Kevin Pollak once asked me if I was a narcissist.My level of narcissism has been precisely defined. It's at the relatively high level that propels me to write three different blogs because I think people actually want to read what I'm writing. However, it is not in the mesosphere range necessary to thrive on Twitter.
From another, more brutal, perspective: People who know me, who tolerate and understand me, are more prone to read my blog than the strangers of the Twitterverse. And that's more than okay with me. I'm not very comfortable putting myself out there with well choreographed tweets to build a base of followers.
I'm in the midst of an identity crisis... A virtual (social networky) identity crisis. I thought Twitter would help me think though this... I'm still thinking...
That sideways comment aside, I do think Twitter is worth it.
If you spend a lot of time online, and rely on it for infotainment, you should be on Twitter... But know who you want to be on Twitter. Most users fall into either active or passive categories. Those "actives" are not just the people that tweet what they had for lunch (those people give Twitter a bad reputation). The better "actives" have a definite strategy behind their tweets. They tweet consistently but not extravagantly, usually around the same time of the day and are wise to talk as much (if not more) about others than themselves. They want people to follow and aren't shy to follow others. They use their real name.
Although in my most vivid narcissist dreams I have followers in the 5 digit range and get retweeted daily, that's just not going to happen unless I do something entirely stupid [like fall ass backwards into unwanted infamy]. The other way to get a huge follower base is through a lot of networking, more self promotion and hard work. More importantly, my content is not where it needs to be to prevent strangers "unfollowing." (A feeling that somehow stung more than a FB defrinding)
One more negative aspect of Twitter I can't deny: I feel like I'm stalking. I almost wish there was more of a permission stage when I want to follow a stranger... I want to declare why and my intent for the follow. But most people on Twitter want to be stalked. They use it as their stalker bait engine. Although I was appreciate to have received the track I had blogged about, it was still somewhat of a shock.
For now I'll continue on Twitter passively. The twenty or so comics I follow are more than great. God help them if I ever see them in an airport terminal or something. I might even "unlike" some of the overlap from Facebook because I think Facebook works best with people you know and Twitter works best with people you don't. It will still be an enjoyable experience to see what's trending and participate in odd hashtag games. More importantly, I'm gonna win free tickets to a concert by retweeting if it's the last thing I do!
