To tweet or not?

Just in the last few weeks I’ve been feeling the peer pressure to start using Twitter.  It’s on the blogging advice sites, it’s on the talk shows, it’s implied by people putting @ in front of my name in other contexts. I’m starting to get defensive. I have no intentions of joining the tweeters  for a number of reasons, but primarily my sanity. I just don’t see how it would enrich my relationships, save me time, or give me any joy.  That doesn’t mean others won’t find it fun and meaningful. If Twitter and cell phones had been around when I was in high school I would probably have been in heaven. Now I’m not sitting around waiting for classes to start or all that worried about keeping track of who broke up with whom.

I went looking for why people think it’s a good idea as opposed to just a time waster and found the following article from Lifehacker: 6 Ways You Should be Using Twitter which lists as one of the reasons that it saves time when you want to find out who got voted off American Idol.  I had two reactions to that one, first do you really need to know that immediately, and if you do, won’t Google deliver the news with less effort?

I suspect that the blogs that deal with simplifying and time management are finding a way to defend Twitter because of pro-blogging advice, such as Benefits of Twitter for Bloggers more than anything to do with efficiency.  The irony is that when you try to search a site for the word “twitter” all you get are the constant “follow me on twitter” links so I may have missed some great arguments on both sides.

I can see why some people would find the value in using it as a mini press release tool for things that you might actually issue a press release for.  However I can’t quite bring myself to encourage the use of something that is contrary to what I’m preaching – being more thoughtful and joyous by focusing on the important stuff.  So I’m not giving in to the pressure and if I miss out on a few hundred or thousand viewers, well, I’m probably too wordy to have kept their attention anyway.

For those that have no idea what I’m talking about, just substitute any growing ‘must have’ of the moment that doesn’t quite feel like a great fit to you.  Really ask yourself and others if there is any benefit outside of fitting in and then make the decision that’s right for you even if the whole world seems to be going in another direction.  You may just find the next greatest thing ahead of everyone else by skipping this one.

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