Tuesday, September 23, 2008

To Twitter or Not to Twitter?

There's a wave of Twitter washing over my world these days and much seductive peer pressure to join the action. Twitter seems like the Facebook status line on steroids, like 21st century haiku, like something I'd much prefer to do than, say, earn a living.

Novelist Tayari Jones posted on Facebook last week that she was cutting back on Twitter. She un-installed the application TweetDeck from her computer, as her life had started feeling like a constant cocktail party (and she loves cocktail parties).

I'm tempted and conflicted. For those of you who tweet, here's my question: Is there any point to doing it in moderation? Is it even possible to do in moderation or is Twitter heroin for people like us?

9 comments:

Ericka Lutz said...

It's not so bad, really. I can stop at any time. I just don't really need to, you know?

Seriously, I do tweet, or twitter, or whatever it's called, and it's fun, and simply seems to be cutting into my Facebook time.

Tayari Jones said...

Well, the thing is this. Twitter is yet another portal the the world outside yourself. The really get immersed in a novel, you need to spend more time inside yourself. I had to give up tweetdeck because I was making small talk on line all the time instead of getting quiet and centered.

I have to say.. I miss it so much!

I now tweet from time to time, but without the tweetdeck platform it isn't as easy or as fun. That's how I moderate.

Gina Hyams said...

Hey you two, thanks for stopping by. I'm so obsessed with Twitter, I'm sure I'll give in sooner than later, for better or worse.

Anonymous said...

Let us know if/when you sign up. I'm just plain "karentempler."

Gina Hyams said...

Karen, you are a busy, busy woman. What do you get out of Twitter? Is it driving traffic to Readerville? (The new iteration looks great, by the way.)

Anonymous said...

Neither Readerville nor I have very many followers at this point, so it's not so much that, but I find a number of good pointers and mostly just marvel at danamo. I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse that I don't know all that many people who Twitter.

Similarly, I had seen Tayari's tweets about tweetdeck and cutting back, and was glad I don't even know what tweetdeck is!

But it's fun. Give it a try -- you can always delete your account if you're not into it.

Gina Hyams said...

Sold! If danamo can make time for Twitter and rule a certain media empire, surely I can manage it, too.

Gina Hyams said...

P.S. I just googled my way to her Twitter and see that she's not anonymous there, so for anybody who doesn't already know, danamo is Danyel Smith, Editor-in-Chief of VIBE magazine. She used to participate in the forums at Readerville.com.

Kitt said...

I Twittered for a while but quit because it just felt like another obligation to keep up with. A mostly not-very-interesting one at that.