Monday, February 09, 2009

I wish I could be into Twitter

I like the idea of Twitter. Often when I'm nowhere near a computer I think of brief ideas that I'd like to post. I'd love to follow Levar Burton's attempt to quit smoking or tweet at the TTC's director of communications when there's a subway delay. And I'd totally want to be twittering early reports next time I'm in the presence of breaking news.

But there are just too many tweets. I could never keep up with all the incoming. I come home to nearly 100 new posts a day in my Google Reader alone - I just can't add another thing.

If I didn't have to have a full-time job, I'd be a kick-ass twitterer. I'd have a fun and witty feed and follow everyone I've ever heard of and come up with clever things that would make John Cleese reply to me. But unfortunately I don't have room for that much more internet commitment on top of a full-time job, and even the best twitter feed in the world won't pay the rent.

3 comments:

laura k said...

I also don't Twitter because it's one too many things. I read so much less actual serious information than I want to, barely scratch the surface on the blogs I'd like to read. Can't Twitter. Just can't add one more thing.

[Now, annoyingly, my weekend job is very busy - thanks to layoffs, those of us left standing are way busier. This seriously impairs my blog time. Hence weekday comments from me.]

Partisan Hobo said...

It's not like RSS at all. I know exactly what you mean, since I go crazy when my RSS articles pile up. Twitter is an instant thing. You follow it when it's on and don't when it's off. No catching up to do. No guilt. Only instant gratification for those times when you want it.

Most of the direct traffic on my blog comes from Twitter, which is really helpful for a young blogger like myself. It's also a great place to meet new readers, other bloggers, and get ideas for posts from outside the typical networks. I found when I started blogging that a Liberal blog would link to roughly the same network of other Liberal bloggers, a Conservative blogger to other conservatives and so on. The closed networks made it hard to find new stuff after a while and Twitter really helps.

I'd also recommend something like Mr. Tweet to help you find stuff you like. I'm playing with it now and it's been helpful.

Just my two cents :)

impudent strumpet said...

That's interesting, because that's exactly the opposite of what I need. If I'm following someone I want to read their everything, and I already want to be reading way more stuff than I have time for so another method of getting more stuff would just be overwhelming. Again, it would totally work if I didn't work full-time, but I have to work full-time.

I feel so old now.