tweet tweet

i have always been an online sort. it comes with being hopelessly nerdy. so now i’m on twitter too. no, this is not some sort of plea to follow my tweets, though i certainly wouldn’t mind if you did. just taking some time to reflect about the platform.

let’s start here. according to the blog herald, 41% of people in the united states use facebook. only 7% use twitter. click the link, there’s lots of interesting info there about social media, if you’re into that sort of thing. interestingly, as i write this, i have both tabs open. let’s be honest though, i’m more comfortable on facebook.

since i joined in october, i’ve tweeted 464 times. i don’t really know if this is a lot or a little or normal, but i don’t much care. it’s right for me. it appears i tweet about flowers (derp), food (like everybody), college football (which probably annoys 90% of my followers), and day to day goings on. there’s also replies to folks and retweets. i try to keep my tweets a mix of business and personal though, because nobody wants to hear me advertise myself all day, nor do i have the patience to mindlessly type it all the time.

mostly though, i lurk. i compulsively read everything and wonder where the unbridled enthusiasm of everybody i seem to follow comes from. the thing is, i joined twitter because i own a business, and never would have done it otherwise. it’s such a public forum. i read only what people choose to post–the selves that they choose to project for the public. i can’t feel whatever it is they actually experience behind their computer screens.

this is precisely the problem. it is so hard to read everybody else’s 140-character descriptions of their most perfect selves, pastimes, projects, and experiences without comparing the idyllic impression to my own life. meanwhile, i blog, tweet, and facebook just as enthusiastically (i think. i hope?) as everybody else. i’ll tweet about this blog post a couple of times. blog about tweeting. tweet about blogging. maybe it’s all too much?

i won’t trade it though. twitter is the pulse of the industry. i can sit back and read, get linked all day to unspeakably beautiful things. better yet, i can make a connection. i know i’m not the only one that feels this way, and that feels pretty good.