If Tweet Be Told I Love Twitter

by Jan Geronimo on March 18, 2009

LonelinessImage via Wikipedia

@dr.Annpetit sent me a tweet: “How come you have many tweets?”

Knowing Ann, she means well. It’s not a question uttered in clenched teeth, both-hands-on-the-hips kind of question. She’s just making conversation. She’s not my mom after all. And she has her hands full in her real role as a doctor in her part of the world. I can understand her puzzlement at my odd behavior.

Perhaps this explains the sudden surge of my tweets lately: Hard choices of life and death in a third world setting confront Dr. Ann daily. I am not.

So why do I have many tweets?
By the way, my twitter stats are in the hundreds only – puny by Twitter standards. But let’s take a closer look anyway.

Because I am happy
. I am connecting with new found online buddies in Twitter. We share common interests. We point to interesting links we found useful in the internet. We laugh at amusing pictures and videos. We do it in real time. Sometimes time constraints only allow me to just mine useful information that will become fodder for my writing tips for this blog. A quickie dip into twitterverse and an even quicker and immediate pull-out.

For somebody who has aspirations to uber blogging (I do, I do), I find Twitter a blessing. In this time of want and depressed economic realities, Twitter experience has become – excuse me, Mr. Barack Obama – the ultimate stimulus package. For the creative mind at least. And this makes me very happy.

Because I am lonely. When I’m having the blues I don’t need to tweet. I can just stay there and listen. And chill out. And once in a while, I read a tweet which says, “Anybody home?” to no one in particular.

And I suddenly feel I’m not alone. Loneliness does not exist specifically to torment me. It’s a human condition common to us all. And in an odd sort of way, I feel a little lighter and strive to pull myself together.

Because I want to connect in a more fundamental way
. Twitter delivers that promise. This blog is still the heart of my online existence, but Twitter – sweet Twitter – effectively becomes the five senses that connect me to what’s out there in the digital wilderness. A listening post like no other.

Now, let me ask you – where do you find the mother lode of blog post ideas that powers your blogging? Care to share?

If you like this post and want to hang out with me in Twitter click this.

Recommended Reading: Make your blog go viral with Twitter retweets

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  • lol. im still a "toddler" twitter, only a few weeks old.
    but i do see most of the benefits of my tweeting in getting a bigger audience for my blog. the getting new friends part is icing on the cake. :D
  • I recommend you read up on FriendFeed. It aggregates all your social media
    feeds in one place, Rey. It's good for your blog because of your travel
    photos. Unlike Twitter, you can include your photos in FriendFeed, even your
    video links.

    There's no need to sign up now. You can log in FF with your Twitter account
    and you're good to go. :)

    And if you connect FriendFeed to Twitter? Whatever you post in FriendFeed
    gets tweeted, too. So it's not as if you've left Twitter entirely.

    Conversations in FriendFeed are much saner. Less spam. Less stuff or wares
    shoved in our face. Comment box in FF holds more than 140 characters and
    they are THREADED. See?

    I learn a lot of useful things in FF more than in Twitter, truth to tell.
    In FF you're in the front row seat where cutting edge technology is being
    discussed. You'd be kept updated of significant developments.

    Hard to do that in Twitter because of the noise and the fluff. I shuttle
    back and forth between FF and Twitter because all of you guys are there.
    And it gets lonely sometimes in FriendFeed. Well not so lonely, to be
    honest. But what's a little emotional blackmail among friends, right?
    Ahahaha.
  • ahahaha! fine fine, ill go search and read... :p
  • Roy
    and if I may add, it gave birth to the formation of the jedi council ;)

  • Cool. Hey, Roy, what are you doing in my archives? You're making me
    nervous. Baka kagatin ka ng daga dyan. Ahahaha
  • Roy
    hehe... did I surprised you again?

    don't worry, I know my way around hehe...

  • Roy
    Jan, edit that plssssssssss

  • Jan
    That's a cool figure. I wish I had that number of traffic from Twitter. Maybe you can lend me some of your pictures? lol.
  • Gem
    True, twitter is also traffic generator tool to my blogs. I get more than 100 visitors after I had announced a new blog post.
  • Jan
    @Roy: Roger, that. :) I only tweet at my convenience. After I have posted, except today, I've been writing and twitting at the same time. Only because I needed to ask you something on my current post. And twitter beats IM by a mile. Okay, excuses, excuses. :)


    But really you can go in and out when you want to. Unless of course Brian Clark is asking your opinion on something, and you can't say: gee, can I use the bathroom first before I get back to you?



    Hahaha. How I wish I be less delusional. :)



    Thanks, Roy.
  • Roy
    I was about to ask you the same question... but then again, what the heck!


    A bird goes "tweet! tweet! tweet!" and not juse 'tweet!' so I guess that is how it should really be done.



    And yes, I do have a feeling that you're enjoying it, and I'm not complaining.



    Although I really can't follow all those tweets, I sure am glad to discover new sites when I do.



    So, "tweet! tweet! tweet!"
  • Jan
    @colleen: I took a more circuitous in finding you. I clicked a link in twitter that landed me in NetChick's blog. It's there I found a link to your wonderful blog.


    You're right it feels like a proper living room, your blog. I've enjoyed settling in your sofa to read. And to think there are a lot more I haven't read drives me a little crazy. :)



    Thank you, Colleen.
  • colleen
    I've been blogging for four years now and just started Facebook because, like Twitter, it's light and connects me with others I wouldn't otherwise connect with. Ans some do come to my blog via there. Facebook is a neighborhood but my blog is like my living room.


    I'll come back later to read more. Glad you stopped by Looseleaf and introduced yourself to me.
  • Jan
    @Dee: If I have a son he would have called me a twitterholic? hahaha. Lovely post you have there. :)
  • Dee
    It's good to know you're having a great time with Twitter. :)
  • Jan
    @sapheyerblu: Hi, thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. Tanya has a marvelous idea there. Darn, should have found it earlier. Missed a lot. hahaha. But I can always catch up. Thanks for subscribing! :)
  • Jan
    @Chris: I love keeping persons at arms length part. :)


    Will visit you. Just getting a bite first - lunch time here in the Philippines.



    @Tanya: Thank you. Of course, it's a pleasure visiting you. Will be back this afternoon. :)
  • Tanya (aka NetChick)
    Love this: Because I want to connect in a more fundamental way.


    That's a good reason :)



    Thanks for making it by the MEET n' GREET -- Hope to see you back this weekend if you have time!



    Cheers!
  • sapheyerblu
    Hello, came over here from NetChick's site. Had to play the game, and now I'm glad I did. Nice blog. Gonna have to subscribe to keep up with this one.
    Thanks
  • Chris Mathieson
    Twitter is an interesting tool, for sure. Can be a good way to connect with people or to keep them at arms length.


    NetChick sent me. :)
  • Jan
    @Jade: Yup, what you cannot express in your blog you can dump in twitter. I'm a bit formal in my posts here. In twitter, I can be playful and be such a tease and all that. But within limits of course - don't want to hurt my rep (reputation daw o - hahaha).


    The other night, Maki of Dosh Dosh announced he'd be posting his longest post ever.



    I twitted him: bring it. I'm having lots of happy pills handy for things like this.



    And he liked the joke. :)



    Re blogging for 70 days+: am a worry wart. Even if am not blogging I'm thinking about blogging. What I should be writing, how to write it, what to include in it. Perhaps this fascination will soon fade. I hope it doesn't. I'm having fun. :)
  • I am Xprosaic
    Nice! sometimes using this kind of services also conveys to the readers your current feeling and that you want to share to them what you felt. Jijijijiji... grabe sabi mo 70 days ka pa lang nagboblogging pero mga posts mo magaganda na lahat... galing naman!
  • Jan
    @yatot: Stuart and Gem could not have found my blog if not for Twitter. Okay, that's a little absurd. But twitter speeds up the process of discovery. Traffic generating tool - that's right. :)
  • yatot
    now that explains the sooooooooo many tweets... waheheheh... twitter has really improved these days... from a simple microblogging tool on the web to now a traffic generating tool for your blog... why not use if very often? hehhehe... the use of twitter in blogging really helps a lot in generating traffic! hehehe
  • Jan
    @Gem: Yeah, I know. I just checked. LOL. Thanks for leaving a comment and the personal email - not every does that these days. Very much appreciated.
  • Gem
    I'm also in Twitter, but I am more active in Plurk. Anyway both are similar services and it is also my way of connecting to others since I am a full time freelancer and part time blogger at home.


    In both services I share my emotions along with some useful stuff...



    I also followed you.
  • Jan
    @Stuart: Thanks, buddy. You're true to your word and visited. :) Yup, for us twitterholics we can go on and on all day. LOL.
  • Stuart S
    Hi..I lived up to my word! nice post...twitter has many uses...all the above and more...we could be listing them all day.


    Stuart Stirling
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