You get out of new technology whatever you put into it.
So when people scoff at Twitter and say they don’t care what people had for breakfast, they don’t get it.
I wrote a book with Twitter.
As a work-at-home dad I found Twitter to be the ultimate commiseration tool. When my kids drove me nuts I could share stories and hear from other parents. I began to tweet more about my family. I posted the weird things my kids said. I told funny stories. I talked about our adoption journey. I recruited others to support the causes we love.
I tweeted a lot of other junk too, but when I went back and sorted through all the updates there was a clear story. I didn’t set out to tell that story, but it was there. That story became Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 Characters, a book I self-published. It captures my family’s adoption journey as we grew our family and embraced a wider world.
Early responses–received through Twitter–call it hilarious and heart-warming, which means this book is hopefully more than narcissism.
It’s also a book that will save lives. A portion of the proceeds will fund a clean water well in Ethiopia through charity: water. It’s humbling to be able to give back to my son’s homeland.
All from a navel-gazing bit of technology.
So the next time someone dismisses Twitter, Facebook or any other new technology—tell them to think again. You get out of it what you put into it. Put in fluff like what you had for breakfast and it likely won’t amount to much. But put in something more, and you’ll get a lot more in return.
@meredithgould
Well said and written, Kevin. I’ve watched you deploy Twitter to create and engage community to serve a variety of causes. In fact, right before this post of yours popped up, I was going to write to tell you that your work on Twitter relative to clean water is what recently inspired me to support this ministry. Virtual community is real community.
@topbidswipe
I wish Google didn’t index everything so you could take a bunch of posts from Twitter and create a unique blog post. Your use of the conversation was cool.
@susiedec4
you’re my hero. rock on, kevin! and family and dogs.
@stretchmarkmama
I like that idea, mostly because I’m not a very good copywriter (meaning–the thought of a book overwhelms me, shucks, the thought of a paragraph overwhelms me). But I do think well in 140 characters or less.
Kevin, what do you use to track your tweets?
@Bill_lord
Great post Kevin. As silly as Twitter may seem to some, I have definitely seen how, “You get out of it what you put into it.”
@carriewriter
Your book looks great and reminds me of how I got the idea for my first e-book, from not really using Twitter the right way, and then tweeting excerpts from a fiction piece about the Balloon Boy that I was working on, which then got picked up by another blogger who has a movie coming out, based on her book! Anyway, I’d be interested in writing a review for my community if you have review copies available, please let me know and best of luck!
Great post. the problem with most people is that they have no vision. They cant see past their top lip. Those are the people who scoffed at Dick Tracy’s two way communicator or his wrist.
Most new technology take most people by storm they don’t understand it so they denounce it. They are Luddites. The early adopters jump on right away, the others wait for it to be “perfected”. Like in the 70’s when people were waiting for color TV to be perfected. Most eventually come along with their nail s dug in.
@kevinhendricks
Thanks for the kind words!
Lisa, I assume you mean how did I access my old tweets? I used a couple different sites, and it wasn’t easy. This article talks about how to archive tweets and step 8 includes a few services. I used a couple different ones, but none of them worked well and I had to do a lot of manual searching and copy & pasting.
@twarketing
What an inspirational post. I too am a stay at home dad. My kids sometimes drive me crazy but I am so glad I get to be home for them at this day and age. My son just turned 6 and my daughter is about to turn 4. I get to spend quality time with both at home and school. Most of my kids friends see me at their school more than they get to see their own parents. I have become sort of a kindergarten Rock Star..;-) I look forward to reading your book. All the best. JB
A book about Twitter is really great! Publishing an article or post about it is even better! A lot of people are confused of the real use of Twitter. Writing about it will allow people to know more about Twitter and its real use. People who know how to use Twitter will usually keep it to themselves so that other people will not compete with them. Good thing this article and book was written.
Thank you very much!
Alex
@shirleyszone
Great job on that, Kevin, and congratulations
. I find it very inspiring that you’ve done that cos what you’ve done has just inspired me 
.
Kudos, Kevin
.
I recently just released an eBook that I wrote on how to cure acne naturally and I want to get followers on Twitter to buy my book. How do I go about doing this? I have about 5,000 followers, but I have only had one sale for my product come from Twitter. Should I even bother with Twitter then?
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williamsjohn333
@imlostinbooks
I completely agree. I think you get out of it what you put into it. Same with anything else. I would die of boredom if all I talked about was what I had for breakfast. I have genuine conversations. I learn things. I find new blogs, new interesting people, and new projects. I love Twitter!
@studying1
great thing to do with twitter. hope you make money for what you want to do with it. unique way to write and i congratulate you.
Great information on twitter, if I had people to share what they know much better we would go to all (though many think the worst I would go to them), so thank you very much.