Because of my participation in an opinion poll group, I was asked to create a Twitter account. In return, I received extra "points" in their reward program so I wasnt about to turn it down! I signed on for a Twitter account. I never really intended to use the account but I do admit to being curious about all things online so I decided to try to see how it worked and determine if Twitter was for me or not. I like to think of myself as a reasonably intelligent adult. Facebook was a day in the park. Creating my blog was also an easy task. I spent an evening last night trying to figure out the whole language of Twitter-speak. I admit it. I was stumped! I would really like to know why something as simple as Twitter is so difficult for me to grasp! And I am not willing to give it up until I master it! Or at least until I obtain all of my polling points!
There are a myriad of Twitter tutorials, written by clever bloggers and I intend to find the best of them and dig in. However, it really bothers me that I NEED these tutorials. Bitrebels.com did a fantastic piece entitled "The Four Stages of Understanding Twitter" with a really awesome graphic showing the levels of Twitter understanding. http://www.bitrebels.com/social/the-4-stages-of-understanding-twitter-infographic/
I am approaching "level 2", which, in their words, is "consistently attempting to enjoy Twitter". This is a great post if you are wondering how close you are to Twitter mastery. I love how they didnt make it a gradual hill of understanding, but rather made it look like a Matterhorn expedition! I love it, not for how funny the graphic is, but how much better it made me feel. The article begins by stating how easy it is to "get" Twitter. But the graphic is drawn to help people, like me, feel better about our difficulty!
There are several obstacles that prevent me from jumping into the Twitter flock with both wings. First, it is that darned @ symbol. @ signifies a place, not a person, in my brain! I am lesliebham@gmail.com. I am not @leslie_bham. Hey, I dont think I even knew until the early 1990's, when I got my first email address, that @ meant "at". Now I cant reason with my brain to make it mean "to". All you have to do is give me a fairly easy algebra problem and you will see that symbols, numbers and letters that stand for other things, is a difficult obstacle. Now, throw in the # and I am really stumped! What in the heck does # mean? I thought it signified a number or weight. I still dont know what that symbol means in the Twitterverse.
Another area of disconnect, is the idea of "following" someone. I didnt have any friends on Twitter that I knew of, so I decided to "follow" some celebrities that I find interesting. Evidently, following someone means that you will get their "tweets". All of them. Every single solitary one. Level 2 on Bitrebels.com's post says "Consistently attempting to enjoy being on Twitter by doing what they are used to doing; rambling aimlessly about the weather, lunch, and favorite quotes". I just cant do it. I cannot pretend that anyone would care what I had for lunch or that I was driving to the grocery. In fact, I can say, with total honesty, that I dont care what the celebrities that I follow had for lunch either (Except for the celebrity chefs that I follow- and they are far too busy to tweet their lunch). I am also feeling a little rediculous tweeting anything because I have no followers.
The one area that I "get" is the retweet. Someone posts something interesting and you find it interesting enough to share with your followers. I have retweeted a few posts from some of the people I follow ---pretty much just to figure out what happens when you retweet. I am not sure what happens as I have no followers.
This is kind of like reading a funny passage from a book you are reading --to your dog or a lamp. What is the point? But at least I understand what the purpose WOULD be if I had followers.
I guess my biggest confusion about Twitter is the "WHY" of Twitter. Why would anyone care where I was going and what I was doing throughout the day? What release do Twitter users get by tweeting their opinions or preferences? Perhaps my life isnt interesting enough for a Twitter account. Maybe I am not curious enough about others' lives to participate in the Twitterverse. I am a caring and compassionate person but your roast beef sandwich and chips neither interests nor inspires me. My tuna salad will not change your world.
I wonder if one day, by continuing to participate in Twitter, I will wake one morning and "get it". The "Ah-ha" moment. Or has the Twitter ship sailed for me? Am I just too out of touch to understand-- not only the mechanics of Twitter, but the purpose of Twitter? Does that make me my mom, back in 1980, saying "Why dont those handsome boys in that rock band just cut their hair? They would be so handsome if their hair was neater!" It is this question, alone, that drives me to figure out Twitter. Then, once mastered, I can keep it in my life as a wonderful social media source or I can dump it as irrelevant. I just have to prove that I can "get" it! You can call me "stupid" but dont you dare call me "lame"!
No comments:
Post a Comment