Do You Use Twitter?

I started using Twitter about a couple years ago but at first I couldn’t get used to it because the people I connected with were not on it. I have now found ways to use Twitter that suits my liking.

I heard that Twitter will soon replace Facebook as the favored social media platform. The report said most FB posts were usually less than 140 characters, so the limitation of Twitter was no longer a barrier. I can see the counterargument because Twitter does not have a way to separate the thousands of tweets from strangers and still be effective. I may be wrong about that.

I have a little bit over 400 followers (that’s extremely low) but I only know about 10 of them. I’m not really trying to get a huge following because that’s just more tweets I have to sift through to read something interesting. Yesterday,I commented about my dislike of what Joe Scarborough said on “Morning Joe.” In less than a minute, my iPhone starting alerting me of tweets and emails I was receiving. I received 14 emails in about 30 seconds agreeing with my thoughts and many retweeted my tweet.  That’s the first time that has ever happened, and it was my biggest day as far as new people following me.  It caused my wife to say” what the hell is wrong with your phone.”

I’ve been impressed with Twitter because of its ability to provide the real-time information. For instance, last night I found out who had won the Virginia governor’s race about 3 minutes before Fox News announced it. The other two cable channels provided that information about 20 to 30 minutes later. That’s important if you’re getting sleepy. I was really impressed during the three presidential debates of 2012 by the instant fact checking responses to a candidate’s answer by random tweeters. My wife uses Twitter to keep up with the latest gossip from the TV shows she watches. She just has to keep with her soap stars.

I’m not that knowledgeable about FB but I understand that it’s easy to partition off sections to family, friends and business associates. I haven’t seen where Twitter can do that.

I can see where blogging will lost its luster to Facebook unless you have a huge following. I guess a lot of people would rather discuss their issues with like- minded friends rather than defend them against people they don’t know. That’s where all the friending and unfriending comes in.

Then again, there are those who will use all the different social media formats in their own unique way. They will use Pinterest to get the latest holiday recipe, Facebook to keep up with the relatives and friends, and Twitter to see what the rest of the nation is thinking.