Re: You guys on twitter?

My little sister just emailed asking if I was on Twitter and what difference I see between Twitter and Facebook.

Our society is becoming so "connected" and our world so small! But are we actually better connected? How can people connect with me?

• Walk into my office and start a conversation. While that's disturbingly low-tech, my door's almost always open if I'm there; or
• Put a stamp on a letter and mail it to my office or my home; or
• Send me a fax; or
• Call me on my office phone, cell phone, or home phone (though nobody ever answers that one); or
• Send me an email... to my Terminix address, my ServiceMaster address, my Gmail address, my Yahoo! address, or my AT&T address; or
• Send me a text message; or
  
• Reach me on Facebook; or
  
• Reach me on LinkedIn; or
  
• Reach me on Twitter.

How come, with all those ways to interact, I don't know the names of my neighbors two doors down or diagonally across the street? How connected are we?

Back to TB's original question: what differences do I see between the social networks in which I participate? Maybe analogies would show my philosophies:

• Facebook is like a big party, a "come-n-go" party of my friends and acquaintances.
• I know everybody I let in, some better than others.
• Not all my friends know each other, but they all know me to an extent and have been gracious enough to stop by the party. Honestly, I have Facebook "friends" that I probably haven't poked, messaged, or whatever since finding and befriending them. People like old high school or college friends with whom I now find almost nothing in common, or students from Youth who either sent me an invite or I met and invited but left it there.
• Eventually, I'll see a remark about OU or UoA (Hogs) sports to which I respond, or a status that tickles me and I "have to" comment on it.
• If I returned from a vacation with family pic, I couldn't wait for my friends to see them. If I found a video on YouTube I found hysterical, I'd want to share it with the friends at my party. My friends would laugh with me (or at me) and we'd have a good time until one of us had to leave...for a while.
• LinkedIn is, for me, a business/professional alternative to the Facebook party. Perhaps it's like a "Business Afterhours" mixer with the Chamber of Commerce.
• Clearly different people have different objective for their LinkedIn membership.
• Some LinkedIn members are looking for jobs, trying to find or improve on their career path/position.
• Their counterpart is the mass of recruiters and placement companies spanning the horizon.
• Some see it as another marketing/prospecting avenue. They're trying to get their message out or connect with people that will pay for their services. The web-oriented entrepreneurs and Realtors are two of those types.
• Others use it as a web-based networking group, like a BNI group. They network to solve theirs and their network's problems and challenges, They try to help their acquaintances find business, answers, connections, and jobs. My own LinkedIn philosophy aligns more with the BNI group.
• I'm sure there are other objectives I've not even contemplated.
• Somewhere spanning all of those are the LIONs - LinkedIn Open Networkers - who are clamoring to connect with as many people as possible. I see how this would benefit some, like the recruiters, but it's not for me.
• Back to the "Business Afterhours" analogy,
• Everybody's cleaned up and appears professional. They're in business casual attire (or better) and – for the most part – don't stink or look like they just mowed the yard.
• You wouldn't walk up to a group of Chamber acquaintances and whip out vacation pics or tell them about the "coolest thing last night at Youth."
• You make your way through the room, interacting with individuals and small conversation groups. If you don't care for a topic of conversation, move on. No one's going to be offended.
• Your name tag tells who you are and what you do; so does theirs. Casual conversations, like "Oh wow! Do you know...?" or "How long have you been with...?" may open doors or may fall flat. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
• You may be invited to join a group of industry professionals, a networking group, or something else.
• I'm not saying everyone on LinkedIn is sucking on lemons and is strictly business. If you came upon a buddy at Business Afterhours, you may know he's interested in your vacation or that he's as interested in your youth as you are. You may whip the pics out, but you're always mindful of decorum.
• Twitter is like being at a mall. (Does anybody physically go to malls anymore?) Anyway, that's what I think it's like.
• Like the mall, pretty much anyone can come to Twitter: liberals and conservatives, Christians and Muslims, retired mechanics and the Former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush. Anyone! Wandering around the mall, you'll find some people who desperately need a shower, others may need a quart less cologne in the morning, and everything in between!
• As at the mall, the assortment of people on Twitter are there for a variety of reasons.
• At either place, you're apt to hear/overhear things that interest you, don't interest you, offend you, and embarrass you.
• You could just roam around the mall/Twitter, eavesdropping on everyone. Or you could find someone saying something that really interests you or with whom you really agree. You might follow that person, listening to their take on life, and even offer your 2¢ worth. Of course, if they're not similarly interested in you, they may ignore you. Such is the nature of the mall.

More random thoughts about Twitter:

• IMHO, I am not going to be interesting to everyone that interests me.
• Many on Twitter promote the philosophy of "follower reciprocity." You can tell from some of their posts that it offends them for someone not to follow them back.
• I disagree. Frankly, I'm boring and can't imagine why Karl Rove or some guy apparently in Brazil would choose to follow me. I followed Rove, out of obvious conservative curiosity, but have no interest in following the guy from Brazil who's posting in <I assume> Portuguese.
• In keeping with the mall analogy, follow me if my posts interest you. Don't be offended if yours don't interest me. Along those lines, I really liked this article: http://mashable.com/2009/01/06/twitter-follow-fail/
• The Mashable page is a wealth of information, including "social networking." You might look at the articles linked on this page: http://bit.ly/4iQX
• The eclectic collection of people I'm following includes conservative bloggers, politicans, a few "normal" people, local and national media, Christian leaders, OU fans, and a few friends. I guess there are a few in there that I really can't classify anywhere. I've found them by reading comments made by others I was already following.
• You "must" check out www.topconservativesontwitter.org
• Watch for #TCOT (above), #SGP (Smart Girl Politics), and #RNC or #RNCCHAIR hashtags in messages. You can also search for them.
• I don't know how familiar you are with Mark Driscoll or Mars Hill Church, but here's a tweet from Dec 18: From @gtb "For those of you on Twitter who like Mark Driscoll, Mars HIll Church, Acts 29, and the Resurgence, follow @theResurgence @Acts29 @PastorMark"
• Other than that, keep your eyes open. Read tweets, look at past tweets and bio's, click-through to people's websites.
• What tweets do my followers hear? Mostly what I'm doing or where I'm going. Occasionally, I'll comment on something political or newsworthy that I've read. I may pose a question about a business situation or political issue, but it's seldom acknowledged unless directed at a specific person. Since I'm not a "fulltime blogger," I'm not typically trying to point people to a blog.
• That leads me to a minor turnoff – using Twitter as a perpetual advertisement! The premise of Twitter is literally "micro-blogging," communicating your idea in 140 characters or less. Many in the twitterverse have lost sight of the simple question at the top of the page: "What are you doing?" That's what it should be about.
• Don't simply put out an endless string of "Contact me to learn how to…" or "Let us show you…" tweets.
• Less annoying is the blogger – I'm not talking about media types, like Hugh Hewitt, Mike Huckabee, or Matt Lewis – who uses Twitter as a "Headline News" to point followers to their ongoing blogs. While I don't begrudge them that use, it's nice on occasion to hear from them as people, too.

Well, aren't you glad you asked. True to form, you asked what time it was and I told you how to build a clock. Am I my Dad's son or what?!

Love you,

Me