Getting Used to Twitter

While I've been signed up on Twitter for a while, I've never been at peace with it. Instead i hang out on Facebook where I have (well, had) a manageable friends list and for the most part only posted to those friends. There was a time where I could go through my friends list and verify that i had met each person in the flesh at least once. Such were the days. Now with my participation in Facebook groups I have friends that I've never met in person which has taken a lot of getting used to. If someone is close to me geographically and we get on really well I arrange to meet up with that person for lunch just to have a face-to-face conversation which I really love.

But this only works along the west coast where I live. My friends circle has increased and my professional circle seems to be particularly fond of choosing those that are more that an incidental two hour drive away or don't live in a city that I already travel to. In fact, they are more than a two hour plane ride. Fortunately, there is video conferencing which I'm well used to from my work, and I've spent a lot of time on Google Hangouts and Zoom. I should also get used to Apple Facetime, but like many, I don't particularly like how I look in HD, and I look fine in most photographs.

And now, I have a novel coming out. I need to reach out to readers and not my well-protected Facebook friends list. So I now have an author page on Facebook (Hi there. I don't know how to talk to you yet.) And I have to get used to tweeting to the world. Eeek. AND I can't edit tweets, I can only delete them. Half of my Facebook posts are edited because of a typo or unclear wording. That's just crazy that we can't edit tweets. It's certainly technically possible.

So now I have a new skill to learn. How to talk to actual strangers in just 280 characters. One reason I rarely used Twitter is the old 140 character limit. Drove me nuts and I just said 'Fine, forget it.' Now I don't have that excuse.

Now what to say. I'm a writer, so just retweeting is not really my thing though it's a great way to get started. I need to create content. I actually have little trouble with Facebook addiction because I'm the one doing the talking half the time. I'm not caught up in that never ending stream of post after post which can depress you after a while. (There is research out there on this, but I don't have it at hand.) i just have to learn to ignore noise and there is a lot of it on Twitter. I have to focus on what I want to say and listen to what someone is trying to tell me. It's probably just as well we have to be brief.