I must admit that when I first looked at Twitter three years ago, I could not see the point, at all… Why would one need an online SMS system? Blogging on this site (and some others J) helped me warm slowly to the concept of microblogging, and I dipped back into Twitter.
I use it mainly to keep track of new ideas and online expertise and share thoughts. It is also a great search tool that complements the battery of RSS feeds, e-letters, and netvibes monitors that fuel my curiosity.
As usual, the biggest challenge is finding out who and what to follow. Everybody seems to Tweet these days. And that is where my old grumpy self gets annoyed. There is a blatant lack of respect and etiquette in Twitter land, and it will kill a perfect good tool if people do not get hold of themselves quickly.
Far from telling other people how they should behave, I prefer to share some rules that will get you out of my personal Twitter land… quickly.
I am interested in your thoughts. Occasionally retweeting is fine, but if that is all you do, I might as well follow the people you retweet constantly. I will. Same with all the great articles, movies and sites you spot. It is fine, and from time to time I will click on one of your tiny-url´s and see what it is about. If you have lots of them, get a blog: I promise I will visit it. Oh, and DO have the decency of telling me in three words what the link is about? I am not psychic, so “this is great: http://tinyurl.com/dcabd3 “ does not tell me a thing and annoys me… profoundly.
And direct message (DM) does exist on Twitter. Use it. Please. I follow a US PR agency that goes “@Boss: will be there in three minutes. @Employee: hurry, client is already waiting. @Boss: oops does he look mad?” and that all day, all night. If it is useful, funny, remotely entertaining: by all means, share it with the world and me. If it is meant for one person only, get the DM function. Just having your private conversations in the open, and forcing me to witness, is too arrogant for words.
Most of us are adults. Use real words. If you have more than one word starting with “tw” in your Tweet (like in “Tweople, if you have a Twuestion just Twask and Twadd my friend”) I will delete you into oblivion.
And I do have a genuine interest in you, and your life. But if you feel the urge to update your Twitter 43 times in 90 minutes I can as well move in with you. I have no desire to know what even my very special ones are doing by the minute, and that should tell you enough J.
For the rest I am fine, thank you very much. Follow me on http://twitter.com/dannydevriendt
