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Wednesday, October 12, 2016

I think I've become a Tweetler


Tweetler is a word I've made up for a person who heckles what other people (mainly news organizations) tweet on Twitter. I suppose it could be Twittler, too. Regardless, it is what I've become.

I never used to really get Twitter. It was because I used to think of it as another Facebook where you could only post status reports in 140 characters or less. But I finally figured out that it isn't like Facebook at all. For one, no one I know follows me on Twitter. And I don't really follow any one I know.And Twitter is more political than Facebook (or than Facebook is supposed to be).

When I figured that out, I when on naive campaign to get followers using this free site that got people to follow other people if they in turn followed that person. I ended up with more than a 1000 followers but I also ended up following more than 1000 people. And the problem was none of the people following me really gave a rip about anything I post (mainly links to my blog posts). And I didn't give a rip about what most of them were posting about.


It's kind of the same problem I have with my blog. Since I don't really have a single topic I post about, it's hard to attract a consistent audience. Very few people follow me on Twitter because they want to stay up to date on happy clams, my theories on quantum physics or rants about Donald Trump.

Then I figured out Twitter is a great source for breaking news. I started following major news sources. I also started following Twitter accounts related to advertising and marketing. So my Twitter feed started giving me some useful and interesting Tweets. I also discovered that people started following me just because I was following accounts they also followed.

Ok, I still only have 1,077 followers. And I rarely get any likes or shares. So I'm not a major player on the Twitter channel.

But now I've started retweeting posts I either find interesting or stupid and I add my own commentary. That's where the Tweetlering comes in. I'm like this annoying guy in the back of a comedy show trying to one up the comedian with my own one liners.

And I somehow find it satisfying.

But still, it hasn't rocketed me into an overnight media sensation like that Bone guy who asked a question on the second Presidential debate and all of a sudden he is doing the late night talk show circuit. What's up with that?

I have to be realistic. If the odds of someone reading my blog is pretty minuscule because of the umpteen million other blogs out their, the odds of someone reading one of my Tweets or Tweetlings are even worse if you consider the number of Tweets posted on any given day -- about 65 million.

Oh well, what else to I have to do anyway. #wastingtime #toomuchtimeonmyhands #isthisthingon

1 comment:

Helen Baggott said...

"the odds of someone reading my blog is pretty minuscule" – even smaller.