I have introduced a new word to the whole social networking language. Twitteritation. It means...Irritation with Twitter. In any form. Feel free to pass the word along. Let me explain why Twitteritation came to be......
Remember when I spoke about the endless different "rules" for blogs? Well there are rules in Twitter too, though they are hardly discussed as much as blogging and querying. My issue with the implied rules of Twitter is that common sense seems to have dropped out of the running. This is causing my Twitteritation.
When we use Twitter, anything that is NOT a Direct Message is broadcasted to all of your followers. Then if your followers want to "re-tweet" anything, it's up there for their followers and eventually, you see how this can become a cycle and LOTS of people are seeing your tweet. It can be helpful for promotion. One of the things I love about Twitter.
What I don't like is when a person might reply to something they see another person tweet and then suddenly, they're gone. Like...forever gone. I understand that Twitter is a quick conversational type of social networking without the distractions of games/apps or whatever. Therefore, there are plenty of times I say whatever I want to or need to say (which isn't usually mind blowing) and then go back to my writing/blogging/procrastinating. But, when I check back, if I see someone has replied to my tweet, I reply to them again. I don't want to be a snob. It's sort of the equivalent of someone telling you "I love your dress." and then you walk away without ever saying anything back. Not even Thank You.
I also don't like the endless conversations between two people that have nothing to do with writing and so I see twenty million tweets about something I couldn't possibly understand. So...do I want replies or not? LOL I sound awful grouchy. But here's the problem. I don't want an endless conversation with you that takes place like a chat room. I just want courteousness and respect. And if I compliment you...or suggest others follow you because of your sense of humor (due to a tweet I saw) at least send me a tweet with a smile. Or...something. Ya know? Oh..and I'm not using YOU as in my cool kids. :0) To my knowledge none of you have done that.
So, remember that people are watching Twitter just as much as they watch blogs. Be polite. At the very least.
I know I'm older, but, really, I don't understand FB and Twitter...
ReplyDeleteI try to respond to everyone who replies to something I've Tweeted; it's rude not to. And I think if two people want to engage in a long back-and-forth, they should probably do it privately or take it offline (as in email). Have you tried using the hash-tag: "#amwriting" or "#writegoal"? That'll put you in touch with a lot of writers.
ReplyDeleteI rarely visit twitter because it takes too much time away from writing and editing. SO, I just use it to tweet my blog posts.
ReplyDeleteann
Twitter gives me a headache. It's just too random for me. I'm sure I'm missing out on some wonderful opportunities, but whatever. I'm much happier blogging :)
ReplyDeleteI think that's why I don't tweet--I'd miss something, or not "get" something and piss someone off inadvertently, lol. Just sounds too complicated. I'll stick to blogging, for now.
ReplyDeleteOn another twit note, I set one up eons ago, probably over a year, and never went back. Every month or so I get a message in my email that someone is following me. Of course, as soon as I click their link it's a lovely porn site or something of the sort. There's probably a way to weed those out, but I wouldn't even remember how to get back into my site, let alone fix it.
Sherrie: The most helpful I find it is for finding other writers and sometimes they will tweet very helpful links. But I try to pass those along in my blog too.
ReplyDeleteTina: I stayed with blogging for a long time before twitter too.
Melissa; Yes, and it's unfortunate how many agent/writers will all discuss with each other but an unknown offers her two cents and all goes silent, or nothing is ever said back to me! It's made me cross off an agent I potentially wanted to query. Not that it's their loss, but it really struck me...the double standard.
Great advice! I'm still new to Twitter, but I can't figure out how to follow the conversations. It gives me a headache. I can't keep track of all the different conversations.
ReplyDeleteI'm on Twitter, but don't use it a great deal. I enjoy the chats (#writecaht, #yalitchat & #kidlitchat), but only pop on sporadically other than that.
ReplyDeleteThe other day someone hacked into my account and sent DMs to all my followers with a link to people doing a lot of hugging and stuff. It must have been really hot because no one was wearing clothes. Anyway, I changed my password and this has resolved the matter.
ReplyDeleteStephen Tremp
Welcome Stephen! I had that happen to me too a few days ago. Apparently sometimes it goes around in phases. :(
ReplyDeleteJemi: You always answer me :0) I'm pretty sporadic too.
Stina: Thanks for coming by! I can't track every conversation either!! There's just too much.