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By GageSkidmore at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons
Twitter seems quite suited to my personality.
Short quips. One liners. Observations. It’s a short-and-[not always] sweet way of social interaction across the planet. And you get to meet and interact with some interesting people—some of them famous—that you’d never otherwise have a chance in Hades of meeting, you know, if that’s your thing. But it’s not so much about Hero Worship as gratefulness. You can thank these actors and writers and producers for their great work that you’ve watched and followed, and that is kinda cool. Sometimes you can even interact with them.
A couple of weekends ago, I joined in on an Intruders tweet-a-thon, and I had to admit, it was fun! All you do is tweet while watching the show. See what your fellow folk are tweetin’.
Now, it’s not something I want to do all the time…when I watch TV, I want to relax, but if it’s a special event, I could get into it once in a while. Had some good interaction and played along with some funny comments from the handful of us tweeting the show.
BTW, if you haven’t heard of the Intruders, I highly recommend it! The first episode had me a little baffled, but I like baffled, so just hang in there if you feel the same way after watching the first installment (where to watch episodes, since the season ended and they’re no longer broadcasting on their website). It’s a really cool show involving the paranormal. It’s my new X-Files replacement, and I’ve been looking! The show is based on the Michael Marshall Smith novel, The Intruders.
But, all that said and done, I think the biggest thing I’ve gotten out of Twitter is just meeting people!
There are a handful of tweeters I call “my Twitter friends,” because we’ve been tweeting since pretty close to when I started Twitter, in 2009. Yes, you can be hoodwinked, but I think, for the most part, you can get to know people over Twitter—or blogging or whatever else it is you do with social media. Even when you get to know people through actual, physical contact, how much of “you” do you show to the public, right? It’s no different. Sure, it’s easier to hide over social media, spoofing and conspiracy theories and all that, people can’t read your body language, et cetera, but I do feel that you can get a good gauge of most. Just like with anything “public,” you have to be careful and err on the conservative side. And sometimes, yeah, you may piss each other off…but it’s also interesting to see how your new friends handle these situations. The really good ones will—in some way—reach out and try to correct an intentional or unintentional wrongdoing.
And that can speak volumes to the type of people they are.
Again, spoofing and conspiracy theories notwithstanding. Just be careful out there.
Just remember we are all people out on these things, we’re not just avatars and bylines. We have real feelings and good and bad days. Deserve to be treated with respect. Consider the words you are about to send out into cyberspace before hitting the Enter key…and if you screw up, be quick to apologize and make it right…leave room open for others to do the same.
In short: cut people some slack.
None of us are perfect.
But, do have fun exploring the world through your chosen mode of social media!
Feel free to contact me at my Twitter handle of @fpdorchak
Runnin Off at the Mouth.... 
I don’t tweet yet… Although I do the next best thing; I write flash fiction! Ha… micro fiction like CORN RAISED, RICE WEANED, HAPPY NOW. 🙂 I won’t tweet until it becomes absolutely necessary for my career. I worry, as it is, about not seeing body language on the phone, not seeing that or hearing voice inflection in emails and Face book posts. I feel so much is not being conveyed and thus so much can be misunderstood.
It’s good to be cautious…but once you get “out there” it’s hard to be AS cautious as you would, were you NOT out there, if that makes any sense. And if you’re not good at reading people to begin with, does it really matter if you meet them face to face or over the Internet? So much can be misunderstood even being face to face….
But, here’s another consideration: you know the flow of your life. We all know the flow of our lives. If our flow is such that unpleasant “weirdness” frequently encroaches, then we would be well to remain more distant than others. And Twitter is only one form of getting “out there.” Do what you’re comfortable doing, Karen! :-]
Twitter is my social media of choice too, Frank. I don’t do much on my personal account anymore, but it’s a great tool for our journal. I haven’t been on Facebook much in the past year—too much info about people’s personal lives. And the rest of the social media outlets? Well, the learning curve is just too much at this age.
You can get a BUSINESS fb account, which is what I have. Doesn’t have all that “other” stuff. I find Pinterest fun for tying images from the books to images people can see, pin, and interact with (you can comment), and of course blogging. :-]
I must admit, I do enjoy Twitter. I wouldn’t join FB for all the money in the world though. It might surprise people (then again, maybe not!) to learn that I’m a terribly UNsociable creature. Always have been. An only child with one cousin who’s nearly 20 years my senior. But there’s something about interacting virtually that’s become appealing. Maybe it’s just that I can walk away without an explanation whenever I want to. Or perhaps it’s because it’s easier to find people who share my interests. Whatever the case, Twitter and my blog satisfy the very small need I have for socializing.
But you’re right — face to face communication is hard enough. Then subtract facial expressions, body language, and the forced patience that comes with being in the same room with somebody and it’s a recipe for misunderstandings. But hey, we all need to be willing to take a breath and work things out. Too much pride and not enough patience is a killer, but not one that can’t be overcome.
Social media is a strange thing. It’s very easy to be something that you’re not, but it also opens the door to be more true to yourself than ever before. Like you said, you have to be careful though. And it’s precisely because of this very thing.
As with everything, there are pros and cons. I for one try to focus on the positives while still being aware of the negatives. When I first joined Twitter, I had zero intention of tweeting anything myself. But 13,000+ tweets later? I met my best friend and some other very nice people who I enjoy interacting with. So I’m putting this in the win category, I think!
True enough…it’s different doing this for business versus pleasure, but some of the biz turned into pleasure! I had tried FB for personal reasons, then left it for a couple years, for all the reasons usually cited. I came back purely for business purposes–and got a business/artist page, which behaves totally different than a personal page, and I much prefer that. Twitter and the others started out that way, too, but, as I mentioned, I do find Twitter fun. :-] Blogging, is well-suited to writer types and also fun, and those two are where I find myself a lot. I do try to have fun with the “work” I do, so it’s all working out. And putting yourself out there, well…it does present its own set of challenges, but you just gotta be smart about it….
And…I got to meet you and the rest of the “Barrel Mates”! :-]
Likewise! 🙂
It’s funny — I created my “Night Gallery” Twitter page simply to spread my interest in all things Serling-related. I had no intention of interacting with people. I figured just posting quotes and the like would be sufficient. But you forget that people want to TALK about their interests! And you know what? That’s really been an unexpected bonus.
Sure, it can be “work” some days. We don’t always feel like being sociable. But we’re not robots (row-bits, in Serling-speak!) — we want to fan over stuff and have some fun. So I really do enjoy the social side of running my FB page, my Twitter page, and my blog. It’s been fun getting to “meet” you and so many other people (Wendy most notably, of course).
Are there pitfalls to using social media? Definitely. But as the two of you have noted, the pros outweigh the cons. A toast to Twitter! 🙂
There’re pros and cons to most in life…but I’m having fun with my chosen forums…and yes, it is interesting meeting folks I wouldn’t normally have met without social media!
But, maaan, I’m still behind my blog readin’….
I practically need to write it on my schedule — I know what you mean!