Friday, February 20, 2009

Lead, Follow or ... Oh, Nevermind, Just Tweet Something

If you see yourself in any of these 10 signs, you may need help. Is there at Twitter 12-step program? I may need it. I've been finding and following a lot of crafters, and then following some folk they follow...it's addictive. I'm trying to keep my balance of # of follows to # of followers within about 40 or 50, knowing that a number of people I follow won't follow back, so I probably won't ever have equal numbers.

Why? Because for some reason it bothers me to see folks following thousands and only having a few they follow back. Well, it bothers me when it's not Scalzi or Wheaton or Gaiman...

I have been surprised by a couple of follows - dipnote (Department of State), NPR tweeters, Stephen Fry (squee!!! *ahem* sorry)

Interrupting this post for breaking news: Just heard on BBC news on my radio: A British soldier has crashed 2 tanks in Germany this evening. Crashed one, went back for another and crashed it, too. For some reason, I find myself applauding his moxie... yes, he was drunk, and it was *bad bad* someone could have been hurt, yes... but really, two tanks? It is funny.

11 comments:

Frank Baron said...

Tanks for that story Dawn. ;)

Miss you around the Cooler!

Anonymous said...

I am among one of the very few Internet users on earth who do not have any account in Twitter or Facebook. I am a fulltime blogger and I really do not have any time because of slow Internet connection.

T. M. Hunter said...

I don't know how anyone could have 1000s of followers and actually try to follow conversations. I suppose maybe they use an alternate viewer than the web, maybe TweetDeck or something?

ohdawno said...

Oh, Frank, you're soooo punny!! ;-)

Razib, I get what you're saying - everyone has to choose how they use their resources (time, bandwidth) and Twitter is not for everyone.

Hey Aston! Yeah, but it's not followers, it's follow-ing - if you have 100k followers (like Wil Wheaton) but only follow 92 it's do-able. The guys who are following 15, 16, 20k - they're either playing a game of "how many can I get" or they're spammers.

I'm challenged following the ones I follow because there are a handful who tweet really persistantly, 4, 5, 6 in a row, all the time (Huffpost) - I'm probably going to stop following them, the noise ratio they bring to my feed is too high.

T. M. Hunter said...

Sorry, I meant followees. ;-)

Some days, I tweet a lot. But mostly, I don't have enough energy or time to do more than a few.

Pretty Things said...

My problem with Twitter is thinking I'm writing to air -- but I have fun doing it for ME to see where I've been that day.

MY "squee" moment was when Augusten Burroughs chose to follow me before I even knew he was on Twitter -- but he's since dropped his followers and followees because of masses of requests, and he's not using Twitter anymore. Poo.

ohdawno said...

Hi Lori! I know exactly what you mean about Tweeting to air. I do read all the tweets I can from the folk I'm following, but if I've been away for a couple of hours I usually only read back a page or two.

Sometimes I think of a reply to a tweet, but it's hours old and I know the conversation has moved on. On a blog comments can be on posts days or even years old and it's ok, but I don't think that's true of Twitter.

Anonymous said...

I have this buddette wayyyy up North who suddenly stopped posting on her own blog, and who wasn't responding to emails. I feared the worst, until I was told that she's ow twitting. I am relieved. I am also bummed.

ohdawno said...

Hi Serge! Yes, I can see how that would be disappointing - Twitter is rather limited and, unlike a blog, it's not as easy to feel like you're staying connected. Still, it's good to know your buddette is ok and not totally gone from cyberspace.

Frank Baron said...

HAY!!

You're due. :P

ohdawno said...

If by that you mean I should put up a post ... check back after 6PM Pacific Daylight Time