So I joined Twitter a month ago. And I’m already Twitter-tired.
I tried to do it right. I followed Nina Badzin’s Twitter tips. I put people on lists. I followed other writers and ELL educators. I used good Twitter manners. I didn’t tweet twenty times an hour.
Still, I have yet to feel like Twitter has enriched my life. Most of my personal friends on Twitter put their tweets on Facebook, too. I’ve connected with some new bloggers, and Twitter is a good way to keep up with new blog posts, but I could always subscribe to or bookmark their blogs! The rest of the people I follow are either poetry or education sources that post news in the field (and also sometimes tweet about random stupid things). Again, I can access all that info via websites and Facebook. I don’t really need Twitter.
Additionally, I’ve discovered a big “tweet peeve:” Over-tweeters!!!! These are the people who tweet several times an hour. I even unfollowed someone (not a personal friend) because she tweeted about every little detail of her life constantly! Five to six tweets a day. That’s enough, people!
Lastly, Twitter is just one more thing to distract me from the real writing I’m supposed to be doing. It’s hard enough to squeeze in 30 minutes a day when I work full time and have the kids all by myself 3 nights a week (husband’s a volleyball coach). Throw in Facebook, emails, blogging, internet surfing/news reading, and Twitter! It’s too much!
So I am officially calling all tweeters: Why should I keep tweeting?
Connect twitter to fb and use twitter, it will repast on fb.
Right. I do that. Well, usually I just use HootSuite to do it. But I still question the purpose of that? Why not just stick to fb and avoid Twitter altogether?
Hi! For starters, I’m not a fan of posting the same stuff on FB and Twitter. Very few of my real life friends are on Twitter. They definitely would not want the writing links I post on Twitter. And my Twitter buds would not want the details of bringing my kids to their first days of school. So I keep those separate.
Of course that doesn’t go to your main point. I feel a little guilty for being one of the loud voices encouraging you to Tweet. I guess I selfishly wanted to keep up with you that way! I don’t like subscribing or bookmarking blogs . . . I find that too tedious. But I guess overall it probably takes less time to go through blogs that way than to sift through tweets. I don’t know . . . for ME, Twitter has led to tons of guests posts on some really respected blogs and connected me with real authors and even a few potential future agents.
THAT said, if you read my post this week, you’ll that I’m really struggling to balance it all. I do the lists and all my other tips to minimize the Twitter time, but I could still be on it less. I WANT to be on it less.
My point: I’ll bet that if you stayed on Twitter longer you’d find it valuable, but THEN you’d be where I am now . . . wondering where all the time went.
Maybe I owe you an apology??? 🙁
You do not owe me an apology! Other people (esp writers) have also told me how great it is and what a good resource it is for networking and keeping up with news/info in the writing field. I will stay on it for a while. I still want to give it a chance. But yes, I read your post, and I agree that it sucks the minutes away! 🙂
P.S. I don’t subscribe to blogs, either. Too many emails! I try to check my favorite blogs once a week. And I agree that Twitter and FB should be used for different things/audiences.
You definitely have valid points and as valuable as Twitter is for social networking, branding, etc. I say if you don’t like it, don’t feel the benefit outweighs the effort, or just have better things to do with your time – ditch it. This is what I say about any situation where someone is doing something they kind of don’t want to. But life is not on Twitter and ultimately neither is our writing career. It’s just a tool and there are many. I enjoyed your honest opinion!
Thanks for your moral support! I checked out your blog and enjoyed it a lot! Hope to visit it more often!
I hate the system that lets people simultaneously post on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus. Don’t friend/follow me on all of them if you’re just going to repeat yourself in each place!