Cyan Banister and Jason Alba are thinking less about Twitter these days.
Their thoughts echo mine.
This is why I welcomed the new year with a desire (that I have yet to break) to tweet far less than I had in the past. I used to keep my Twitter programs open to always notice what people were saying and sharing and to follow the trends of the moment.
But you know what? Trends are trends for a reason; they come and go. And it’s impossible, let alone stupid, to be on the lookout for what people say every hour of every day.
When 2013 began, I changed my Twitter frequency by writing a new tweet once or twice or maybe five times a day.
Go look at my stream at @ariherzog. Follow me if you want to follow me. I’m following 50 or so. Whether I discover new people or am attracted to familiar people from my tweeting past, I follow them. But if they tweet too much during the day or if they tweet content that I don’t find myself retweeting or thinking about, I unfollow them.
It is OK to follow people and also OK to unfollow them.
It is OK to take breaks and live.
In his July 2010 op-ed for the New York Times, Bob Herbert wrote about the importance of slowing down and taking time to experience life around us.
I’m not opposed to the remarkable technological advances of the past several years. I don’t want to go back to typewriters and carbon paper and yellowing clips from the newspaper morgue. I just think that we should treat technology like any other tool. We should control it, bending it to our human purposes.
Let’s put down at least some of these gadgets and spend a little time just being ourselves. One of the essential problems of our society is that we have a tendency, amid all the craziness that surrounds us, to lose sight of what is truly human in ourselves, and that includes our own individual needs — those very special, mostly nonmaterial things that would fulfill us, give meaning to our lives, enlarge us, and enable us to more easily embrace those around us.
Amen.
If I could suggest one piece of advice, don’t use Twitter the way I use it.
Don’t tweet the way anyone else tweets.
Find your own rhythm. Maybe your 140-character updates will comprise original thought. Maybe they’ll be retweets of others 90 percent of the time. Maybe you only want to reply to people, start conversations. Whatever. It’s your account. Use it however you want.
Whatever you do, recognize that Twitter will be there when you are finished doing whatever you do when you’re not there. It’s like the river that flows down the mountain. Do what you want in that river, and it will be there for thousands of years. Relatively speaking, so will Twitter and so will I and Cyan and Jason on Twitter.
About Ari Herzog
I do not have twitter account and also do not think that would I sign in
I use twitter sometimes. I think To communicate with people is ok but more communication devalues you so it’s ok 5 tweets for a day but not more than 10. Just think you get 10 tweets daily from your friend after some time you will ignore his tweets.
I have been living by the tenet “You are What you Tweet.”
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/you-are-what-you-tweet_b20564
Your suggestion, by this measure, would make me less of a man.
sir, I accuse you if trying to level the playing field. You cad.
Perhaps you missed the part where I wrote you should find your own rhythm?
Oh, but you are a clever one. I shall not be swayed, I have sniffed out your game
I find myself in the same situation with Facebook – reading more, and posting less, I think everyone is.
Regarding Twitter: I have a Twitter account with 1 tweet, so can’t really relate!
great post , I have a twitter account with one tweet per day
Your point about finding a rhythm is spot on! My obsession with Twitter comes and goes as life ebbs and flows. When I have down time, I might turn to my tweeps for information, but at other times I rely on my real-network.
Balance is the key!
Cheers!
–Sean
I find twitter useful (at least for me) only in that it helps link to other thoughts that I have. That is, most of the information that I post (exciting stuff on bonds, construction, etc.) is much longer than the 140 character limit of twitter. Thus, my rhythm there is to only reference my “real” material, which works out to infrequent tweets.
I have twitter account and i tweet every day.After reading this post i decide to find out my rhythm and tweet again
I think it really depends on the person. I used to have numerous accounts, now I just have the one. I’ve condensed the people that I follow and decreased the amount of times I post. I’ve found my rhythm. That rhythm is a “less is more” strategy. I developed it over time but I like it now – and it works for me!
At last! Someone talking sense about Twitter. I don’t know if it depends on a person’s personality or not, but why DO people feel the need to tell the world what they are doing and thinking 24 hours a day? Who cares? Certainly not me.
I do not have a twitter account and have never been to the website. Between you and me, I also hate Facebook. What? No…I’m not weird….I’m normal!
In the same spirit of inquiry and research, I’ve started listening to what people are saying on their mobile phones. Given that most people seem glued to a mobile phone in public, What DO people talk about all the time as they walk around in the street or on public transport?
My research tells me that it’s not much. It’s rare to hear someone trying to meet up with someone in real time, and therefore using their mobile phone as a handy communication device.
They chat..endlessly…about nothing! Don’t they have anything better to do? Like starting a blog.
And I’d like to thank you Ari for giving me the opportunity to let off steam on this subject. No one in my family seems interested…..
Sometimes I feel I have to tweet because everyone is doing so, because is so good for your promotion, your business, and bla bla bla. After 2 years, I don’t remember getting ANYTHING good out of it, compared to the amount of hours I have invested. If I had read real books, or invest my time in something else, I would definitely have more wisdom by now.