I just tweeted for the 10,000th time. So what the heck does that mean? I am a Twittering fool? 20 months, 10,000 tweets, 3,000 followers. What learning have I gleaned from all this (image by Sonny Gill)?
Twitter remains a strange place. That’s what I’ve learned.
It’s just weird in a captivating, yet maddeningly ugly way. Twitter represents heaven and hell at the same time. It captures the best of life, and some of its ugliest aspects. Twitter is a big ole bazaar, and there’s nothing quite like it.
There will likely be variants, imitators, and maybe even the acquisition of Twitter. Who knows, who cares? Given my longevity and frequency, I’ll probably still be tweeting.
Fourteen observations about Twitter:
1) Twitter sucks until you start following about 100 people.
2) It’s the most viral place I’ve ever seen. Ask Motrin.
3) You can follow everyone or not. It doesn’t matter, because people can still follow and “@” you, and you can still converse with them. I know that now. Since I can’t deal with more than 500 people in my stream, it’s hard to get me to follow you.
4) Isn’t it amazing that suddenly there’s a competitive marketplace for Twitter books with Warren Whitlock already published, and both Laura Fitton “Pistachio” and Shel Israel rushing to be next?
5) I don’t believe in Pistachio’s theory of micro-messages (an idea propagated by Joel Comm in his Twitter book, too) or micro-sharing. I find it hard to believe that Twitter is in itself a place to build a solely focused social media consultancy. I like Laura personally and am happy to see her prospering, but I don’t get it. Just saying, but hey, proof is in the bank account. I’ll shut up on that topic. Or maybe I’ll just ask her to ‘splain it to me!
6) Qwitter is for the self-absorbed. Get over it, and get into real conversations, will ya?
7) Real people on Twitter don’t treat it like a popularity contest for their “personal brands.” They just be. Get it, know what I’m sayin’, Shaq?
8)The amount of people following you doesn’t mean crap. It’s a number to drop in conversations. Influence is determined by value, and whether or not people believe in you enough to do something.
9) Stalkers, trolls, and not so nice people live on Twitter. Just like reality.
10) Trying to please all the Tweeple is impossible. Instead it’s better to find Tweeple like you or that at least can engage you so the conversation is worth your time. And their’s.
11) Twitter is a place people can take too seriously. The world exists without Twitter. Really. It does.
12) If you tell people to unfollow you, they usually won’t. Damn.
13) Jousting with Amanda Chapel is a serious waste of time. That’s why the last time I sauteed Brian Conolly – oops, Chapel was really the last time.
14) If you let the tyranny of the un-urgent — a.k.a. Twittering all the time — drive you, you can seriously negatively affect your life. Most weekends and every vacation I just turn it off.
Today I asked some other long-term Twitterer’s the lessons they’ve learned. Here they are:
