How’s Twitter Going?

So I’ve been using Twitter for a few months now, long enough for a first impression. I still regard myself as a newbie, and I’m still learning more about  it, mostly by osmosis as I explore.

Context:

I don’t like Facebook and have engaged with that very little, often not checking in for months. I don’t use Tumblr or Pinterest, or other similar sites. My main online interactions are in writing forums, which I find very useful. I’ve come to know people there whom I’ve never met in person. Also, I once ran a blog under another name where I did get to know an entire community before handing it over to others.

I have no book to promote – I’m looking for information and interaction. Though I do tweet if one of my short stories is published.

The beautiful side of Twitter

I love:

Hearing first when someone I follow is performing in Australia, so I can buy good tickets. Thanks to Twitter, I planned to be online at the right time, and bought awesome tickets to Neil Gaiman’s last reading here in Sydney.
Hearing live updates from friends I know personally who use Twitter – I love this aspect, and it’s more immediate than Facebook.
Hearing events develop live, as tweeted by people going through them. This has given situations a world away from me a vivid reality, such as the flooding in Hoboken, NY. Through Twitter, I felt connected. To me, this is one of the most important aspects of Twitter. It makes the world a smaller place and joins us in global community.
Updates on local events that affect me. Eg: Emergency warnings affected my travelling plans when holidaying in Tasmania earlier this year.
Updates from publishers whom I have submitted to or hope to submit to. I love being able to follow publishers and editors on Twitter.
Links tweeted by others who share similar interests. I couldn’t possibly look at all of these, but I like browsing them occasionally.
Hearing when an author I know or admire has released a new story or novel.
Writing industry news. For example, tweets emanating from writing conferences I can’t attend can be interesting, or award nominations and so forth.

The evil side of Twitter

It can become a gigantic spam service.

That one thing encapsulates everything I don’t like about Twitter. It makes it difficult to sort the interesting stuff from the waste-of-my-time stuff.

I like the ordinary updates from people about their days. I like the sense of a big community out there doing ordinary and extraordinary things, and having the same frustrations as myself, and the shared humanity in that.

I dislike the tweets I think are sent by Twitter bots, where the same Tweet is sent multiple times. I also dislike the tweets where someone promotes their book over and over, including multiple quotes. (‘Over and over’ being the key phrase here.) Especially when that comprises 95% of their tweets.

I dislike the public tweets that thank strings of @names for following, and clog up my feed. Unless someone is a celebrity, very witty, or sends out a lot of useful links to information, I am now suspicious of Twitter accounts with thousands of followers that seem to have been gained through bots, yet where the feeds themselves contain only hype about their books or books they are cross promoting. I have yet to want to read a single book promoted in this way, unless it is by an established author. And those authors make announcements, but don’t seem to engage in that kind of spam.

I enjoy following authors who tweet about their lives, not only their books. I want to hear when they fail at baking a cake, or when they’re out about trying new things. When I get a feel for the person, I want to celebrate with them when I hear about their award or publication.

Twitter can also suck up your time.

Any form of social media can suck all your time up if you let it. It’s important to recognise that feeling of getting sucked in when you really don’t want to be. I close Twitter if I feel that happening. I need to write more than I need to Tweet.

My own tweets:

Right now, I have a toe in the water. I don’t have a novel to promote, nor a particular issue. I tweet if I have news – if a story of mine is published, if I have a post on this blog, or about my day, or if I have a strong reaction to something. I retweet stuff I find interesting or funny, and I enjoy communicating with people I know, or people I’ve met online. However, I don’t have a particular goal right now to tailor my Twitter usage to.  For me, it’s more about connecting with people, keeping up-to-date with industry news, and for the camaraderie in an isolating endeavour.

How have you found Twitter, and how have you engaged it to suit your own needs?