Saturday, February 28, 2009

Twitter – is there value in it?

About a month ago I decided to sign up for a twitter account (1/26 to be exact after reading about it on @TaraRodden’s blog) and it has been enlightening. I had resisted Twitter for a long time because I thought it would be a waste of time. After reading Tara’s Post which showed examples of how twitter can bring you more in touch with your friends and lead to more mindful working, I figured I would give it a trial run. After signing up, it searched my Gmail address book and told me that several people I already knew were on it and following their conversations lead me to even more people. I then needed a way to post from my Blackberry and to link twitter to my Facebook account; after a quick google search I found Twitterberry and Facebook Twitter.

What do post on twitter?
  • What I am doing (When it is appropriate)
  • How I am doing (Prayer, energy level)
  • What I want (Affirmations)

What do I read on twitter?

  • The last few posts when I feel like looking at them (I do not have a built in agreement to check all updates all the time so Twitter has not become an IN (Thanks for the advice @gtdguy).
  • Replies to me (This has become an IN)
  • DM’s to me (This has become an IN as well)
  • Sometimes I check http://search.twitter.com/ for #hashtags of my interests #GTD, #Photography, #prayer, #meditation

What value do I get out of twitter?

  • It keeps me in touch with my friends
  • It keeps me in touch with people I have wanted to form friendships but time, busyness, etc had gotten in the way.
  • It helped my blog by keeping my short observations and ideas on twitter leaving deeper and more meaningful topics to the blog
  • It helps keep me accountable and encourages me to be better

How does twitter help keep me accountable?

This is something I just stumbled onto. I noticed that a lot of my friends were posting what they were working on, where they were in GTD, prayers, etc so I started to do the same. I immediately started getting massive amounts of encouragement back from my friends. This was amazing! I would get a real boost out of the support and comments from my existing friends and new friends who stumbled up the given tweet somehow.

If I posted I was struggling with something immediately I would get advice and encouragement back. If I posted a blog that I wasn’t really excited about someone would get excited about it and post me something on twitter. This has been amazing for my motivation and helps me feel accountable for my writing, photography, and personal growth; my friends want me to succeed and I don’t want to let them down!

Where do I see twitter going?

I believe twitter will continue to do what it has been doing and I am happy with that. It will continue to:

  • Bring me into contact with new people
  • Keep me in touch with my friends and potential friends
  • Encourage my writing and personal growth
  • Surprising me

I just want to end this with a big thank you to my new big sister Tara for introducing me to Twitter, you posted that at just the right time! Twitter is an awesome tool that if used correctly can result in great networking, great friendships, true interdependance.

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