The Other Twitter Seven
I realized part way through the day that if you have never used twitter and you read my last post, you might get the impression that it is a giant ball of fiery suck.
It's not.
At all.
In fact, I can honestly say that twitter makes my life better every. single. day. No, really. When you sift through the noise and drama and things that don't work with how you like to use twitter, you find some really amazing people who do amazing things, and with them you find a heck of a lot of reasons to use twitter. Some examples:
1. My Tribe. The hardest thing to do when you first start using twitter is to find people who fit with how you want to use twitter. It doesn't matter what you hope to get out of it, you CAN find people that will help you achieve that goal, if only you give it enough time. For example, maybe you are someone who really enjoys debating politics and you don't mind the whole Overheard In The Bar possibility. If you try, you can absolutely find other people who want to use twitter in the same way that you do. "Real" life doesn't always offer that ability to find that tribe of people who compliment you so well.
2. I Look Smarter. When you've managed to create a tribe of diverse people, you find yourself with a incredible resource for information. I can ask twitter anything, and someone will have an answer. Where can I get a fake hand? @scarehousescott can help. There's tomato sauce, macaroni, and a zucchini in my fridge. What can I make for dinner? @asthrnfairytale will have ten ideas. What is there to do this weekend if I don't want to spend much money? @livingpgh has me covered. Is there a natural alternative to facial cleansers? @andreannarose has a recommendation. Twitter allows me to crowdsource instantly. Any topic.
Right this second, the first 15 tweets in my stream represent experts in IT, accounting, sewing, cooking, social media, copyrights, law, psychology, pediatric medicine, photography, writing, radio, crafting, structural engineering, and graphic design. How else could I possibly become friends with such a diverse group of experts? (BTW, in the time it took me to type that list, my "experts" completely changed. I now have 15 different people each with a totally different area of expertise.)
3. Efficiency. I Got That. Having a network of people all over the place means I not only have access to expertise, but I also have the ability to "see" what's happening all over the place. For example, there have been plenty of times that we've rerouted ourselves because of traffic warnings by @jimlokay, or even just anybody else driving around Pittsburgh. I'm not exaggerating even a little bit when I say that has saved us HOURS. When I was looking for a white Polamalu jersey for Alexis, I asked twitter if anybody had seen them anywhere. I got reports from The Strip and Station Square that there were none there, but then got a message from @kdudders that she saw some at Parkway Center Mall. I would have *NEVER* thought to look there, so that one request for help not only helped us to score what we needed, but we did it MUCH faster than we could have without twitter.
4. Get It Fixed. It's probably a bad thing that twitter is often the most efficient way to resolve a customer service issue with a company, but that's the way it is right now. I've had problems with Verizon magically resolved by @VZPittsburgh, Comcast troubles fixed by @comcastcares, and even help troubleshooting an online meeting from @connectsupport.
5. New Perspectives. Twitter is incredibly diverse. Tweeple are constantly helping me to see a new way of evaluating a situation that I may not have otherwise. I'll write about the specific details some day, but I can honestly say that walking around New York City talking to @firemom led me to understand a side to my mom that I wouldn't have without her. I let go of a lot of anger as I listened to her story and related it to my mom's similar, yet different, story.
6.My Voice Is Louder. Sometimes we just want to be heard. Whether it's because there's a news story that intrigues us, a cause we want to draw attention to, or just an opinion that we feel like shouting, twitter can act as a megaphone for our voices. The success of Christmas Crazy has happened largely because of the incredibly kind souls that follow me on twitter, and I appreciate every single one of them for helping when I need it.
7. The Friendships Are Real. There truly aren't words that can accurately express just how much some of the friendships I've formed because of twitter are to me. It's all sorts of sappy and mushy and all of those things that I'm generally not. I have @tehamy to talk sense into me. I have @hellohahanarf, @scarletfire, @adriennemcc, @hmccurd and countless others to make me laugh. I have @mooshinindy, @yankeedrawl, and @jmwander to inspire me. I have everybody who calls themself a member of Yinz Team to keep me out of trouble. Mostly.
It would take me hours to come up with the full list of friends that I've made because of twitter. I just plain can't imagine life without them.
(HUGE apologies to all of you who I didn't list here. There just isn't enough time in the day to recognize all of the amazing that I have surrounding me on twitter.)
(I'm totally missing about 5,773,623,051 other ways twitter makes life better. Feel free to list some of those in comments.)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Reader Comments (18)
Wow!! Maybe I will give it a chance. Thanks for all the good info.
Well, I'm crying. Like... I totally want to add something to the conversation here and talk about how twitter adds to my life in so many ways, but I honestly have tears rolling freely down my cheeks.
Love you much, my friend. More than you know. Sniff.
Absoutely loved this!!! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! I love Twitter. And I so need to write a post about this soon!
I use Twitter sometimes to left off some steam when I am really annoyed at someone but can't talk about it. I don't make a habit of complaining constantly, but the occasional time where I am really peeved, I can vent and the person who is irritating me is none the wiser (very few of my IRL friends are on Twitter). I also have so little time to blog now, that I use it to share snippets of what I would likely write about, get advice on just about anything, and to entertain myself (and keep sane) on cross country road trips (when you will see me on Twitter the most).
Where else would you find a giant, tacky plastic Santa after Christmas? *wink, wink*. Seriously though, I've overcome a lot of social fears and anxiety thanks to twitter. It's like my own personal shrink. I'm glad I joined. I also get info faster than my husband which drives him nuts.
I haven't been as lucky getting advice. It is rare that a question of mine gets answered via Twitter, however my Facebook friends are quick to jump in and help. I have a pretty diverse list of people I follow for one reason or another. I probably don't use it often enough for people to bother talking to me. I find it difficult to keep up when I can't really log in for most of my 8 hours at work everyday so I always feel I am out of the loop on there. Weird. But there are a few people whom I talk to on a regular basis on Twitter that keeps me there since I enjoy their conversation.
I like this thing that @carolineanne said on twitter, so I want to add it...
"twitter helps me feel like I'm in Pittsburgh from 700 miles away."
I totally get that.
The friendships are definitely the best part of twitter. Even if I can't explain to 99.6% of my family where I met you people.
Having relocated to Pittsburgh six months ago, Twitter has been an invaluable tool in finding things to do, the best restaurants, bars and neighborhoods -- but most importantly, making friends being the "new kid" in town.
Truly, twitter is amazing for connecting you with like-minded and unique, interesting people who complete you, entertain you, enrich your life -- and lift you up a little when you're feeling homesick and "replace" the variety of people you left back home. :)
I love how my shout-out was hippie related. All I need now is a hackey sack!
Glad you're my friend, lady,
For me, Twitter -- and social media in general -- have helped me at times that can be very isolating. I talked about this somewhere on my blog, I think in 2009. Having kids and moving to the 'burbs, plus the exodus of so many of my college friends from the 'burgh, were terribly isolating. Without blogs and Twitter, I would have fallen off the face of the earth.
I was going to add that Twitter is free, which also helps me because finances can be tight. Technically, that's not true. In order to have Twitter, you do have to have a certain level of income, the means to have a computer (at the least) or a smart phone. But even so, once that technology is in your budget or part of your life, the no-cost of Twitter is great. It's like sitting around a restaurant with some of your favorite people every now and again without having to pay for drinks or have a babysitter!
twitter is all that you say and more. some people just don't get it and that is ok, but i can't imagine my life without it. these two posts put into words what i've never been able to properly convey. perhaps i shall simply point people here when they ask about the twitter.
i kind of think blogs introduce me to people, but twitter is where i really get to know them. if, ya know, i can't often squeeze the stuffing outta them in person. the internet has given me friends across the country, but putting skin on some of them is difficult with my limited travel budget.
although i am kinda giggling that i fall into your laughter category. i would have imagined that i would be in a different group. funny how sometimes i need to step back and look at myself through the eyes of others as opposed to staggering through the china shop like a happy little bull.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes
and thanks xoxo
Bravo! Couldn't have said it better. By the way, I'll be twitter silent during starting today for Lent (so very difficult already), but I'll be back at the end of April. Will miss your tweets!
It took awhile for me to really catch on to twitter, but I totally agree with EVERYTHING you said...
This post (and the one before it) summarize EXACTLY how I feel about Facebook and the list of 'Friends' that I maintain on it (as well as about blogging and the bloggers that I read in general.) There are so many ways to make the whole social media thing SUCK, but for every one of those, there are about 10 reasons why it rocks. You have me seriously thinking about finally getting on Twitter - I have always demured because I am afraid of the time commitment that I feel I just can't give to make it a worthwhile venture. (Though now that my kids' school district is on there, I may have to give in just to stay in the loop.)
I totally agree.
As a mom who works a full time job, I don't have play group moms or neighborhood moms or anything like that to talk to. Twitter has become that group for me. And it's even better because I feel like the other moms I follow on Twitter are really supportive (and if not, UNFOLLOW- try to do that with a playgroup!)
So along with everything else Twitter provides, it gave me my own mom's club that's full of support and best of all humor.
Based on your post, you've got a smart phone, yes? Do you think Twitter is doable for those of us stuck in another eon with phones that only ring and have no bells, whistles, keyboards, or ability to connect to the Internet? I haven't managed to really get on board with the Twitter thing because I feel like it's a far more mobile technology than I am. Somewhat tweeting sporadically from my computer just doesn't inspire me. Alas.