NB: Those who are anti-twitter, please dont just skip this. I am not trying to convince anyone of the pros or cons of Twitter or any other social media. I am merely doing some introspection as to why the different social media work for me.
NB2: No offense to anyone who posts in the way I say people don’t want to read… its just my perspective on what makes a blog entry interesting to me.
Number 7 on Michael Hyatt‘s list of 12 reasons to start twittering got me thinking. It says:
It will make you think about your life. As you answer the question, “What am I doing?†you start to see your life through the lens of the people following you. Interestingly, it has made me more intentional and thoughtful about my life.
And that is true not just for Twitter, but for LJ, blogging, Face Book, etc. I find I have moments each day where I think ‘I should blog about this.’ Usually its something I hear on NPR while driving or during a conversation, or just some random thing I see or think about when walking Garbo. Usually I forget what it was or become distracted by the time I get to my keyboard.
The point being I do find myself, subconsciously, considering what are bloggable moments. Lets face it, no one really wants to read “got up, took a shower, walked the dog past the #asshat who doesn’t like dogs on his unmowed lawn, etc.” The same is true on Twitter. A daily tweet of “Cottage cheese and an apple for lunch” is boring, but a one time tweet that reads “Cottage cheese and an apple for lunch, again” lends some insight.
What people really want to read about, IMHO, is the moments in the day that are different, that stand out. Dont get me wrong, I love the weekend summary posts from my friends – I like knowing whats going on in their lives. But, its like the difference between a kid who comes home from school and says ‘fine’ or ‘english then math then lunch’ versus ‘In class we talked about …’ The later is far more engaging.
In some ways I think this is why Twitter is working for me at the moment. I can give short little updates when they hit and, theoretically, blog more in detail about them later. Or, just plain vent – note my not infrequent use of the #asshat hash tag. 😉
But the point, I suppose, is that any of the social media force you to take pause and reflect on moments to decide if they are interesting enough to blog/tweet/status update about. Thoughts?
