway.

I'm pretty hip.  I think.

Only, I don't get Twitter. I have an account but haven't really become a nittwit, or whatever those who tweet call themselves. 

It isn't just for the teenybopper/college/yuppy crowd either. I love Facebook and I'm a married with children mid-to-late-thirty-something.

I think Facebook will go down as one of the most influential creations of this decade.  And if you haven't joined yet get to it because you are really missin' out!

I became a Facebook addict several months ago. What a time suck. I obsessively played all the word games until I was number one in all categories. I pray every night that nobody beats my scores because I certainly don't have time to spend becoming number one again.

I have reconnected with people from every stage of my life! My high school Chem teacher (yo, shout out to Mr Randall, or as I'm allowed to call you now, Jack), my mom, my high school and college friends, my violin teacher, my sister-in-law Jen and her totally fun cousin Kelly, my cousins in England, whom I haven't seen in about 8 years now - just a few of my 264 "friends".  

I even IM'd parenting advice to the boy next door last night. You know, the boy next door?  The one I knew from diapers but haven't seen since my family moved to NH in the 5th grade. The one that got a woopin' for throwing a boulder at, and denting, his mom's orange Chevy Nova with the black and orange print fabric seats. Yup, that guy. 

Go figure.  After thirty some odd years he remembered that I know everything about everything!  (Smart guy if you ask me.)

I get Facebook.  Facebook doesn't scare me.

Twitter though?  I'm intimidated by it.  Don't know how to do it.  Not sure I want people in my head that way.  

But, I strive to be hip, to be connected and social.  I won't back down from this, it can't be that complicated. 

Soooo....

I am going to face my fears, and I am going to explore the bird. There must be something there if millions of folk are twittering each day.

I go forth with trepidation.. wish me luck.  Follow me as I begin my journey.....  Follow me  (banteringblonde) on Twitter!

Oh, and thank you to Jane at Kidzarama for inspiring this post and for her blog entry that helped me with the little birdie and link to my Twit world.