By Tatiana of A Very Good Year. Follow her @averygoodyear.
“Hi honey,” the MSN message read. “I can’t figure out this Twitter thing. Are you on here?”
I like to think of myself as a fairly web-savvy person. I blog at my own domain. I would marry Google if it were an actual person and not a web empire. I’m part of numerous social networking and bookmarking sites, I participate in forums regularly, and I’ve been browsing the internet since it was nothing more than green text on a black screen on my Tandy. So when my mother, who finally signed up for Facebook in March, sent me this message, it was a shock: she had gotten a Twitter account before me.
Before Oprah.
Before the whole Ashton and CNN hooplah, even.
All I knew of Twitter was that Rick Sanchez (@ricksanchezcnn) used it as an integral part of his show, and no way would I fall into his trap, his web of Twitter fanboys and fangirls. And really, isn’t Twitter just like eternally updating your Facebook status? Why would I want to do that?
Clearly I didn’t “get it.”
But my mom did.
I realized that if my mom’s beat me to it, I’m very behind the times. I signed up for an account and sent out my first tweet:
Months behind? More like years behind.
Now I tweet religiously. Although so many articles on this site focus on how to use Twitter to improve your professional image or promote your business, I’ve found its greatest strength to be very simple: it allows me to chit-chat with people that I don’t get to see every day, or even every month.
In February 2009, I became a mother. Anyone who’s gone through life with a newborn knows how isolating it can be, particularly for the parent who is staying at home with the baby all day. In my case, that’s me. While I wouldn’t change that for the world, I find that I easily end up feeling disconnected from my peers. Twitter provides an easy, time-efficient connection to other moms, including my own, who know what it’s like to be in this situation. These women provide me with inspiration, laughter, and feedback.
Any time day or night, there’s a mom out there communicating on Twitter. She could be tweeting about her son’s newest milestone, her body image issues, or just that she forgot to thaw something for dinner, and I can respond. 140 characters at a time, in those brief moments when our children occupy themselves or nap, we foster a relationship. I can ask others for advice about soothing a cranky baby, curing diaper rash, or which baby carrier suits my needs, and someone out there is answering.
Now, getting back to my mom: she lives 500 miles away from us. We’re lucky to get to visit her twice a year. She can access Twitter from work though, so we’re able to talk at a leisurely pace throughout the day. Services like 12seconds.tv and TwitPic allow me to share all the random, cute things her granddaughter is doing with her. We don’t have to arrange a time for a phone call just to have it interrupted by the baby. We can’t be on Skype with one another all day, but I can still share my daughter’s life with her via a stream of content.
No, I may not be on my way to becoming the next great Twitterati, but I am staying connected with my family, and making new friends. I’m creating a social network. Who knows — maybe someday, one of them will help me out in my professional life, and it’ll be because during some hazy morning hour, we bonded over nursing our babies.
@warmhearts4
Great post! And so true. I wasn’t sure what I would do with Twitter when I signed up, thought I would mainly look for writting opportunities. I didn’t think I would find and connect with so many like-minded moms. Hmmm, maybe I should get my mom to sign up
@ivan_filios
Loved your post. really inspiring.
great post and I agree – I only just worked out how to use twitter tonight so I am rapt.
I think the quick connections with friends are awesome.
@rainwebs
Cool idea how you use Twitter. I use it to exchange business stuff and never was a fan to read about what others have for lunch. But, to use Twitter this way makes sense. I’ve sent my wife a link to this post
.
@londoneater
Ditto everything you said – Twitter is fast becoming the one stop shop for all your communication needs, be it to socialise with mates/other bloggers and its no surprise that more and more people view it as a professional networking tool of sorts.
Sometimes, I think of Twitter as a sort of ‘rolling CV’ which gets continual updates and allows whoever is following you to assess what you’re like.. if you tweet all the tasks in your day that is. I bet, there’s someone outthere who is working on some profiling macro which can pull your tweets apart and prep a sort of pre-interview package or something… ok getting carried away now.
Bottomline is maintaining a Twitter account can only do good to career prospects because its sorta a perfect ice-breaker.
@frugalgradcom
Just joined Twitter too. 150 followers, no idea why. I have no idea if they have similar interested or I’m just a random click, but I try to figure out this twitter thing. This resource is useful but I can’t find the archive to dig through old articles to find things of interest. If Darren can add a link, appreciate it. I’m a college student but hard to find other college student on twitter to tweet. The site looks so simple but I have no idea how to navigate. Once again, if anyone read this, please can you add the archive so it will save Twitter enthusiasts a lot of time. Thanks
@justinwise
This is a tough pill to swallow… No doubt.
Although I did make it onto Twitter before Oprah (thank the LORD), I must confess for the first six months I hated it. “What’s the point?!” I said to myself…
Now, I’ve met friends, business partners, and strengthened my current relationships all through Twitter. Amazing. Some friends and I post them at our Twitter site aimed at churches.
Maybe you could go to your mom for some Twitips? I’m sure she’d love it
@averygoodyear
@Rachael: I love having my mom on Twitter :] Unfortunately, I can’t convince my sister to sign up, but … maybe someday.
@Ivan: Thanks for the kind words.
@Trish: Feel free to chat with me on Twitter anytime! It’s so addictive, I’m forever swinging by my computer to see what’s up.
@rainwebs: I think that, if you’re trying to present yourself as a business person, it’s definitely important to try and keep things like what you ate for lunch out of your Twitter stream. When I establish my freelance writing business, I’ll likely set up a Twitter account tied to that so I can maintain a professional presence as well. I hope your wife enjoys the article!
@kang: I like the metaphor of a “rolling CV” that’s constantly updated. That’s a really apt way to describe Twitter. I’ve met so many amazing men and women and been introduced to so many great networking opportunities via the service.
@mamabug
So glad to have been among your first followers!
Nicely written Tatiana! Although you haven’t yet convinced me to join
. I feel plenty connected already..
@averygoodyear
@Holly: Cheers, I love chatting with you too!
@A-M: Thanks for the comment, I appreciate that you dropped by
I love talking with you on Facebook! <3