You Twit?

I wonder if you Twitter about blogging and blog about Twittering, will you end up getting tangled in the World Wide Web? Come down with virtual vertigo? Spin out on the information superhighway? I guess we shall see.

I've become a bit of a Twitter addict. I'm still new to it, so I'm still trying to figure it out. I have gotten myself on Twellow and figured out how to get my "tweets" to update my Facebook status, too. (That would be through the Twitter app on Facebook, and, yes, I can hear the resounding "Duh" coming from a few of you.) I'm sure you've noticed the Twitter feed right there to your left. So, now, if I ever end up doing anything interesting, you will know immediately. (And I hear the resounding yawn there, as well.)

For as long as I have had RUAWAKE (nearing year eight), I've not been what you would call "in" with the internet. I just sit and post. Email friends. I'm not a regular visitor to YouTube. I don't know all the cool sites and blogs. I mean, I get DailyCandy, know how to Google and subscribe to Salon, but that was about the extent of my internet life. Getting on MySpace took years. Now, I live on Facebook.

This whole Twitter thing was kind of a blind leap. None of my actual friends are on it. Well, one is, but she never actually "tweets". Most of my lot had the same initial reaction I did to it: One more thing to manage? But it's really not a hassle. It actually makes some things easier, and is a bit of fun.

On Twitter, I have discovered a really interesting group of intelligent, funny people. It really should be called Witter, because what some of these folks come up with in only 140 characters (and that includes spaces and punctuation) is pretty amazing. Some are there to promote their blogs, their books or their jobs. Others are just folks posting thoughts. Yes, there is some gobbledigook on it as well. But, you can stay away from it. You pick and chose whom you follow and can miss the rest. If only all of life were like that.

I'm still only in double digits with those I'm following. It's a fabulous array that makes up my dirty dozen, and I find them both informative and entertaining. I don't know that I could follow any more than that, though. It's hard enough keeping up with the ones I have as it is. That might be because the DNC is happening, and Rachel Sklar has a lot to say about it. But I appreciate that. See, now I don't have to watch it. Tah-dah!

It also has a broader purpose. In your "tweets", you can ask questions, request research assistance, make connections, announce a job opening, an event, that you are looking for work. It's not really about marketing though, which is what makes it so nice. Right now, it is a happy, little community of people. How long do you think it will stay that way?