Even more thoughts about Twitter

Conversation

     Part of what makes the Twitter experience fun is instant communication with people. Conversation is a vital part of a two-way street Twitter experience.  Let me mention that one-way street Twitter accounts can be informative but in my case I am interested in communication or making a connection.  For that reason alone, I am not into following what I call one way Twitter accounts.  As I had mentioned in a previous post, I am glad for the “List” option, and one-way accounts of interest are listed accordingly.  Announcements and information are good, but, for me, conversation and connection is where it’s at.  The goal in Twitter is not to badger your followers with tweets (that would be like attending a party and dominating the conversation – it’s sorta rude).  Meaningful conversation or connection is the worthy goal.  An important announcements, good words of encouragement, recommended resources, or even sometimes a simple response are appreciated and enough to achieve meaningful conversation.  But if you wish to have a good Twitter experience, make sure you make connections with your followers in a meaningful way.

Tweet Feeds

      A regular interval or steady flow of highly valuable information or inspirational material is something that I think is important to my followers, and because of that, I do my best to regularly Tweet something from the Bible.  I take a Scripture principle or topic and study it out and tweet about it for the week.  I rotate between three different emphases - doctrinal, discipleship, or devotional and sometimes the distinctions are a bit blurred but ultimately, I can’t go wrong here since it is principally drawn from God’s Holy Word.  One of these days, I want to pull a number of these tweets into a yearly devotional reader for Christians but that will have to come in due time (book #3, perhaps).

     Sometimes, I tweet a photo of things that I take with my camera (usually cell phone cam, but lately, I like taking shots with my tablet [Google Nexus 7]).  So far that has been a fun experience and hopefully adds value to my followers.  You can link or share a webpage or a news article of interest.  You can share a photo or a multi-media clip.  You can suggest other Twitter pages of interest to follow or list. The point is sharing tweets of value or interest.  I really enjoy it when I get RT’s that are worth RT-ing about.  It does get irritating to find a RT that borders on stupid or low-information but it comes with the territory (thankfully, you can opt out of people’s RTs, and that is a blessing).

More later...perhaps much later.

More Twitter love and hate

I think another Twitter review is in order here.  I really do like Twitter.  I suppose, similar to blogging, there could be a variety of reasons one is on Twitter.  They say that tweeting is like micro-blogging and that seems to be a good way of putting it.

FOLLOW and LIST

So, for starters, I only "follow" accounts that I personally know, or if someone "follows" me first and I determine that they are not a robot (spambot), organization (unless I know them), and someone with quasi-beliefs (they must at least be a Christian).  Twitter is about conversation (tweets).  Therefore, if I elect to "follow" someone, and they don't "converse" with me, then I don't see the point of remaining a "follower."  But that is just me.  It ties in very closely as to why I am on Twitter, which is to stay connected with people that I care about.  If I do want to "follow" someone who has no interest in returning the favor then I may choose to utilize the "list" section and just watch their updates (twitter feeds) that way.  The list option is great!  I really like it and I use it a lot. By the way you can also subscribe to my list and others by selecting "subscribe."  ALSO, strange but true, you can also see if you, yourself, have been added to someone's listing.  Whatever may be, follow wisely, and list wisely!

HASHTAG and HOOTSUITE

I like the idea of "hashtaging" a tweet (# followed by a topic or thought - which then pools all the tweets into an undisclosed area, kidding, into a space where everyone who is interested in that topic can see others with similar interest).  For me, I just like to group my morning Bible tweets and take a look at them at the end of the week.  My morning Bible verse tweets are divided into three themes, doctrine, devotional, & discipleship (I like to think of it as Bible Tweets 3D).  Sometimes, admittedly, they do seem to over lap, but generally speaking, I try to keep them rolling like that.  I use a social media management tool called Hootsuite to set up my AM Bible Tweets ahead of time which automatically tweets for me.  I think that my AM Bible tweets have been a blessing.  I gauge that by the various feedback that I have gotten from my "followers."  Twitter is about "adding value" to those who follow you.  This is one way, I think, I can accomplish that.

RETWEETS and NO RETWEETS

Okay, I like it when I get "retweeted" - It makes me feel good.  But I don't tweet with that as a goal.  I do like to "retweet" items which I think would be a blessing to my followers.  But there comes a point when "retweeting" becomes obnoxious.  I don't care to "retweet" men and movements that are on the opposite spectrum of my belief system (even if they have some brilliant ray of truth that can inspire and motivate - this makes me even sadder, bec.  they should have an even more brilliant light, the Bible, which should have guided them into perfect truth or better truth - this is my way of saying, they should know better to do what they are doing).  But then again, that is just me.  I don't care what others, that I "follow" retweet about, but after a while they can get to be a nuisance, therefore and thankfully, you can always go to their profile section and select "turn off retweets."  What a blessing!  Don't be an abuser, retweet in moderation.  Then there are other things like modified tweets (MT) which is neat, but I still really don't know how to properly do it.  Then there is also the "old school" retweeting process (RT) which, I like bec. of added interaction, but it is so much easier to just hit the retweet button.

 I can say more, but I will have to leave it be for now.  Please don't forget that you can "follow" me on Twitter @hardecker.  Thank you and have a wonderful day!

Twitter thoughts

     I like it.  I like to read about how people are doing, where they are going, or just plainly what's happening with them.  I certainly like the brevity of info presented in each tweet.  I like reading about some of their Scriptural thoughts, Bible verses that grad them so strongly that they need to share it with their followers.  It is sorta like a Twitter-devotional (a "Tweetvotional").  I liked following products and companies of interest (even though so many of them rarely connected with me as a person, they perceived me more as a consumer or a customer, and that got a bit irritating, and so I withdrew my "following" from nearly all business types - I think I will remain static on this aspect of Twittering until I am treated like a person rather than a consumer, or if a really good deal happens to pop up...ha!).  I like the concept of retweeting tweets of interest.  I like its simplicity and ease of use.  I like that I can connect with people near and far.  Cyberspace "shrinks" as it continues to "grow."  I like rapid responses, that is pretty neat.  I liked listening to the presidential debates and at the same time checking live-Tweets from political analysts at the same time...the same could be said when I get to watch a football game, I could watch a game and get live updates via Twitter from both teams or their followers.
     Now, what I don't like.  I don't like irrelevant and un-updated Twitter pages, that gets irritating.  You don't know if you should follow or not because you don't want to miss out on what they have to Tweet about - but when you look them up, they haven't tweeted for months.  Therefore, I decided that if a fellow Twitterer hasn't tweeted for at least three months, then it is safe to unfollow, and check back on them about three months later.  I don't like spam, not the edible kind (that one is good especially fried).  Some present themselves as followers but they are clearly robots.  I don't like insufferable and insolent over-twitterers.  They just take Twitter to another level.  When a person gets that way, they really need to consider blogging or "facebook-ing" instead.
     Having said all that, I will continue to use Twitter, and encourage others to give it a try.