I confess, I’m not accomplishing what I need to today. My natural circadian rhythm is that of a night owl. I’m always up past midnight, frequently much later. The problem is that I’m required by my needy dogs and the lives of my kids to live the schedule of a morning person. This equals a pretty regular lack of sleep. Last night, I didn’t get to bed until 2:00 a.m. Needy dogs insisted I get up at 5:00 a.m. to feed them Scooby snacks and let the arthritic basset in and out for her morning constitutional, since the cold and the dog door don’t mix well for her.
So, staying focused today is a bit of a challenge. It is in this state of mind that I question the value of Twitter.
I’ve been using Twitter for a few weeks…attempting to figure it out and use it well, I should say. Practicing the etiquette of retweeting for folks in the hopes that some may reciprocate as needed. Learning the art of brevity to cover both my message and the desired hashtags. As I’ve gained more followers, and followed more people myself, I wonder if this isn’t just an exercise in futility.
There is a constant barrage of tweets coming in, which grows exponentially as I follow more people. How does one keep up? I pop in a couple times a day to see what’s happening, and there are just so many messages. I respond to ones that catch my eye, or retweet here or there without bombarding my own followers with too many RTs. Then I dash off one of my own.
Perhaps it is the lack of sleep making me grumpy, but I can’t help but think Twitter is mostly an exercise in tossing one’s own thoughts into the ether and hoping someone pays attention. At least with Facebook, there’s a reasonable expectation that SOMEONE will respond, even if it’s just clicking the Like button. Then you know you’ve been heard.
I don’t know if I’ll keep the Twitter account. I’ll try downloading Hootsuite, which I’ve heard is more helpful than TweetDeck for managing this social tool, and see if that helps. But I have enough things clawing at me for time and attention. Does Twitter deserve a piece of the time-pie? Do you use Twitter? If so, how do you manage it?
Lucy Francis 