Written by:

Holly Macdonald

Date:

August 10, 2010

[tweetmeme source=sparkandco only_single=false <a href=”https://www.URL.com”>https://www.URL.com</a>]

It’s been a few months since I joined the Twitter party – a little late (fashionably late?) and 221 tweets later, I thought I’d make another blog post about my experience.   I have felt dumb, looked stupid, and now maybe sound like an idiot as well.  You can be the judge… 

  • Mistakes I’ve made – well nothing too dramatic, I hope – typos that others have pointed out (hate that), misattributed something (not intended), forgot the # in a #lrnchat – and had to re-type (probably annoying for those in my LinkedIn network).  I’m not sure that others would label that idiotic, but for someone who hates to look like an idiot, it sucks to be imperfect in a public forum. Um,  Just found the tweetchat room as I typed this post.  How’s that for sounding like an idiot?!

Note to self: grow thicker skin. 

Second note to self: don’t be so naive – no one is keeping score on how many mistakes you make (are they?) 

  • I’ve tried #lrnchat, mainly lurking, and what I’ve noticed is…I feel a bit like the loner at a party who doesn’t quite know how to sidle up to a group that obviously knows each other fairly well.  My feeble little tweets just sort of floated there like orphans and I wasn’t sure if: no one noticed, no one thought it was worth commenting/retweeting, no one knows who the hell I am (ewwww, it’s the n00b, just don’t make eye contact), and I need to show up a few times before acceptance, as I might just be that annoying person that joins your conversation and kills the mood.  It’s hard to follow and I don’t always get the references [there’s a #lrnchat drinking game – very tongue in cheek, which I didn’t clue in to right away.  Tweets like:  blah, blah, blah #ADDIE <drink> blah, blah, that eventually gave it away].  But there seems to be a sense of community that is just as compelling as real life networking/cocktail party type of situation.     

(I did pick up followers, though, so maybe that’s an indication that someone “heard”.  I shall persevere – not sure what works better for me, early or late…I think that makes a difference, too.)

  • I have also continued to use the web interface, as I’m not sure which alternative would be better – TweetDeck, Seesmic or HootSuite seem to be the top choices, but I haven’t really invested the time to compare (anyone got a good place to see side-by-side features?). 
  • I have found the paper.li aggregator quite a nifty little tool, and feel a little like I was near the front of the pack on this one, as I’m now seeing a bunch of these come through my feed, so might end up just being more noise to existing Twitter followers.  I think the value of this is more with the non-Twitter types that might find this a way to allow me to be their aggregator.  But since they are not on Twitter, gotta go back to other methods of pinging so to speak.
  • I discovered the “favorites” button on the web interface (althought they forgot the “u”) and that has been quite a boon – I have been collecting favourites to review and then if I like ’em, they go into my delicious account, where they get tagged, and occasionally printed – gasp!
  • I have added and dropped people to follow – there is potential to succumb to “Twitterthink” – groupthink via Twitter – if everyone who follows each other all agrees with one another, topics will get old fast.  Discussions are interesting when people bring different perspectives, must be careful to seek diversity.

I do worry about the “time suck” factor – is the amount of time I might put into Twitter actually going to be worth it?  As a consultant (I shouldn’t be ashamed to label myself as such), obviously I am interested in whether or not it will help me sell my services, but as a learning professional, I’m also aware of the learning application in an organizational setting.  As an individual, I’m certainly finding lots of great perspectives, info, reports, which has kept me coming back.  

The bottom line -> 1. business need 2. strategy 3. tool 4. workflow process

PS – this is my 100th post on Spark Your Interest – please have a glass of wine and toast my milestone with me virtually (that way I can, too and not feel guilty!)  or should I say #ADDIE <drink>?