Twittermania

Hi, folks!

Below is an entry I wrote for another blog. As I am posting it here I am wondering what is the connection between Twitter (specifically this blog post) and Marketplace Spirituality.

I think what it is I am seeing a lot of superficiality emerging on Twitter where it's not so much people sharing about themselves or their day as it is sharing information. Yes, Twitter to me is becoming a bit of a data dump as opposed to a place where people can truly connect.

Well, read on and let me know what you think!

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Here is an entry I wrote for a blog dealing with the "Poetics of Professional Tweeting":----------

Only in America could something as simple as "Tweeting" become a business unto itself.As I understand it Twitter was created as still another way for friends and family to stay in touch. Now, it is being elevated to another stratosphere and suddenly there are all these articles, e-books, rules and regulations on how to best use it.

No offense intended but my question is who appointed anybody to be the grand arbiter of how to use Twitter? How to best use Twitter is a matter of opinion to me, not somebody just making up rules to make up rules.If I want to talk about the new smoothies at Starbucks, so be it. If I want to talk about my new website, so be it. What does it matter? It's only 140 characters and if you follow me, you follow the entire package, not just a piece of me. People follow you at their own discretion. Either they're connecting with you or they're not. How are going to know about my business if I don't tell you about my business? I don't have all day long to sit at my computer and come up with fascinating "news to use" just to pave the way for someone to be interested in my main reason for being on Twitter in the first place and that is to promote my business.

There is SO much information out there already coming from a myriad of sources, I don't need somebody else sharing still another piece of information with me as if they were a walking encylopedia. I rather like those "Morning all, I'm having my first cup of coffee" tweets. Those personal kinds of tweets turn an impersonal, high-tech experience into something more real so that I truly am connecting with another person and not the Wiki Encyclopedia :)To me that's part of the fun of being on the Internet. Making friends or connections in this vast universe with people that you might not ordinarily meet.

It's not necessarily what you know or who you are, but are you a good, sincere, interesting person. Pretty soon we'll have a "Twitter for Dummies" book which in my mind is the ultimate in minutia.It's a trend I see in our society, every little thing becomes a big business unto itself.I think we all just need to lighten up a bit and connect as real people -- not as superficial, voiceless, soulless information robots. And now ... time to unruffle my feathers a bit, return to the nest and get back to tweeting :))))))