Twitter Tweaker to Twitter Quitter: Confessions of a Former Twitter Addict
by Super JiveFor about six months, I used the popular social networking bloglet service, Twitter. I started Twittering as an experiment, because it looked like fun and like another way to make connections online. In the end, though, it almost ruined my (blog) life.
To take a step back in case you haven't followed it, Twitter is a networking service in which you can enter your thoughts, opinions, or ideas, up to 140 characters. It has evolved to allow the user to drop in links as well, which are automatically tinyurled for your clicking pleasure. People use it to stay in touch with little updates, or to make new friends. It can be embedded your website so others can read your micro-thoughts, or you can read or make updates via email, instant message, or phone.
By this point many of us tech-happy people probably have either used Twitter ourselves, or we know Twerps (yes, I know the preferred term is "Tweeps," a word that implies that your friends are your "Twitter peeps") who make updates, or "Tweets." When I decided to jump in, I jumped in all the way. I updated three to ten times a day with haikus, links to weird sites I'd found, replies to other friends, replies to replies, and my up-to-the-minute thoughts on wombats or Carrot Top.
I had some really good experiences with Twitter. I got little glimpses into my meatspace friends' lives that I wouldn't have otherwise, especially friends who live far away. A friend in Wyoming would talk about trivialities that she would never discuss with me on the phone, because to do so might seem tedious or boring when talk time is precious and more about a true exchange of ideas and opinions. But I liked to read that she had had Thai food for dinner for the third night in a row. A friend in Scotland linked to local events or wrote about things that she would never mention on her blog, which made me feel like I had a better idea of her daily life, over the edited-for-laughs events on her blog. I was connected differently to local friends as well. Spontaneous lunches were hatched because someone mentioned they had a craving for sushi around 10:30 or so, completely avoiding the email volley of "let's make a date soon."
Other people on Twitter who I followed but did not know in real life could be funny or interesting. It was a source of entertaining snacklets that I could dip in and out of at will. I had a stable of about 100 people all looking to upstage, entertain, or connect with each other, and it was fun watching the comments fly past. I was pulled into some blogs and other pieces of writing I never would have accessed otherwise.
There was also the feeling of being part of a big hive of people. You are part of a community that is constantly moving, buzzing, and changing, and that can be a very seductive feeling. However, if I walked away for twelve hours or so, I would feel overwhelmed on returning, which was the beginning of my realization that Twitter was not for me. "Justmylife" has a similar experience with her Twittering:
Now, I Twitter too....not as much. But I am following 96 people over there and 120 follow me....Wait where did all these people come from? I didn’t know I didn’t follow everyone who is following me. *Note to self.... find out who these people are.* But with Twitter, it is hard to follow all the comments. I have gone back pages looking for the original message. But I still can’t seem to give it up.
(As an aside, Justmylife also talks about jumping ship to Plurk--on to the next big thing. I haven't tried it yet, and probably won't, but points against for using the word "emo-ness" on the main page. Sorry, guys.)
This is a common theme in the discussion about electronic communication tools: their addictiveness. What is everyone doing right now? Don't you want to know what I am doing? Ooh, who friended me today? I have nothing to Twitter. I have Twitter block. Should I Twitter that I have Twitterblock? If I keep posting links to Super Mario Brothers porn will everyone unfriend me? These questions kept me up at night, and kept me clicking. I got an anxious feeling when the error screen came up telling me that Twitter was down. OMG, Twitter is down! I wish I could Twitter about how inconvenient that was. Youtubebutante LisaNova made a video about Twitter addiction that struck an uncomfortable chord with me.
I think in some spheres, there is also a lot of divergence about what Twitter is good for, and what you want your feed page to look like. Some people who I friended used Twitter to spam their twerps with blog updates or as some other self-promotion tool. I understand that this is a legitimate use of social networking devices, but really, if I want to read your blog, I probably have the URL memorized. Or at least you are in my blog feed.
Speaking of blogs, my site, which I have been hammering away at for almost eight years now (eep) was suffering in the shadow of Twitter. If a good, well-thought out blog post is a night making sweet, sweet love to Al Green, then Twittering was thirty seconds in the art supply closet huffing glue. Quick, dirty, and when you tumble out of there you can't remember jack and you have a sharp headache.
With blogging, I could sift through my archives like a diary and see where I was and what I was doing with meaningful context and reflection. Much like a diary, I could see patterns of my successes and failures. I could cringe at awkward phrasing, and laugh at something that I had forgotten I'd written three years before. Since I post pictures, I could also see cute haircuts and fashion disasters, or be horrified that I had posted myself eating bacon cake. What the Hell was I thinking?
I started losing some of these snapshots of my life because the energy needed to create them was being funneled into the Twittersuck. I was blogging much less, and I missed it. I think I realized I was getting to the breaking point with it sometime in February at about two in the morning. I am often sleepless here in Seattle in January and February because of the low levels of light (something, interestingly, I discovered about myself through blogging for several years about cleaning or writing papers at three a.m. in the winter months.) I was having a tweetversaion with this guy in New York who I only knew through Twitter. We were batting one-liners back and forth because he was up very early, I was up very late, and no one else was around. What was the point of all this? Around the same time, I had read about Ariel Meadow Stallings' challenge to spend 52 nights "unplugged," which made me think about doing some unplugging of my own.
I told myself that if I pulled the plug I would lose these new connections I had made to people who were previously unknown, or who I didn't know as well. This was real. I was in the thick of the shiny new world! But I asked myself, what could I say in 140 words that was so REAL? "I ate a peanut butter sandwich." Really? Who cares? I didn't even care. Is this a special memory I would reflect on in a year's time, if I went back through the archives? Would I even go through my archives? I wasn't sure.
I deleted my account a few days later, and after the twitching (Twitchering?) had died down, I went back to having more in-depth, meaningful conversations with people. I got back into writing longer essays, instead of puking out microthoughts. I read longer pieces that people had written, instead of seeing them say good morning and good night to me. It works for me, and I won't go back.
What do you think? Still love Twitter? Did you quit it? Never start? Dashing on to Plurk? Let's hear it.
SJ also writes in depth at I, Asshole.
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Comments
Good points!
Hi, SJ...
I was invited to Plurk (and joined) a couple of weeks ago. I've never Twittered.
I used Plurk yesterday as a quick brain dump when I was feeling anxious about my company's fire alarms being tested. I didn't have time to blog, but once I got it "out there," I relaxed a bit. (Go figure.) So I think sites like these do have some value.
But, overall, I feel similarly to you. It reminds me a lot of my days using instant messaging incessantly. I used instant messaging instead of having real relationships.
Since I've joined Plurk, I log on each night to see if anything exciting is going on. Sometimes I participate. But I refuse to let it become (yet another) thing to keep me distracted from real life. It's just not worth it.
I've pretty much stopped
I've pretty much stopped Twittering because so many of the Tweets were, how shall I say this, inane? Or maybe just of the genre, "you had to be there." It all started to smack of central hall where the cool kids gathered in highschool for the teenaged version of insider trading.
By Jane
http://byjane.blogspot.com
http://midlifebloggers.com
I use it in moderation
I find that blogging is addictive. Twitter? Not really. I tweet once in a while, take “Twitter breaks” when I need to recharge (it's really quite entertaining over there), but I never feel pressured to keep up with other people’s tweets or to tweet often.
To me it's just another tool for networking and keeping in touch with people that are not part of my local community, and for promoting my blog.
Vered DeLeeuw
http://momgrind.com/
All about just doing a bad job of it
I'm with you about getting obsessive and realizing something's eating up your time.
For some reason that just doesn't happen for me with Twitter... yet. I just got into it a few weeks ago, and find that it's a refreshing way to actually get out of my own head & see how much else is going on out there. It's not "hot celebrities," not spinning politicians, not my problems, not my friends' problems, just people. Tons and tons of people doing their thing.
I think if I did spend too much time with it I probably would shut it off and never go back. But maybe because of my life of "little moments" between breastfeeding, blogging, and dropping off kids hither and thither, Twitter just fits as a way to echo something into the void and sometimes hear something back.
My two cents,
Mama Hope
a la hippie dippie bébé, A Natural Parenting Blog
Thanks, everyone. I am
Thanks, everyone. I am genuinely interested in other peoples' experiences with it. I may go poke at Plurk some more, just because I am curious. Dun dun dunnnn....
Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.
Great If you Work Alone
I'm a big Twitter fan. (Except for when it crashes, which seems to be frequently of late.) I work at home, in a foreign country -- needless to say it's solitary. Twitter helps me feel like I have collegues.
Here are my tips:
-follow friends you really want to keep it touch with, and close family members
- follow people who work in your field, and consistently refer you good resources
- follow people who make you laugh
-use twitter to promote your blog, but give equal (or greater) time to thanking and promoting others (here's a good article from ProBlogger http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/03/25/how-i-use-twitter-to-promote-my-blog/)
-don't be afraid to un-follow people. if a twitter-er doesn't catch my fancy, or if they just don't twit, I un-follow them. I check my new followers once a week, and drop anyone who's not working out at the same time.
I just hope Twitter can work out it's bugs so I don't have to start over at Plurk! (not another thing to build up and track, PLEASE)
Follow Me: http://twitter.com/magpiegirl
Rachelle Mee-Chapman
http://www.magpie-girl.com
I love Twitter.
I use it to follow interesting people who live far away and to arrange meetups with people in town (lunch, drinks, etc.). I don't mind that the majority of Tweets have nothing to do with me - I'm a skimmer anyway, so it's just another thing to scroll through when I'm online.
I'm looking forward to using Twitter at the BlogHer Conference to help me find people I'm looking for.
http://twitter.com/average_jane
Twitter Lover
I find it completely not addictive. I jump on when I want. Kinda mini blog. Brain dump. Plus sometimes conversation.
When I jump on Twitter, I use that tab to see if I missed anyone addressing me directly, and I never, ever page back to read anything else I might have missed.
Jump in; Jump out.
I love, though, that on any old day I might get into a little chat with someone and connect with them. And I love the voyeuristic aspect of it.
Cheers!
Liz Rizzo
I blog at Everyday Goddess.
Met a Lot of Great People
I keep in contact with my boss, some very close friends and a slew of new bloggers. I have found some great new blogs, new freelance leads and kept up-to-date with some great ideas going 'round the web.
It's all in how you use it. Quite honestly, if I haven't logged on in two days, I don't go back and read stuff.
Everything in moderation. :)
FireMom from Stop, Drop and Blog
Ive never twittered
How ever i have a horrible myspace addiction ... not exactly the same thing im sure . How ever its an awful addiction and i canceled my myspace once . only to restart it two months later . im awful ... I may try twitter though . I ll get back to you on that .
I'm having a hard time on Twitter
Still trying to figure out how to connect with people that you don't know and build a following.
Yana Berlin is founder of www.Fabulously40.com, a website for women in their prime who want to explore all their talents and possibilities. She created the site as an extension of her passion for artistic expression and to provide an online environment
Fear of Twitter Addiction
I don't use twitter all that much as I can see how easy it is to be addicted. Already, my family and offline friends are complaining that I don't do much else, other than than being on line.
Somehow I think I'd also get an eerie feeling if others follow my every movement.
Evelyn
Break Free from Limiting Beliefs Here
Twitter Can Be Useful
If you use it right, Twitter can be awesome. It can be a definite time-suck, but more and more often I'm getting news via Twitter before anywhere else. It's faster than a feed reader. The trick is to be selective about who you follow. Lots of people use Twitter to post URLs they are reading/sharing and this can be a fantastic source of information.
Shannon Entin, PHAT Mommy
Twitter is great for networking in your field
I joined twitter after being exposed to it at a software developers conference. I have since joined and I follow fellow software developers. I have made friends and have gone to conferences where people knew me only from twitter, but felt like long time friends. We already knew we had shared interests. There are many links and ideas shared on twitter that enhance my knowledge of my field. I am greatly looking forward to meetups with my tweeps this summer at conferences.
maggie++
MaggiePlusPlus
Twitter is ok
I like twitter, but mostly use it to update folks on my blog and/or my business sites. I am, by nature, longwinded and the snippets don't really suit me.
www.blackdomesticgoddess.com
I'm a twit
I enjoy Twitter a lot, but I don't have
anymuch trouble just staying away from it for a few hours or days. Sometimes I feel a little "what did I miss!?" but everyone is still there, tweeting away when I return. I think that's what I like about it.The downside is that I am constantly composing tweets in my head, even when I'm alone or not near a computer!
Assertagirl
BlogHers ACT Canada
I quit!
I stopped Twittering because it was just a waste of time. I found myself spending more time twittering and for what?
I'm happy to have quit and don't plan on going back any time soon. As it is, I need to spend less time online and finding yet another way to waste time isn't going to help!
Rachel, AKA Sarcastic Journalist, now hanging at The Simple Family.
I Twitter and still don't entirely know why
Nicely done.
Mom-101
Cool Mom Picks.com
I'm a plurker!
After joining Plurk I found my twittering dwindling. Of course twitter's constant and inumerable tech issues made me want to tweet even less, but Plurk is just so much more fun once you get the hang with.
But, the more friends you have on plurk, the more fun it is. It's like twitter/im/a chatroom al in one with a competive edge due to karma increases and lots of cute and fun smileys and verbs to play with.
Geez...I sound like an ad. LOL
- Maria
immoralmatriarch.com
I'm with maria . . . I plurk and have
friendfeed.
But I can't knock twitter because it introduced me to alot of "social network" professionals that hipped me to plurk and friendfeed. So, I tenaciousl holding on to Twitter like a woman that refuses to accept her 20-year marriage is over. It might be . . . but it isn't until I SAY it is! [smile]
Twitter in Moderation
I'm actually on Twitter every day through a tool called Twhirl. It keeps a running summary of all of your Tweets - so you can watch what people are saying as you're working on other things. If I'm really busy, I'll downsize it. Otherwise, I glance over when I have a minute, and respond when I have something to say. I've learned a great deal from setting it up this way. I've been on a teleclass thanks to a connection I made there, and have found a number of sites to connect with - growing my business.
Like everything, you need to decide what's right for you, and just do it.
twitter.com/LoriOsterberg
To Each Her Own
I'd be lying if I didn't say Twitter changed my life. It has. In very positive and beneficial ways.
The thing is - communication platforms don't always appeal to people on the same level. I've blogged for more than 8 yrs now. I've done everything from self-published to Blogger to LiveJournal to WordPress. Blogging is one form of communication and community building. I found I kind of prefered LiveJournal in that regard - because it was more social and less speaker/audience for me.
Then along comes Twitter. For the first few months, I was unimpressed. Why would I care what cereal someone was eating? If I don't know you, why do I care if you're taking your dog out for a walk or just leaving work?
Then I found Jeremiah Owyang... and started following him. Over the course of a couple of months, I started following more and more people he was interacting with and more and more that they were.
Suddenly, I learned the power of the @ symbol at Twitter and 'hearing' the conversation. So my numbers increased and I started spending more & more time. Then I went thru this crisis where I felt like I couldn't keep up. It was somewhere around 100 people, iirc. I was having to page back thru dozens of pages to get caught up and I never could.
Then I stopped 'getting caught up' and realized that I didn't have to know every single thing everyone tweeted every second. I would use tools like Tweetscan & Summize to make sure I hadn't missed anything directed specifically @me.
My usage has changed over the past 6 months - but now, I've found the balance that makes Twitter my preferred tool on the internet.
Then again, I've met the most amazing people on there. Many of whom I can't wait to meet face-to-face at BlogHer next week!
Lucretia (aka GeekMommy)
Raising a child in a digital world, still a digital girl
I am still an addict
I love twitter and I actually like it when people tweet that they have a new blog post. My reader is overrun and I like knowing that there is something really truly fresh.
I also love it for waiting rooms. Mobile Twitter on my iPhone is much easier on the eyes than trying to navigate somebodys actual blog.
I am a huge fan of instanat gratification.
I also like that it keeps normally wordy people brief.
BlogHer Contributing Editor, Sports and Fitness
Sarah and the Goon Squad
Draft Day Suit
Nope, the wordy ones are
Nope, the wordy ones are still wordy. They just do it in sequential 140 character tweets.
By Jane
http://byjane.blogspot.com
http://midlifebloggers.com
blogging first. twitter later?
since i am so new to blogging, i feel that mastering the commitment to that first and then moving on to other forms of communication is probably best. i do have a twitter account, but i am not quite sure how people find/folow you. none of my friends twitter!
as with everything - moderation is key!
great and insightfu posts. i'll have to check out plurk!
a blogging newbie,
giyen
www.baconismyenemy.com
blogging first. twitter later?
since i am so new to blogging, i feel that mastering the commitment to that first and then moving on to other forms of communication is probably best. i do have a twitter account, but i am not quite sure how people find/folow you. none of my friends twitter!
as with everything - moderation is key!
great and insightfu posts. i'll have to check out plurk!
a blogging newbie,
giyen
www.baconismyenemy.com
twitter in spurts
I found I enjoy Twitter most if I write a one liner every few days; something that is kinda meaningful and lets people into my personality, humor, quirks etc.
Mundane "twits" like, "I am getting ready to give the dog a bath" are, well, kinda boring and don't tell me anything more than the person owns a dog.
I am constantly rethinking how I want to use Twitter. But, with all things I believe knowing your goal of why you are using a tool is important. Good bloggers know why they blog and have goals. I believe the same holds true to good Twitters.
It took a hiatus...
... to make me disconnect from Twitter. I went in and tweeted a few times, but I'm not going back in and checking compulsively like I once would have.