Are you currently using Twitter? If not, you are definitely falling behind the times. Twitter is growing at an unbelievable (and unexpected) pace and it’s a sign of the times. Some have given up reading blogs such as mine in favor of getting updates quickly, and instantaneously via twitter’s 140 character streams.
During my adventures in the twitterverse I have changed the way I use it. I’ve kind of settled down a bit. I still probably post too many messages in a day. I probably re-tweet my friends’ thoughts too often because I like them, yet others may not be so enthusiastic.
Through using Twitter I have found that I truly enjoy having relationship with people that are not like me. It’s interesting to see how live are lived through the community in bursts of 140 charachters or less.
After amassing almost 1,200 followers (people that read my Twitter posts aka “tweets”) and following almost that many, the world became too hectic. My purpose for interacting with people through Twitter became scattered and those I wanted to know were getting lost in the masses. Also, many of the people I followed because they first chose to follow me (called “reciprocal follows”) weren’t interested in conversation. Some were interested in my tweets while others just wanted to boost their number of people following them. Almost as if Twitter was a source of competition!
Being polite and doing reciprocal follows really wasn’t an effective use of Twitter. I was losing connection with some of my friends because I couldn’t even see what they were tweeting unless it was directly addressed to me.
So, this week I made the decision to scale back those that I directly followed on Twitter from 1,160 to about 320. I know this decision will cause some people to be upset or feel slighted. I know that many will choose to reciprocally un-follow my twitter stream. To you, I apologize as there isn’t a mean spirit behind this act. It just got to be more than I could handle or wanted to handle. I am not using twitter to be recognized by thousands. I’m here for connecting with people and to do my best to be a source of encouragement to others. At times I live my life openly on twitter, but it’s not for some reality show kind of experience. Instead, it is to show that I am a real person with real struggles and that I have my good days and my bad days just like you. I also spend a lot of time in prayer for those I follow on Twitter and am grateful for the prayers of those that follow me. Twitter has impacted my life much more greatly than I had ever imagined. I’ve met several people in real life, face-to-face situations through twitter relationships. It’s an integral part of my life.
For those of you trying to be like @guykawasaki or @aplusk or @oprah, that is your right. Go ahead and get 500,000 followers or 1,500,000 followers or whatever you think is appropriate for who you are. However, there is no way you can have any meaningful interaction with others on a consistent basis. If you’re following more than a few hundred twitterers it’s impossible to keep track and stay connected with them all.
I’m not trying to tell you how to use twitter. For new users there is a learning curve and for most there will be changes throughout your term of using Twitter. I’m simply explaining to you where I’m at with Twitter and how I utilize it. So, if you follow me and I don’t follow you back, please don’t be offended. If I follow you and then at some point un-follow you, it’s nothing personal. I may even un-follow you this week, yet follow you next month. It’s just that I respect the relationships and friends I have made so far and I want to honor those people through keeping those connections updated. I want to interact with them and give them opportunities to interact with me in return. It’s not a competition for me. I’m sorry if it’s a competition for you.
Related posts:
- Seasons change…Why i re-started my twitter account
- Social Networking: It’s not a right, it’s a privilege
- 5 people I follow on twitter and why: 4) Jason Mitchener
- How I batch unfollowed everyone on twitter
- 5 people I follow on twitter and why: 5) Rick Warren
Tags: twitter
Dave,
That was a very thoughtful post…and a testament to where we are as a society.
Good thoughts. I’m not into competition myself, but know people who are, even addicted to it. While Twitter is a social network, the way people can use it certainly varies widely — be it a competition, a conversation, a news feed, or announcement mechanism, it’s all fair play.
DJ, thanks for replying! I agree. It’s interesting that Twitter is viewed differently by people. Inherently I guess it was intended as a microblogging site, but it’s now used as news feed, chat, email/text replacement, etc.
I consider you my godfather of Twitter since you were the one that introduced it to me last July…lol :)