Friday, March 06, 2009

To Twitter Boldly?

Just when I get blogging down and have ever-so-confusedly waded into Facebook, here comes the rolling thunder of Twitter. It has been around. But never so publicly and famously as in recent weeks, or so it seems to me.

Months ago I made some move to sign up for it, but have done nothing with it.

Then just in the last few weeks, I read a large feature on it in New York magazine. And someone running a boat near that miraculous New York plane crash in the Hudson saw what was happening and, of all things, tweeted about it. Legislators were twittering from the floor of Congress while they listened to Obama give a live speech in front of them. And Jon Stewart did a snarky riff, "Twitter Frenzy", on his Daily Show; seems he thinks it's dumb. "This new technology sounds adorable!...I have no idea how it works or why it is."
.
The whole idea is sorta like this: you text-message a friend list a thought that can run up to 140 characters.

But today I learned about something going on on Twitter that I want in on. But jeez, I'm tired of these time-consuming new systems cropping up. However, I may have to learn the art of tweeting. Because there's an item going around called Queryfail; agents and editors are posting bits from bad query letters they've received (w/o any names.) A lot of readers are saying that seeing these errors is teaching them how to do it right. So that's a valuable resource. And I suppose I need to jump in. See you there. I guess.








If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

5 comments:

Greta said...

As you consider jumping in, I'm considering jumping out...of Facebook, that is. I don't have time to communicate/write on walls/respond to challenges and I feel guilty when I don't. I was/am on Classmates but my daughter told me it was mostly old people, so I decided to give Facebook a try. I'm still trying. It's not only a matter of limited time; it's a matter of technological savvy, or lack thereof. Oh, well, I'm there until I'm gone.

I got hung up on woofers and tweeters, so you can imagine how if I feel about twitters.

Keep us informed.

Peggy Payne said...

I'm a bit burdened by Facebook, too.

For me, it's mainly a system for offending people by not knowing how to Confirm their offers to be Friends.

And what's wrong with old people, anyway?

billie said...

I deleted my entire Facebook thing last week, in response to an announcement that they reserve the right to everything you post there, including photos, even if you delete your account.

I'm not paranoid, but I think I'm getting crotchety, as that gave me just the excuse I needed to opt out of Facebook.

I hear about Twitter and folks using it and liking it, but my initial reaction is it's just one more thing that represents wanting to be in on every conversation, fearing not knowing what's going on, on a constant basis, and at this point in my life I am headed resolutely in the opposite direction.

I want to filter out all the excess "noise" I can.

I love email and I love blogs. I'm discovering that's about as far as I want to go online. (websites are good, too)

Anonymous said...

I was the keynote at a luncheon yesterday. The woman who had asked me to present was texting feverishly as I spoke. After she thanked me profusely, she announced she gleefully to the audience that she had just twittered speech highlights (it was a webinar which I loathe as you cannot move from the podium) to her list.

It was both disturbing and seductive. I had to be alone today.

Peggy Payne said...

Billie, I had no idea about the Facebook rights thing. I wonder if there was something in the terms of agreement that allowed them to set up "rules" like this. Otherwise, I don't see how it's legal. People own copyright to their own work unless they've explicitly signed away the right. Certainly does make me question the whole thing. And you're: it may be just the excuse I need.

Anon, I think you did well to keep your composure when someone in front of you was texting the whole time. I do understand about a day alone, too. I have the rest of this day unscheduled, unstructured: it's now 2:25 and the weather's gorgeous. I'm off to play by myself in the yard.