I’ve discovered that I love Twitter.
I’m by no means a power user – right now, my number of total tweets is paltry. I have a tiny handful of followers. I am not an outrageous tweeter or an expert tweeter or a hilarious tweeter.
Mostly, for the time being, I’m a re-tweeter.
To me, the re-tweet is one of the best things invented on social media. Re-tweeting allows me to quickly say something to the world (well, at least to my small number of followers), sharing a little sliver of wisdom without having to do a ton of research myself. Best of all, I get to “curate” content and put on my editor’s cap: what would represent my thoughts and random yet interesting discoveries today?
Sometimes I add a comment to a re-tweet. I’d like to do this more, to provide another layer in the rich palimpsest that is Twitter.
But quite honestly, I don’t always have such a short comment to add. We all know the character limit is pretty harsh. I realize I’m coming late to this party… and I’m not always so short-winded.
I’m working on that.
I think it’s an incredible discipline to winnow an idea, thought, or really any communication worth saying down to such a short, brilliant length. And not just by oversimplifying or adding shock value (can you guess which political candidate I might be thinking of?). No – a good tweet is really quite an art.
I am enjoying Twitter these days largely because I’m choosing the folks I follow very, very carefully. I am also electing not to read the various layers of comments on many tweets, the space where the Internet “trolls” hang out and share their venom. I try to stick with the source material, actual tweets and re-tweets.
Twitter is bringing back a touch of the magic of social media for me right now. Gone – in my world at least – are the early days, like my first efforts on Facebook… where everybody added everybody to everything to gain a large list of “friends,” making for a bigger network. Knowing now the tendency of some to overshare, on Twitter, I’m selecting for those voices I really want to hear on topics other than announcements of singular personal achievements or parents’ musings on potty training (which, I grant you, is a VERY important issue – but I have dealt with that enough in my own family life, thank you very much).
Some folks I’m following on this platform are take me outside my normal sphere, in a good way. For example, I didn’t realize I’d become a fan of the tweets of “neurodiversity” writer Steve Silberman(@stevesilverman) when I got into Twitter. He shares genuinely interesting thoughts and news for those interested in the human brain and in the fields of autism, Aspergers, and mental health.
I am also a fan of any Twitter denizen who posts or reposts really interesting infographics. Recently saw one about tuberculosis worldwide posted by Bill Gates (@BillGates). Again, not a topic I knew very much about. But there it was, staring me in the face, that globally, 1.5 million die from TB annually. This is important.
(In addition to that global point of view, I’ll be watching for time-sensitive local news on Twitter, too. It’s kind of useful to know if a water main broke near your house, or if a raging brush fire has shut down a stretch of the freeway.)
In today’s moment, I have discovered that Twitter can be a great place to turn to for a sip of sanity in this largely crazy ocean we’re swimming in right now, especially on the political waterfront. I’ve followed a couple commentators that I like “live tweeting” campaign speeches or political debates, and their words made me laugh and also breath a sigh of relief that someone else out there gets it.
Granted, I realize that Twitter can reinforce one’s own biases because of this self-selecting of voices. But hey, we make our own choices when we pick people to hang out with – at least as adults – and when we decide which newspapers to read or which novels to buy or which movies to watch, etc. This is just another format for choice – though for me, it’s certainly not my only source of news.
Of course you could fill up thousands of tweets with speculations on the Taylors and Kanyes and a lot of other celebrity or salacious stuff. I choose not to.
And so far, I’m loving it.
MeredithInk 