I can’t quit you Twitter
My #twitterbreak lasted approximately two days, and I had to break my “fast” because I simply couldn’t remain mute any longer. People who aren’t Twitter-savvy yammer on about how it’s just a bunch of self absorbed people blagging on about what they ate for breakfast, and a recently released study completely pooh-poohed the social media tool for consisting of about 40% pointless babble. They’re wrong. And not just because I’m biased.
That “pointless babble” study undertaken by Pear Analytics was revealed by Stephen Dann to be a hugely flawed report with questionable methodologies, plus it was some kind of PR exercise for another “babble-free” marketing tool. (I won’t be linking to it, but if you read Stephen’s blog post and the comments you’ll find it for yourself with bonus whinging from one of Pear’s staffers.) The whole exercise inflamed my tendinitis because I was shaking my fist so hard at all these lazy journalists who picked up the fluff and ran with it – in Australia I even saw it on the prime time news. Can I get a WHAT THE?
Further more, Twitter isn’t just people reporting in on the minutiae of their lives. It’s sharing information, chatting, keeping up-to-date, and… being human. I’ve had job opportunities thanks to Twitter, and I’ve met some fantastic people too. The people in my Twitter timeline keep me company all day, even if I don’t say anything at all.
The piece of paper I’ve scanned shows you my analogue twitter. Unfortunately, Twitter doesn’t have the capability to record doodles (that’s what TwitPic is for!) but that doesn’t mean I’ll be dumping it as my social media of choice. You can see where I’ve replied to friends, commented about tv shows, ranted about things happening in my life (albeit rather cryptically) and even retweeted things that resonated strongly with me. These are the things that some people might label as “pointless babble” but I feel it’s the stuff that draws us together.
And that’s why I love Twitter, and will continue to use it exactly the way I was using it before. You’ll get the best and the worst of me: the times when I’m completely ridiculous and hyperactive, as well as the times when I’m feeling low and needing validation. Those are the things I absolutely adore and cherish in my friends, and I would be cheating myself out of a perfectly functional and productive support network if I simply put on a front and pretended I was just some kind of facade of Natalie.
