Warming up to Twitter
by Christine Kling
When I first heard about Twitter I thought it was ridiculous. “That will never work,” I said to myself. How can anyone say anything of note in only 140 characters? And when I first joined Twitter in March of 2008, it did seem like most of what was being written was garbage.
I’m never going to be someone who participates all the time on any social network, but I am beginning to really enjoy Twitter. I’m still mostly a lurker, but these days I’m finding this big open party line of text messages to be a fascinating place to hang out. Most people under the age of 50 probably don’t even know what a party line is, but I can remember being able to pick up the phone and listen to other people talking in our neighborhood. Twitter is like that on a global scale.
Perhaps one reason Twitter appeals to me is because I live alone and I have a very solitary profession. Talking to Twitter is usually better than talking to the dog. At least there is a better chance of getting an answer.
Sometimes it’s just fun to lurk and read the jokes and conversations of people I know, but rarely get to see. I can just picture Zoë at her writing desk working on her latest book and suddenly wanting to share a joke with someone. She types and a few minutes or a few hours later Sean responds. I know them both and there is something delightfully voyeuristic about getting to “overhear” their conversation.
I’ve also created some lists for myself now that I’ve got too many followers to read in the main stream on my feed. I use TweetDeck and I can make columns there that only show the people on my list. I like lists because I want to filter out all the idiots who just post tweets that are shouting “Buy my book.” I have a list of authors, another list for sailing, and one that I just call “Interesting folk” where I see the most fascinating juxtapositions of ideas.
It’s very exciting to share in a conversation with a writer I really admire. Take Michael Gruber, for example. The Book of Air and Shadows is one of my all time favorite thrillers. I’m always waiting for his next book to come out. He has recently become quite active on Twitter, and I love his clever, cutting sense of humor. I can just go to his page and read back over several days of his tweets and be enthralled. Best of all is when he shows that he too finds writing a struggle.
James Scott Bell is another author whose tweets make for fun and always interesting reading. He’s one of those guys who makes it look easy to be smart and funny in 140 characters. He’s also very fast and prolific with a record of over 18,000 tweets. I don’t know how people like him do it. I have to spend time to think before I publish a tweet. I don’t do “clever” well at all.
Who would have thought that these weird short writings would make me understand better just how many people there are in the world? It’s one thing to see a number like 3,000 people. It’s another thing entirely to see them all talking at once on the screen. 
There are so many people out there doing interesting and wonderful things. Just today I discover the British woman whose tweet is at the top of this page — Sarah Outen who rowed from Japan to Alaska and spent 150 days alone in the North Pacific! She had already crossed Europe by bike and kayak, and I gather from her over 5,000 tweets, she has been tweeting every mile of the way. I imagine being able to send words out into the ether kept her sane during those 150 days alone at sea.
While reading posts about Sarah, I discovered Anna Wardley a Brit endurance swimmer who just swam around the Isle of Wight. The people who are doing extraordinary things tend to be connected to others like them. Without Twitter, though, most of us would only know about the TV celebrities or the Facebook feel good poster of the week.
In addition to people, I follow sailing magazines, non-profit organizations, the US Coast Guard, NOAA, publishers, etc. When there is breaking news like the Navy Yard shootings or the US winning the America’s Cup, it’s out there on Twitter long before it’s on CNN.
I’ve only just passed 500 tweets, so I’m still mostly a lurker. I don’t want to write garbage even though I recognize that often no one reads what I write. Writing something worth reading in only 140 characters is also a good exercise in conciseness. Occasionally I type out a bit of description of my own struggles and fire it out there. I’m always surprised when someone answers.
Fair winds!
Christine
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