Bowery Mural

Tweet, though your heart is aching

Monday 4 October 2010

N ow you know how much I love Twitter, don't you? Well I've been collecting this blog post and swirling it around in my head for quite a while now but thought it was about time it came out.



To me the whole point of Twitter is to connect with people you otherwise most certainly definitely would not have connected with had it not been for Twitter. You can gain valuable information about things that you never even thought you were interested in until you read it via a link posted on Twitter. Friends are made and borders mean nothing. You can post anything you want such as shamelessly plugging your blog posts, telling everyone how much you love a song and even through the power of FourSquare and other such location apps, you can tell everyone where you are at an exact time so that they can one-stalk you, two-come and meet up with you or three-ignore you, and you know what? that's all fine to me. There are no limits to what you can or can't say on Twitter. Although I'd never be rude to someone mind. In saying that some people have no problem with being down right rude back to you or to other people and quite frankly there's just no need. For example... people seem to have a hang up about losing followers, they criticise and even mention the person by Twitter ID when they  unfollow them. That is just rude. It just means (wait for this revelation!!!) that to them you are no longer interesting - get over yourself please. People are free to follow or unfollow who they want. Simple. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. (Funny eh, someone tweeted that once and I thought it was good!).


I've never ever been a subscriber to thought that you HAD to follow people back if they follow you! I mean really do you? Nope! Sherlock. I'm under no illusion and know that at least a third of my followers are businesses, or bots, or brands trying to sell me something. And that's fine if they find what i tweet about interesting (or not because there's no-one actually there, or is there?!). It's like I get that I follow Lance Armstrong and Russell Brand and Steven Fry and they probably ain't ever gonna @ reply me but I like following them because I'm interested in what they're doing in their lives. Newsflash... they're mostly like you an me except they have become 'famous'. I like following some brands too (only some mind) because sometimes they aren't all about posting shite every hour.

About 2 months ago i started following a girl. I followed her because I saw her name on a tweet from someone i already follow about buying furniture from Homebase. Pretty mundane you might think but I offered some info that Homebase was basically Argos furniture and we have got some and it's stood the test of time. A wee snippet of boring info but the girl found it useful and helpful and thanked me. We tweeted back and forth and then she tweeted one day that she felt she had nothing interesting to say that any one would want to listen to. I got straight back onto her and said tweet whatever and whenever you like. There are no rules and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If she wanted to tweet about her dinner - that's fine, if she wants to tweet about being the greatest at something - that too is fine.  And this is something I strongly believe. There are no Twitter Police who can tell people what they can and cannot say on a public place such as Twitter. She said she felt sometimes she didn't want to tweet and that too is fine. I just wanted to make sure that she didn't in some way feel like she couldn't tweet about something because she felt 'it wasn't interesting' to some people. I tweet about all sorts and to some it may be interesting and a great source of amusement whilst to others it may be the most boring thing ever - WHO CARES! It's all about the communication, the sharing, the banter, the joy when someone has a great achievement, the sadness if their day isn't going well. It's all about a wonderful Community. At least that's what I hope it still is...

In all honesty I think there are times when people can't deal with you if you might be having an off day. They can only deal in the happy happy clappy fun times but I'm afraid in real life there are bad days just as there are many good days and so people may want to say they're feeling rubbish or how shit is the weather or just that they don't feel too well. Someone else on Twitter told me that they were feeling a bit down after something quite unexpected happened to them relating to their job. I would have been floored by their news if it had happened to me. But what the person said at the time was that "people don't want to hear about my bad luck so I've stayed off Twitter". Why should said person have had to feel like that? I'd have liked to have helped them at that point when they might've needed it. Granted some people may not want to share details but heck if they put out a call saying they were feeling a bit rubbish then I'd like to think they wouldn't be met with blankness and no @ replies because everything's meant to be happy all the time in Twitterland!

I suppose what I'm trying to say through all my waffling is that we shouldn't berate people for what they tweet about. A Tweeter should never stop what they tweet about for fear of being shunned or ignored. If I want to say I'm having a bad day I will, if i want to telly you I'm drying my hair i will, heck I don't moan when all I read in my timeline is another goddamn tweet about hangovers or SM stats or people who would argue black is white that in no way shape or form are they social media experts or gurus when that is what they are... Embrace it guys...  :o)

Tweet though your heart is aching
Tweet even though it's breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by
If you tweet through your fear and sorrow
Tweet and maybe tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through for you

Play nice now people.

Ange x

5 comments:

  1. The lovely legions of Twitter were so good to me recently when one of my best friends died. Sometimes 140 characters of support is all you need to make a difference :)

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  2. Thanks for the comment on my blog. It was very kind. I'm glad you liked the hair, it wasn't traditional wedding hair but it was very me haha!

    I also love twitter and agree that people shouldn't freak out if they are losing followers. Sometimes people turn out to be dull and so I unfollow. I don't see any point in listening to someone who bores me. And to be honest I quite like peoples tweets about drying hair and what they had for dinner haha!

    Laura xx

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  3. Agreed Rob. If we can't help each other in the bad as well as celebrate in the good then what's ot all about..! Glad you found some comfort in Twitter at that time x

    Laura Yes I quite like to know what people are making for dinner too! I guess it's just my general nosiness that is in me :o)
    When i get married!!!!!... I will have my hair very me too. Hairspray will be banned x

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  4. "Check yourself before you wreck yourself" Like it! Must try and remember it :) Ice Cube song right?

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  5. Hi Neil
    Yeah it's a good line that eh. Nott sure what song its from, i just heard someone say it once.

    But do you agree with the post, are we right to tweet what we want? I think so. I dislike when people try to tell you it's not cool to tweet about this or that. End of. :o)

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