Image by The Next Web via Flickr
News, news, and more news
With the increasing abundance of information via the Internet and the ever-growing variety of social media platforms, I sometimes feel as though I’m drowning in information and opinions. One way to manage the volume is to selectively limit your media channels to those that work best for you. For me, one channel has gradually become part of an information overload solution — but for a while it created a new problem — addiction.
On Twitter for instance, it took me a while to build up trust with the people I follow. Who is funny, who is sincere, who is truly knowledgeable in the topics I am interested in? Now, my Twitter feed is like my very own personal reporter. It tells me news the way I like it to be delivered. I do, however, make sure that I follow a variety of the major national news sources since I don’t always trust just one to give me all points of the story. Plus it helps me to formulate my own opinions; something that television news doesn’t allow me to do as well. It’s more difficult to think independently when we are told stories in a way that encourages us to formulate desired opinions. Why would you question them?
My Inspiration
I read this article in the New York Times entitled Confessions of a Tweeter — How Twitter took over the life of one middle-aged convert. Larry Carlat describes his journey from beginning to end, which he refers to as “Twittercide.” This got me thinking about my social media habits and my own personal journey through the massive “Twitter-verse”. I decided to break it down by stages.
My Journey
Stage 1: Ummm, what’s Twitter?
Stage 2: You want me to tweet about what I am doing practically every second of the day? Why/who cares about MY day-to-day activities. This seems kind of creepy.
Stage 3: I then realize that having a strong knowledge base about this so-called tool is valuable to the career path I’m headed on. I mean just take a look at this historic infographic. Ugh fine, I’ll create an account.
Stage 4: Now you need me to write some witty bio for my account? Geez, that’s asking for a lot.
Stage 5: Ooooo la la, look at all these fun Twitter accounts. National magazines, favorite restaurants, celebrities, designers, PR professionals. Follow, follow, and follow.
Stage 6: “I just woke up”, “I’m walking to work”, “I’m hungry” “It’s Friday, It’s Friday!” Over share much? GUILTY.
Stage 7: Seriously if you don’t have Twitter, who are you?
Stage 8: Realizing the “power” of Twitter. What a great way to connect with people, read the news, share, and keep myself up-to date. This actually is a rather powerful tool for businesses and more. I can even ask questions and people reply to me!
Stage 9: I am a tweeting machine.
Stage 10: Holy cow, this is overwhelming. Twitter is creating much un-needed stress, I can’t seem to keep up with everyone. I’m drowning in information. Help!
Stage 11: Twitter and I went on a mini break.
Stage 12: So that break didn’t last very long. I couldn’t keep away, but now I have created a more friendly life/tweet balance. Plus I’ve been able to really explore the benefits of Twitter for businesses and brands, which is a whole other realm of social media.
So there you have it, the 12 stages of my Twitter usage. I suspect others have had similar experiences. I invite you to follow me @jennschraven and track my progress as I continue my way through the twitter-verse. Oh, and don’t worry I haven’t regressed to stage 6 in a while, phew!
