When Twitter launched, I remember being mostly uninterested. Like a great many of its skeptics, I couldn’t imagine caring what people had for breakfast, what time they went for lunch – what they were doing at that minute. And now, as a Twitterer of some months? I still don’t. Not really.
Sure, for the folks I know closely, it’s of some interest. As it is for the folks that lead spectacularly interesting lives. But if you’re anything like me – that’s not you. So what’s the best way to Twitter?
As is likely obvious by now, I have no real idea. I’ve considered Alex’s “Tweetin’ Right” post, and I think he’s on the right track, but for me I think it’s a more simple equation. While I might not particularly care what you’re doing, I am most certainly not averse to being entertained. Twitter asks the fairly basic question of what I’m doing. Instead, I try to answer the more complicated question of what am I doing that’s potentially entertaining.
Often, that’s not much, which is where Simpsons quotes and such come in. In other words, I’m trying not to inform, but to entertain. Mostly unsuccessfully, I’m sure, but the effort has to be worth something.
As I continually remind a friend of mine I’m trying to prod into blogging, one of my literary favorites once said, “There are significant moments in everyone’s day that can make literature. That’s what you ought to write about.” I certainly don’t view Twitter as literature – if it is, the apocalypse may be nigh – but I think the principle is sound.
You may or may not agree with the assertion that there are moments in everyone’s day that would make good literature, but it’s difficult to argue that there are moments in everyone’s day that make for good entertainment. Or that can be described in an entertaining fashion. You just have to know what they are, and how to document them.
I certainly would not claim to have mastered that art. Nor would I presume to instruct would be Twitterers that that’s the one true path. It is, rather, just one man’s opinion of the kind of Twitter feeds I personally like to read, and am likely to subscribe to. Enough, in at least one case, that I’d probably pay to read it.
But to each their own, of course, and be sure to take all of this for what it’s worth: not a whole hell of a lot. If you like to Twitter a laundry list of the day’s activities, go for it. Whatever keeps you posting is probably a good thing.
