Twying again
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 06:45AM At the AIMA Conference in Birmingham Monday, one of the media specialists attending more or less shamed me into trying Twitter again. I told her I feel bad, but not too bad, about having nearly 1,000 followers and never posting anything. She said I should feel bad. I was letting people down. My tweeps or twerps or whatever they are called. Maybe the third time using Twitter will be a charm.
So here is my two part plan:
1. On as regular a basis as possible, I will pick and share an interesting blog post, article or other information source that I'd consider "required reading." Here is what today's looked like:
doug0077 Good read: http://tinyurl.com/nn9jqu Shannon Wham on why you don't need a lid on a bucket of live crabs and how that applies to education
2. I will do a better job of building a list of those whom I follow. Here is my new strategy. I am going to add as many people as I can. Perhaps all my "followers" (I hate that term - it sounds positively Jim Jones-Charles Manson-Britney Spears-ish). And then drop them from my list so fast their heads will spin if:
- They post something that sounds self-serving or self-referential (That's what blogs are for!)
- They post something that deals with the daily minutia of their lives. (Being stuck at an airport, eating toast, feeling nauseated. I'd really like to care but...)
- They just posts on things don't seem to have any professional benefit.
I suppose this sound like a pretty anti-social attitude for a person engaging in social networking. But I believe each of us has a different level of tolerance for what constitutes social learning and what is just socializing.
While I've thought about the importance of distinguishing between socializing and social networking when it comes to library use and library spaces (Jeff Utech does a nice riff on this here), it's really a factor in any learning situation - online, F2F, formal or informal.
At some point the value of interaction with others stops being helpful and starts being counterproductive. At least my world. And that point varies from person to person.
My tolerance is low. And my happiness with Twitter may lie in finding others whose point on the socializing/social learning scale is close to my own.
From <http://www.twittertshirtblog.com/> I have no idea what this means.
Reader Comments (14)
Finding good 'uns to follow is the key to twitter. might wanna take a look at http://tinyurl.com/cegjzc.
P.S. Forget Ashton Kutcher or Oprah...prefer following ones such as 'ol blue skunk.
Man, you're better than I . If someone had told me I SHOULD feel bad about something like that, I'd probably drop my account on the spot. Oh, yeah, I already did that. Then I picked it up again but am only "following" 7 people now. But if she were a follower I'd sure drop her. Sheesh.
So you plan on using Twitter to dole out "required reading" and anyone who shows human characteristics will be dropped from your following list?
It's your Twitter, so use it how you like. You may as well disregard the email you just got saying you have a new follower, though.
I wondered why you all of a sudden started following me :) I look forward to seeing what you tweet...I have a soft spot for librarians. Happy 3rd time around!
I've just started to post the minutia, sporadically in my tweets. I follow courosa Alec Couros, he is an edutech prof in Regina. He posts professional and personal in a muddle. I find it interesting and feel included in the conversation and pattern of his days. I know his daughter is taking dance and hear his speculations about the future of education. Somehow the mix over time gives me a broader picture of who he is and what he believes in. It helps me connect to the ideas he shares because he is a whole person not just a professional educator. I have started to participate in this random assortment of tweets. I tried just tweeting when I had something professional to say and haven't posted much as a result. But I am learning from the conversation and hope to contribute more as I get to know the medium. I think I will know it better when I participate more. I understand your objectives but I think it shorts the conversation. I follow the Dalai Lama too. He seems to just send out quotes and thoughts for the day. These tweets don't engage me in the same way as Alec's do. Best wishes and I'll understand if you don't follow me, after you might hear that I just went for groceries.
I was very surprised to see you following me, especially having read your previous post concerning twitter. For me personally it has been a wonderful professional development tool. The links I follow often lead to interesting discussions or blogs I didn't know about. I've started trying new things just for myself and with my students because of the information I've gathered from twitter. Just as Susan noted, I find the personal side refreshing. However, there's a limit. Some people do tweet too much about things of little interest to me. I don't want to drop them altogether because they have provided me with good information. I solved the problem by making different groups on tweetdeck. I have one main group that I follow daily. Periodically I check any other groups I have. I have a gadget on my blog that automatically sends a notice to twitter when I add a new blog post and I suppose that could be considered self-serving, but I don't see it that way. People who don't follow me on an RSS feed might like to read that individual post just because the topic interests them.
Welcome back to twitter and I hope you find a way to make it work for you.
I have stayed far, far away from Twitter. I haven't seemed to really get engaged with it. And yet, I have gotten waaayyy to engaged in Facebook. (That whole "counterproductive" thing...that's me.) So I have steered away from Twitter fearing that either A) I will not find the tool that useful or B) I will get sucked into the minutia the way I've gotten sucked in to see if my old junior high friends have put anything interesting in their status.
Perhaps, if I follow your guidelines, I can maintain a balance. Between you and the SquareSpaces iPhone-a-Day Give Away, I may just be convinced to dip my toe in the tweeting waters!
I have several "followers" who never or rarely post. I post drivel every 2 or 3 weeks, mostly phenology though maybe I'll supplement that with some phrenology as well.
You're my favorite kind of twitterer (tweeter? twit?)--we need more
librariansocial media specialist action!Thanks, Renee. The link is very helpful!
Doug
Hi Ninja,
We Minnesotans have a low guilt threshold, I guess. I think it was a friendly comment, not mean.
Doug
Hi Russ,
Your note is a good example, I think, of how each of us has a different tolerance/need for the more personal. social aspects of this medium. If we choose not to communicate with each other using Twitter, I say, no harm, no foul, via la difference. I suspect you are a great person, just with different learning styles and needs.
All the best,
Doug
Hi tansmom,
I decided to "follow" everyone who is following me as a base from which to start.
All the best,
Doug
Hi Susan,
Your comment made me realize that I am hold Twitter to higher standards than I do blogs! Have to think about that.
Hope you find some good bargains at the grocery store!
Doug
Thanks, Ghostlibrarian, for the suggestions. Forming groups makes sense. I am just trying to maximize the wheat and minimize the chaff in PLN!
All the best,
Doug
Hi Sara,
If it helps, I think you can embed your Twitter feed right into your Facebook pages.
Good luck!
Doug
Thanks, Michael. I learned a new word - phenology. I always thought that was learning a person's character by reading the bumps on their head!
All the best,
Doug
Hi Doug,
If you figure out the group thing for Tweet Deck, blog it. I'd like to do that, I have TweetDeck loaded up but I don't know how to follow a group yet.
Hi Susan,
I certainly will - but don't hold your breath waiting for it!
Doug
Hey Doug,
First off you likely already know I hold you in the highest regard and I hate telling anyone how to use or view twitter but I do think you may have missed a few things or at least things that i"ve observed during my 2 and half years and 15,000+ tweets.
Socializing is a huge part as is minutia. In fact, if I dare mention twitter in any presentations or discussions it usually begins by acknowledging its stupidity and narcissistic potential. But as in any relationship, this is oft times the basis of building trust. Howard Rheingold says, "Idle chatter can be the glue from which networks of trust and norms of reciprocity and potential social capital can emerge.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shareski/3368192995
I can attest to that first hand. You can certainly use twitter however you wish but at its core I think its about relationships. I do know many are simply lurkers and use it as a resource. There's a great little greasemonkey script that includes twitter in google searches. There's no harm in that. I certainly view my blog and twitter as completely different spaces. No doubt it can be a time suck but I could also rattle off countless experiences, relationships and resources that I would never have found if not for twitter and at times some heavy does of minutia.
Would you like to know what i had for breakfast?
I sorted out the following a group in Tweetdeck. It's not hard. You make a new column, select the 'make group' button, add members and save. But I'm using an iphone app most of the time right now so I can't say if it will be useful for me.
Hi Dean,
Dammit, when smart and productive people like you use Twitter, I start to figure I'm going about it all wrong. With your encouragement, I'll stay after it. I am finding great pleasure in stopping following people. How sick is that?
See you NECC, I hope!
Doug
Hi Susan,
Glad you got it to work and thanks for letting me know about it.
Doug