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Sun 29 Jul, 2012 03:56 pm
Okay, so I finally opened an account on Twitter. I'm still trying to figure out why. (For those of you that actually use the site, I'm back tobeing Merry Andrew there, in case you care.) So I didn't know what to do once I had entree into thiose sacred halls so I tweeted this:
Quote:What is this ****? What am I doing here?
I think it's a legitimate question to which nobody has responded as yet.
What the hell is that silly site all about anyway? I can't quite figure it out. FaceBook -- which I also dislike - is at least somewaht comprehensibel.
I opened one of those accounts a few years back, but never got into the swing of it. I imagine the account is still there.
@Lustig Andrei,
I think you are still a member of my something or other on some networking site.
Maybe I should track it down if it still exists and repost your twit. "What is this silly ****"?
@Lustig Andrei,
I'm not sure exactly why I upkeep my Twitter account as well but there you go.
<chai approaches pushing a creaking walker>
yeah!
What is all this twittery pittery business?
It's as bad as that hippity hop music!
seriously, I haven't ever tweeted. don't have an account, don't see what it's all about.
I'm having a hard enough time learning the politics of IM'ing at work (or, as I've learned of the jardon "pinging"
Now don't all you upstarts fall over laughing, your day will come.
Not to hijack your thread Andy, but I'm thinking youse guys can relate.
I get the concept of IMing on the job. My new job is at a place where I'm way on the other side of the floor (the business takes up like 2.5 floors of a downtown office building) from my boss, and either one of us could be anywhere at any point of the day. Not just that, but about 70% of the office space is like cubicle world, so there lot's of people to communicate with and if everyone was walking around and talking it would be crazy.
However, even though I realize I'm older than dirt to a 20-something, I get it that an IM is just a few words like "Are you there?" "Do you have 5 minutes?" "I sent you an email about that" "It's on your desk" etc....the reply being, Yes, No, OK, Thanks, and so forth.
I thought I also got that an IM was 2, maybe 3 messages back and forth.
At least 2 pet peeves I've developed in the almost 2 months I've been there are....
"hello"
Yeah, I'm working away, and I get an IM popping up on my screen from someone who is working in St. Louis, or anywhere actually, who just says.......hello.
The first time this happened when I was there just a few days, I answered something like "yes, is there something I can do for you?" although I was sorely tempted to just say 'hello' back, but I was afraid it would further drag things out.
Now when it happens, I think "WTF does this person want? What's this "hello" bullshit? You want something from me, not vice versa, don't make me drag it out of you.
Just tell me what's up, and I'll tell you. My concept of IM's
Related to that is the "are you writing a book?" IM
If it's going to involve more than 12-20 words, email me. If you have questions that will be going back and forth, email me. If it's anything specific at all, email me because I'm gonna need an email trail to cover my ass.
IMing to me in annoying, but I can see the necessity, nay the advantages.
Tweeting sounds stupid.
@chai2,
chai2 wrote:Tweeting sounds stupid.
It's just like IMing. I guess. Haven't done it long enough to be sure.
I tweet (then again, I am an SM person). It is micro-blogging for a lot of people (e. g. Here in Baltimore! or Getting my license renewed!). Yeah, stupid status updates. Plus there are a lot of links/pic links being tossed around. It's kind of a way to promote those sorts of things.
Now, there are more legit uses. I use Twitter to promote my blog posts. And A2K clearly has "Most Recent" and whatever kinds of slices of the data there are. There's a link so it's cross-promotion.
Best use I have seen for Twitter so far has been for recruiters to tweet links to jobs.
@Lustig Andrei,
I would agree if it wasn't for using it on the job. I sure wouldn't use it in my personal time.
advantages:
Someone can ask me quickly (or I can ask them) something that is quick, but need the answer now.
If I get an email from you, don't think that I'm even going to look at it sometime soon (at work meaning within a few hours, faster of course depending on who it's from, and what the preview shows)
No ringing phones, no cumulative noise of phones, voices. It's surprisingly quiete where I work.
No running around looking for someone. Nowadays you can be quite a distance away from people you work with/for even in the same office.
Disadvantages.....as stated before.
@jespah,
jespah wrote:
... It is micro-blogging for a lot of people ...
Ah, okay! I'm like Andrew, I didn't really understand the purpose /use for Twitter.
As many of you already know, I'm using Facebook now. I never thought I would ever try it, but, for the most part, am enjoying it. The various settings are quite useful. It makes it very customisable.
-------
By the way, Chai, are you by any chance on Facebook?
@Lustig Andrei,
Hi Andrew
I posted a very similer thread a while back.:
Everything a Luddite could possibly need to know about using twitter!:
http://able2know.org/topic/192305-1
As you can see I didn't get too far with my original intention for the thread.
(But I did learn that JoefromChicago follows St Kilda in the Oz football Association. That was interesting ...
)
I might be wrong, but I came to the conclusion that a lot more A2Kers are Facebook, rather than Twitter people ...
Anyway, this weekend while stuck at home with a cold, I finally decided to take the plunge & investigate the mysteries of Twitter. And I've gotta say, I
love it!
Spent
hours there.
My suggestion (now that I'm an expert! Ha.) is to use the search option to see if people or organizations you're interested in are on Twitter.
I've found so many ("following" around 43 so far , I think) ... like Margaret Atwood, Naomi Wolf, heaps of Oz journalists/politicians, etc, etc, etc ... then just potter around & see what they're saying, who their talking to & about what, the links they're recommending. That's a start, anyway. You'll know pretty soon if it appeals to you or not.
Hope that helps.
Let us know how you go.
@msolga,
Thank you for those hints, msolga. Maybe I'll give the site a second chance. But I make no promises, mind you.
@msolga,
msolga wrote:
My suggestion (now that I'm an expert! Ha.) is to use the search option to see if people or organizations you're interested in are on Twitter.
Hi Olga! I've been doing this on Facebook, and have been finding it interesting.
It makes for a very varied news feed!
Exactly - there are definitely interesting celebs on there (Wil Wheaton springs to mind immediately). There are also a lot of celebs using it to just push their latest whatever.
It can be a decent way (assuming the celeb is using it properly, and not just to sell books or albums or whatnot) to connect with mid-level celebs. Those are people like
Stephen Baker, who wrote
The Numerati.
Note - there are also celeb types who get into trouble using it (think NFL players tweeting on the bench when they should be concentrating on the game). It can be very seductive to people.
@jespah,
It ain't seducing me. I still can't quite figure out just how to use the site. Very confusing bunch of crap far as I can see.
@msolga,
msolga wrote:
Quote:It makes for a very varied news feed!
It sure does!
For example, today I did a FB search on Tinnitus and came up with a good page for this.
As I'm a sufferer of Tinnitus, it was good to read of others who do, too, and their comments about their condition.
I finally hit the milestone of 100 followers:
Of course, the only way I could stumble past the very difficult plateau of 97/98 followers is by getting an obvious trio of guerrilla PR campaigners for some unknown country singer named Angela Everwood (one of the three of my last followers) which put me on the 100 milestone.
@tsarstepan,
Thnx for resurrecting this thread, tsar. I'd forgotten I ever started it. I suppose congratulations are in order for whatever honor it is that you've achieved, but I don't for a moment intend to pretend that I understand what this 'honor' is or what it means or why it would be of any importance to anyone.
Since this thread is almost exactly a year old now, I realize that I haven't been back on Twitter even for a brief visit for a year now. I'll try to double that time span and don't anticipate any difficulty in doing so.
@Lustig Andrei,
Twitter is great for political satire; at least that's what I'm using it for. (Of course, political satire is pathetically easy, when you have the Texas Legislature to make fun of. #FishInABarrel)
I also get updates from news organizations, science groups, humorists, etc. It took me a while to warm to it... in fact, my wife had to sit me down and show me how cool it is, and I'm a tech guy.
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