I absolutely see the value in Twitter, I do. It’s a great way to stay connected, see what other’s are up to and get some great tips and information in a succinct, direct manner. Love it!
I’ve met some great individuals, found some awesome resources, yet I’m still trying to find my place in it all. Ever found yourself in a crowded room, not sure whether to come out, or simply sip your drink in the corner and hope that someone talks to you? Sometimes that’s what I feel like when using Twitter.
I know, I know, I should just jump in and find my place…and normally I would, but there’s just something about this medium that I still find so unfamiliar and just doesn’t quite feel right to me. I really can’t explain it.
I guess this is where the hate aspect comes in. I find myself getting completely distracted by it all. I downloaded Tweet Deck, only to have to uninstall it because the updates were killing me. I just HAD to look at those notifications every time that little beep sound went off. So I figured if I had to make more of an effort to login to the website that might curb the distraction and yes it did, now I’m not falling over myself trying to see if someone tweeted me (is that what you call it?) or sent me a direct message. But I still login a few times a day to see what other’s are up to then sit there and debate about what cool tidbit I have to offer. Which never seems to be that cool to me…I mean do I have anything that would be worthwhile other than “working on this” or “working on that” because that’s all I seem to be doing these days and does anyone really care?
I mean …oh…hold on one sec…just have to login to twitter………….okay back, what was I saying again? Oh yes, I mean I truly have nothing spectacular to share it seems? Or maybe I think I don’t have anything spectacular to share? Sometimes I just feel like a lurker, peering into the daily lives of others and longing to share something of interest because they shared something with me and for the life of me not being able to find anything remotely interesting.
Does this make any sense at all? …….oh goody another follower, that’s awesome, let me check out their profile….cool, click on follow. Yep alrighty then….damn I lost it again didn’t I? See total twitter overload here.
Now you see what I’m dealing with here…love twitter, hate what it does to me though. So I’m looking to you my readers, to help me with my twitter head. How on earth do you deal with it all? What am I doing wron…..hmmm @whatswithinu just posted to her blog….oh ya, gotta check that out.
Help!
@mjva
March 17th, 2009 at 6:09 am
LOL Michelle
Great post. I just did a Demystifying SM class for nearly 100 VAs, and I suspect most of them feel pretty much as you do–so at least you know you’re not alone.
What I shared with them about that was that I think each of us has a SM “home.” One service where we each feel absolutely comfortable, at peace, and that doesn’t overwhelm us at all.
Maybe Twitter isn’t your home. Maybe, for you, it will always be a SM tool–relegated to getting a couple of well planned tweets each day, but not much more than that.
Facebook is like that for me. I update my status, write on some walls, accept/deny friend/event requests, and I’m outta there…and headed back home to Twitter.
Don’t know if that helps, but I wanted to say that from my perspective, none of this should be overwhelming or a time suck…and when it is, I think that’s a sign that it’s just not where someone belongs.
Good luck with this!
S
March 17th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Part of the value in Twitter is posting what you’re working on so all your followers can see what you do and might come to you when they need that service provided.
I think of Twitter as a place where I can finally be “me” and engage people in the crazy life that is mine. If I find a new way to do something, or hear an interesting bit of news, I tweet it. I retweet things that are of interest and while I do spend a lot of time on Twitter, it’s proven to be an invaluable marketing tool for me and the only one I actually use anymore.
I’m sure you have some motivational quotes you love or have tidbits from your books you could share…just figure out what you know that your followers don’t, and share that!
Take a deep breath and remember nobody will force you to use Twitter if it’s not for you. If you can’t get into it, don’t use it. Maybe you’re over-thinking it. The whole purpose of it is to answer the question, “what are you doing right now”. So share that and don’t worry about whether or not people actually care, but I assure you, they do!
March 17th, 2009 at 6:56 am
Michelle
I hear ya!
I’m relatively new to Twitter and I’m not quite sure how to take advantage it. I know it’s a powerful, valuable tool, but I am so overwhelmed with how many different ways I could use it that I am not really doing anything.
I have three rather separate areas of my life/business; a public speaker, a speaking professional (admin of online speakers forum) and just plain ol’ me. So, I have 3 separate accounts (I don’t necessarily want potential speaking clients know that my kid is getting horrible grades, or anything else I say about my personal life.)
I’d love more business as a speaker because that’s how I make my living – and have been for 7 years. But it turns out that I am getting many more followers each day for my online forum for speakers – problem is, I don’t have an income stream from that site – and I don’t really know how to (or I should say, the BEST way to do it). So I flutter around each day from one account to another and get most of nothing done.
If I could afford it, I’d hire a person like you to keep my speaking business moving and maintained, and I’d hire a PR person to help me with the overall vision. I know, I know – I’ll get there.
One nice thing, I do feel like I am getting a better hold on the usefulness of Twitter every day. Thanks for this post.
March 18th, 2009 at 5:35 am
Michelle,
I read your post in my email and had to reply.
I know how you feel.
I turn my volume on mute so I don’t hear the little tweet but I still receive the pop-ups telling me that certain groups are tweeting. I use TweetDeck and it’s been nice for organizing groups.
I can’t keep up with it all though.
Every time my little pop-up comes up on the screen, I want to read what was said. If they’re looking for something, I try to Google to see what I can come up with. I don’t feel I have anything interesting to say and people will think … “Whatever”.
I haven’t been on for about two weeks now due to work and sickness. I think about it every day though. I think to myself, “I just need to get on there and see what’s happening.” At the end of the day, however, I realize that I forgot to turn TweetDeck on.
Let me know if you come up with some awesome way to understand and join in Twitter. I know it would be fun and I’d get to meet some great individuals. I just am not that interesting though and can’t stop reading/helping.
Thanks so much for posting!
May 7th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Cheers for taking the time on this, I was searching everywhere for something similar, though this is just as helpful.