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.)