A Final Thought on Twitter

I've removed the Twitter feed from the sidebar because I know some people probably don't want tweets foisted upon them. I've made the link openly available several times and that is and will be sufficient. But some thoughts on Twitter, and my Twitter feed in particular.

I don't use Twitter to tell people "what I'm doing" in the traditional sense. In fact, my dislike of this very thing is why I initially hated and railed against Twitter. This is one of the reasons why I can't really stand Facebook anymore. Interestingly enough, while some advocates of Facebook will slam Twitter for being the ultimate in narcissism - i.e. why should anyone care what you're doing throughout the day? - many Tweeters feel the same way about the Facebook status. More truly ironic is that there are many people on Facebook who use their Facebook status in a way that I (and hundreds of thousands of others) use Twitter: in the hopes of entertaining others. Their facebook friends might lap it up - and then curse Twitter.

A good friend's persistent lobbying, coupled with periods of immense boredom during the workday, changed my tune. I'm not saying it's an important or life-altering service. But I believe that many - I wouldn't say all - of us enjoy an audience. Making other people laugh feels good. It's acceptance and it's reinforcement. In large part the people I follow on Twitter, and those who follow me, are looking for a good laugh. Some are looking for social interaction, due to a "real" life that seems to them hollow. And I don't judge people for it, as doing so would be the very definition of hypocrisy. When people "star" your tweets, or when they follow you (or follow you back), it feels good. I genuinely believe that (one) of the main reasons that I contemplated the life in academia was the captive audience a class is. Those of you who might read this and have lectured in front of a class tell me that it's not intoxicating when it goes well and you're clicking on all cylinders.

While some skilled might practitioners of the "facebook wall" might disagree, I am interacting (both publicly and through direct message) with people I would not have encountered any other way. I actually "know" just a small # of my Twitter "friends," but it could easily be argued that I share more of a common purpose - and more of a repoire - with all of them than I do with most of my facebook friends - people I went to grade school with or encountered once and have never seen again. "But it's shallow, pointless interaction!" you say. "It's a waste of time." First off baby, I got plenty of time. Moreover, I'd say that 99% of all human communication is so: the weather, the local sports team, complaining about things in life, hello/goodbye/howareyou/finethanks/awesome/kthanksbai etc. I might have five friends on this planet that I would truly bare my innermost thoughts to.

Now, as to content. Let me say that I am unapologetic as to my Twitter updates. Like all writing no matter how insubstantial, they are a reflection of me. My tweets are often profane (98/100 ranking on Cursebird, an entertaining metric service that ranks users by their level of foulness) because I am profane. I have reasons and experiences in life that have made me that way and like I said, I'm not going to apologize for it. My tweets may show little respect to God/Jesus et. al. because I have little respect for these constructs myself. I understand that my content may be (is) offensive to certain people. I do not hide behind a veneer of innocence. I do not "front." Following someone's updates is a conscious decision - and it is a reversable one. Today I've been unfollowed by one of the people I actually know in real life - and that's their prerogative. I'm not on twitter to blow smoke up people's ass, nor wax poetically about the Teddy Bear's picnic. I'm on there to crack jokes, vent frustration, and comment, good or bad, on the world around me. I'm on there to laugh at the jokes other people make and curse myself for not thinking of them first.

I've taken quite a bit of grief for it, but I'm enjoying myself without hurting anyone else. And that's more important to me than most anything else on this earth.