Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Reasons why I haven't joined Twitter

I'm on a list kick, I guess.

Although I should clarify that I do have a Twitter account, but only because someone many years ago made me feel like it was going to be the nextgreatawesomegmailthing and if I didn't get my name soon that I would have to be like JEMlovesvolleyballandgrillingandsometimessocks5489. So I made an account, but I don't actually use it. That would be uncouth.

Also: disclaimer. I have nothing against Twitter, nor against the people who use it. These are just my own personal feelings about my own potential Twitter usage. Tweet on, Twitter lovers!

1) I am totally not interesting enough to tweet things, even on a daily basis. Unless you want to know how often I  get up at work to go pee or the amount of sandwiches I eat in a day.

2) I'm kind of like that old guy in Up about technology. Yes, I work with it for a living. Yes, I blog. Yes, I email. But I still sometimes get all "what's this newfangled tag thing?" and "why am I poking this person? it's obscene. in my day we asked a girl out to a nice steak dinner first."

3) I already waste  spend countless hours perusing the lovely blogs I follow, I can't add Twitter accounts to that. Not if I ever want to sleep again.

4) The instant gratification of Twitter gives me way too much leeway to say something really stupid that will be forever immortalized in internet databases everywhere. I really shouldn't be allowed out in public, but certainly not a public where I can write exactly what I'm thinking without any filtering.

5) I can't be contained to 140 characters. I don't care if concise writing would make me a better writer. If I have something important enough to say to put it on the internet, it's going to be longer than 140 characters. Trust me.

6 comments:

Melissa Gill said...

I'm totally with you on twitter. I have an account, but I rarely even check it. If I even think about it at work, Security Strike Force Delta swoops down on me and raps my knuckles for "social networking on company time." For some reason they have no problem with my blogging???? (I'm sure that's only a matter of time.)

My off work hours are supposed be for writing ONLY! Ha, but still I can't really add twitter to that mix right now. I figure I have plenty of time when I get closer to the publishing stage.

Laurel Garver said...

I'm with you on the time limit thing. I'm not quite at the place in my career where building a massive platform is going to make or break me. I think my time would be better spent getting a few quality books written.

I also have a bad case of last-born disease and worry about being perceived as a pest. :-D

Tere Kirkland said...

Don't have time for it, and it's blocked at work. I just don't feel like Twittering once I get home, and I can't figure out how to post from my phone.

I figure if someone mentions something interesting on Twitter, I'll hear about it the next day on someone's blog.

Lola Sharp said...

I agree with you, on all counts.

I JUST (last week) joined. Partly because I wanted toes what the hype was/is about. Mostly because I wanted the extra points I could earn by tweeting a couple of contest for ARCs.

Happy Humpday, JEM!
Love,
Lola

Anonymous said...

I have a Twitter account, but haven't been spending much time on it. I agree with all your points -- it's so difficult to tweet quirky and intelligent things, all in 140 characters.

Cruella Collett said...

I love Twitter. It gives me something to complain about on an everyday basis. Not that I have a Twitter account. I just like complaining about things I know nothing about (unlike you - you clearly sat down to figure out what it was about Twitter that didn't fit you. I just make slanderous assumptions).