About a month ago, I wrote a draft about how Twitter, FaceBook, and all the copycats seem to me to be ginormous wastes of time. It wasn’t too long ago, I got wrapped into instant messaging and found that I spent 5 or more hours there a day – much of it just chatting about nothing of importance.
With Twitter, I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to tell other people that they are eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. That’s not the kind of thing that I want to read. Yet today, I’ve taken the plunge, you can now follow Lazy Man on Twitter.
The obvious question here, is “What changed?” I think it’s a combination of a few different things:
- Connecting With other influential people – Jeremy from Generation X Finance said that he has been able to meet some interesting people – and not just people in the personal finance circle.
- It doesn’t have to be all PB&Js – I realized that Twitter would be perfect for the times where I don’t have a full post – just a quick idea that’s worth sharing. For instance, I might read that ColdStone Creamery is giving away free ice cream tomorrow during a certain time. That’s perfect for Twitter. I don’t think I could stretch that to 300-500 words of something that you’d want to read as a regular post.
- It allows me to be a little more personal – If I’m having lunch at John’s Grill, a setting in The Maltese Falcon, I could share that. I’ll try to keep these down to a minimum – it’s a fine line between that and PB&Js for many people. I predict this will be easy for me as I don’t live an exciting life :-).
I’m still having trouble getting into FaceBook. I realize it’s a chicken and egg scenario – it’s hard for me to get anything out of if I don’t put something into it. Maybe it’s just a matter of taking baby steps.
I haven’t joined facebook because they don’t allow pseudonyms, are you on FB under your real name or did you come up with a clever faux name? I joined twitter recently, I’ll have to “follow” you. It’s a way to get to know your favorite bloggers outside the limitations of the blog/comment format.
I don’t use my real name on Facebook.
I was the same way as you. Thought that Twitter was stupid and would have no need. But it had helped me try to gain acquaintances in my industry and build my network. Also it can be fun and you do meet interesting people. Yes a lot of it can be a huge waste of time, but so what. More good comes out of it. Plus it’s a great way for you to gain more exposure for your blog.
Facebook I use strictly for personal use with connections with friends and old acquaintances. I know Flexo doesn’t use his real name there but don’t see why not.
That’s great, LazyMan. I use it exactly how you’ve described it. I also have the twitter tools plugin which adds my blog posts to twitter. This, in combintation with tips/link, and some personal makes for a decent mix that won’t turn anyone off. I think. ;)
@ptmoney
I use http://ping.fm/ to post on a few social networks, including Twitter at once. It is a really great time saver. You can follow me on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/mylifeandart
You’ve got to be careful because it can be either a giant waste of time or a great way to network, keep up on local events, and know what’s going on. I’ve received one paid client since I joined about 3 months ago. I admit this past two weeks I havent been on much.
Follow me @ http://www.twitter.com/amberweinberg
:D
Welcome to tweet land! Everyone is beginning to give in to twitter. It can get pretty addictive, I actually use this more than facebook now! Welcome!!!! I already started following you lazy man. Holler.
I’m following you now!
http://twitter.com/qvisortytweets
Twitter’s real DARK SIDE is Bit.ly, its URL shortner. Statistics Bit.ly provides is egregiously inaccurate at best and fraudulent at worst. Bit.ly counts cyberspace’s ghosts and drones, bots and crawlers, presenting them all as humans.
While conducting our study, TWITTER: THE DARK SIDE we even discovered a single bit.ly URL with over a million robotic clicks, 1,677,769 in fact so there is serious dark side behind the Twitter frenzy:
http://www.seo-artworks.com/Twitter/twitter-study-millionclicks.htm