Twitter is overwhelming to me.

I get the idea of Twitter. You can easily let people know about your daily activities.

But do people really care if you walked the dog, ate a baloney sandwich for lunch, etc?

I started using Twitter because it's an easy way to let my friends, fans & relatives know if I added something new to my site, a blog post here at Geeks, or a video at YouTube.

That's much better than the old days when I drove some friends away with countless emails about my various projects, moods, etc.

For the most part, I'll only send a Twitter message concerning my web stuff... Sometimes I'll add stuff like getting the videos because people find that interesting.

But I won't tell you all the minute details of my daily life. (What color of socks I'm wearing.. How many times I sneezed, etc.)

I'm flattered that some people want to keep track of my activities.

But at the same time, there are a bunch of "tweets" from people whose names I don't remember, talking about some stuff that isn't always that interesting.

All too often my Twitter page is full of stuff like that... I have to go back several pages to see anything I've submitted.

I downloaded and installed something called Twitch, or something like that.

Boy was that annoying. It hit me with something like 200 Tweets. I had no idea how to respond.

So I just deleted them all.

Twitter is a good idea... but I just find it very overwhelming.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by I am EJ on March 10, 2009 at 12:45am: I saw you using twhirl earlier.

Thats pretty much an app that you can use instead of going to twitter.com to make post and see post from people you're following.

When you first use it it shows you the tweets of all the people you are following.

As far posting about everything you do, I agree with you.
I mostly just post random stuff.

I like twitter.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ron Knights on March 10, 2009 at 7:38am: I wasn't aware others would know I was using twhirl.

Oh, it doesn't really matter.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by I am EJ on March 10, 2009 at 11:46am: Yeah.

It tells you were the tweet came from at the bottom of the person's tweet.

So if you go it from the web it says "from web"
or if it's a app it says "from (the name of the app)"; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ron Knights on March 10, 2009 at 1:09pm: Oh, ok.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Andrew Westwood on March 10, 2009 at 12:47am: I agree fully. I couldn't grasp why a regular Joe like me would need it. All my friends are a phone call/messenger away.

I'm curious what I could use it for, maybe I'm not getting the big picture?

Good Call.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ron Knights on March 10, 2009 at 7:37am: I originally thought I could use Twitter to help people know about the various projects (blogs, web site additions, etc.) that I do.

Then, of course, I thought it would be nice to know about what my friends do.

More and more people became interested in my activities. They decided to follow me on Twitter.

Some of the people on my list are people that I admire very much. Some of them are "big names" in the online business. Chris Pirillo is one. Don McAllister (Screencasts Online) is another.

I decided to follow everyone who follows me. That gave me a rather large list, in my own reckoning.

These days I mostly just skim through the first page or so.

I'm not ready to give up just yet.... I hope to catch the stuff that is most compelling to me.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MacBaby16 on March 10, 2009 at 7:33am: Hey Ron...

What is your twitter link? I use twitter also and I really enjoy it. Sometimes I do think like why on earth am I doing this and do people really care...but then I think...they chose to follow me so I can post whatever I choose..if they dont like...they dont have to follow me..and the same thing for me...I can follow those I choose. :) My link is http://twitter.com/macbaby16

Sarah; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ron Knights on March 10, 2009 at 7:47am: Hi, MacBaby16!

I'm pretty easy to follow almost anywhere. My user name will usually be ronknights or Ron_Knights, etc.

http://twitter.com/ronknights

Twitter is a funny thing.

It's nice to stay in touch, and know what some folks are doing, to an extent.

I, personally, am easily overwhelmed. It's part of my Emotional Disabilities. It's one thing that had interfered with my jobs in the past.

I just do my best to cope. Sometimes I need to put strict limits on my contacts, etc.

That's one reason I've restricted my online presence & activities to Geeks, YouTube, and my own site.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ron Knights on March 10, 2009 at 8:29am: Oh, I pretty much decided to abandon twhirl.

Again, it's just too much for me..

As it is, I often don't run Mac's mail program because the notifications of incoming mails can be bothersome.

Like I said, I get easily overwhelmed.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MacBaby16 on March 10, 2009 at 10:23am: Thanks! I am now following you! :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ron Knights on March 10, 2009 at 11:14am: To paraphrase someone's song (I think):

"Follow me, I'll follow you!"; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Janine on March 10, 2009 at 10:18am: Now that is funny....I just recently blogged about Twitter a couple of days ago....

You can read the post here; ▶ Reply to This