Six years

This tweet popped up in my tweetstream yesterday:

Today 6 years on Twitter: @flexnib: twopcharts.com/anniversaries?…

— Perth Twopcharts (@pert_twopcharts) December 15, 2012

I have spent six years on Twitter. SIX. YEARS.

In Web terms, I think this qualifies as being quite old.

It’s been an excellent six years.

I couldn’t have predicted, when I decided to check out (on M’s recommendation, I believe) this strange new service, that it would have as much impact as it has had on my life.

What impact, you ask. Well, it’s nothing really visible, I suppose. I don’t have zillions of followers. Getting followers is not something I’ve ever cared about. (It’s the same for this blog. I know a few people glance at it occasionally, but I don’t go looking for more readers; I don’t even know how many people read it.)

For the last couple of years, I’d say a lot of what I do on Twitter is read and follow up on links the people I follow share. I also retweet a lot of the stuff I read. This year I started a role that requires me to spend a bit of time on the train daily, and I use the time to read, and often it’s stuff people share on Twitter.

I occasionally chat with others. Over the years I’ve developed a network I value very highly. Depending on who I’m talking to, I call this network my PLN, or my online network, or the Twitterati, or My Tweeps. Many of them are library professionals, but not all. I depend on them for professional discussion (serious and otherwise) and learning about new things. Many of them have become good friends who have given me a lot of support over the past couple of years.

Back in December 2006 when I started I didn’t really know anyone on Twitter. I think it took some time before my use of Twitter really took off. There needed to be other people using it to some degree before it started to get really interesting, and once this happened, it was – and still is – amazing.

I cannot measure how much I’ve learned, nor can I quantify the value of the friendships I’ve made and grown using Twitter.

For all my Tweeps:

* Chinese characters say “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year” 😉

I think one or two people who still read this blog are not on Twitter, and this is for you, really:

1. If you do try Twitter, stick with it. I find that lots of Twitter newbies sign up, try it for a day or a week, then give up.
2. Follow a wide range of people/organisations. I think this is important if you’re trying Twitter for professional learning purposes – you need to see a range of voices. If you just follow one or two people (as many newbies tend to do), you won’t get a lot of input, it will be boring and you will quit. To get an idea of who to follow, check out the lists of followers of the one or two people you do know, and follow a few of them.
3. Having said that, don’t just follow the cool, trendy or celebrity tweeps. Follow Real People.
4. Get rid of the egg avatar and use a real picture of yourself or something that’s meaningful to you.
5. Also, write something about yourself in your bio.
6. Don’t worry about not tweeting anything, but – see point 1.
7. In time, you may find that you do start tweeting too. You get as much out of Twitter as you put into it.
8. This last point is for anyone who has a smart phone or tablet and hasn’t used Twitter but wants to: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?? (I remember the days when we were all desk bound, and even then Twitter was good. It’s even better now we’re mobile!)