I have been on Twitter for seven years. Yet, I still don’t get it.
It seems to defy categorisation. Is it a place where you can enjoy a little bit of chat and fun during your morning coffee break? For some people it’s where you promote yourself or your brand. For others, it’s that harmless place to talk about what they had for lunch. Then there’s the dark side – where people band together as an ugly, faceless, group of vigilantes to attack anyone who doesn’t agree with them. Where do I fit in?
Unlike other forms of social media, I’ve never been able to successfully dip in and out of it. I pop by in the morning and say some random, chirpy thing about my day. Mostly, It falls slowly like a heavy stone to the bottom of a very large pond, noticed by no one.
I mainly use it to share my blog posts and to support other bloggers by retweeting theirs. Occasionally, I say hi to someone. But it saps time that I should be spending doing something else, and it just doesn’t feel rewarding enough to justify that. I suppose I’m a part-time Twitter user, and I get the impression that that’s not possible.
Now, Instagram, I totally get you. I share pictures I love, and my life is enriched by looking at inspiring images from other users. I comment and like things – successfully dipping in and out throughout the day. I feel like I get something out of it, and I don’t actually mind it sapping up quite a bit of my time.
Twitter, on the other hand, feels like a cold, impersonal environment – rather like a giant school playground where no one wants to speak to you. Is it possible for Twitter to feel warm and welcoming, or is that just not the point? Increasingly, it doesn’t feel relevant to me.
Does anyone else feel like this, or is it just me?
Absolutely agree. I used to love Twitter – many moons ago – and found it easy to strike up a conversation. But then I had a break from it of about 18 months, and when I returned it was so hard to get back into the swing of things.
I try, like you, but mostly feel like anything I say on there falls on deaf ears. I haven’t tweeted for a few days as I feel frustrated by it, but know I need to give it another go. Xxx
I never got into the swing of it to start with! I just find it so unrewarding!
I think the way twitter looks and feels to each individual depends entirely on the kind of individuals we choose to follow and correspond with. It could be a group of weavers, or knitters, or people with children, or people trying to live out their faith. It could be a group of very needy people for whom the support others give is never enough, and who never give anything in return. It could be a group of lovely people who can give and take throughout their daily lives. I’ve gradually had to withdraw from most of the neediest – the ones who only talk about themselves, and only take. That’s left me with a manageable number of very nice people who I care about, and who I see as genuine friends, even thigh I’ve never met them – daily pen-friends, you might say. As long as the help given and received balances out with most of them, most of the time, I can manage a few more needy ones. Then, when I need comfort, reassurance or sympathy myself, there’s usually someone in a position to offer a bit of help. Last point, I don’t have too many of these relationships, otherwise I’d be writing tweets all day – just enough for interest and enjoyment! Love from Ruth.
My problem is definitely that I follow too many people. But I suppose I am approaching it in a more business focused way, so I suppose you can’t have it both ways!
I feel exactly the same way. I used to love Twitter and spent ( or rather wasted) hours on it. Most of my tweets were pretty inane. I used it to tell the world about my new blog posts, but these usually went unheard and as is the way, my little blog went mostly unread. I followed far too many people and I just got a bit swamped by it. I then started wondering why on earth I was using it. I don’t have a business, the blog promotion thing clearly wasn’t happening and my life is pretty run of the mill and most days are of the ‘got up,went to work, came home, watched TV and went to bed’ sort. Hardly riveting stuff to tweet about. However, it has had its plus points. I have made lovely friends on it, some of whom I see in ‘real life’ and I wouldn’t have had the wedding I wanted without discovering wedding industry people who use Twitter.
I only discovered Instagram last Autumn and I absolutely love it. Not only do you get to see fab images, but you can have great conversations without being restricted by character numbers, and you get to meet like minded people. It’s a much friendlier and personal place than Twitter. I’ve already made new friends and even had lunch with one of them. We got on like a house on fire and we will definitely keep on meeting to catch up. The only drawback is that I’m forever looking for a photo opportunity. From hardly ever taking a photo, I’m now forever clicking away. So much so that Mr R has warned me that he’ll hide my phone. Eek…Nooooooo!
A lot of people seem to say it’s gone downhill – perhaps now that it’s so big! Certainly, when I first joined up it was much emptier. You’re right about the pressure for photos for Instagram! My family get fed up with me stopping to take photos all the time.
I used to REALLY love Twitter – but it does feel like a bit too much promotion nowadays (I am too guilty for this though). But I do get a lot out of it still – people do chat and I have made friends and I keep up to date with news, issues and blogs this way. I adore Instagram though, I agree. It is becoming a real hot favourite isn’t it? Whenever I ask people they say it is their most popular social media platform. I tend to focus on Twitter, IG, Pinterest and Facebook as my main blogging areas as I can’t cope with any more ha ha ha!!!! xx
Yes, it’s definitely Instagram all the way for me! I always forget to share things on twitter though, which is shame as I’d probably get more out of it. I used to use the auto-share for Instagram to twitter, but I do think that’s a bit irritating for people who don’t use Instagram! x
I’m the other way around – I love Twitter but don’t really get Instagram! I think it might depend what kind of person you follow. I won’t follow people who just constantly tweet links to their posts, or retweets of other people’s, because there’s no dialogue to be had there. I find I’m more likely to interact with someone if I post an actual status, because I ant to actually connect with people, not just be about self promotion. Not that there’s anything wrong with promoting blogs etc, I just think it’s better in moderation.
I think you’re right there Emma. I probably follow too many people, so finding someone to actually talk to is pretty difficult! Because I like Instagram so much, I tend to save all my interesting things for that, and forget to share them on Twitter too. Before I give up on it, I need to try a bit harder with my content I suppose!
I’ve never tried Instagram…maybe I should dip my toe in! I’m relatively new (well compared to your seven, I’m less than a year!) into Twitter and I don’t think I really use it properly – either for blog promotion or interaction. I don’t post super regularly and I find I lose track and vice versa of the people I’ve made ‘friends’ with sometimes so it all gets a bit much for you. I think I need to unfollow people who’s tweets I continuously scroll past and maybe start tweeting a bit more regularly…
Hmm, I haven’t tried any other social media platform though so can’t compare it as an experience.
Interesting post x
Thanks Lucy. It’s just so vast, isn’t it? Anything I say just seems to get swallowed up. I probably follow too many people, but once you start writing etc, you feel the need to acquire more followers – and the more you follow, the harder it is to engage. I think I just need to keep chipping away at it. I’ve been making more of an effort to share things there this week, and actually I’ve noticed a positive change already!
I really like Twitter. I don’t get a lot of time for it but pop on for ten/fifteen minutes a day to see what’s going on in the world. Like you, I might share a couple of my own blog posts or one from someone else that I’ve really like but I use it more for chatting and nosing around rather than for my blog. It came in to its own for me when I was breastfeeding as I was sat on the sofa for hours and am not a big TV watcher. It was fab to be able to chat on virtually at the same time. A lot of the people who I still chat to now are from those nightfeeding days x
I think I need to just keep chipping away at it – it’s great to hear you only spend ten minutes a day on it. Perhaps there is hope!
I’m with you on this one Lizzie! I wish I’d joined Instagram years ago – I find it so inspiring and uplifting. Twitter doesn’t love me at all and I don’t get it either – not properly anyway! xxx
Exactly! Twitter just can’t compete with the prettiness of Instagram (although even that can wear a bit thin sometimes, especially when my house is a tip!) x