...my child sold your honor student the answers to the test...

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I Sold Out

and joined Twitter. I swore I would never do that. I don't get Twitter. It doesn't make sense. What the hell is a hash tag? How do I search for cool Tweets that I want to follow? How do I reach out to YOU? It's like a PC user trying to figure out how to operate a Mac for the first time: awkward and slightly embarrassing. 

You think it should be pretty user friendly, but the reality is that Tweet Leet is a language all it's own. Kind of like your teenager's text messaging.



(Speaking of which, I saw the best Damn You Auto Correct txt the other day. The image below is exactly why I think it's REALLY important for ALL parental units to learn txt leet)




But since I've learned a lot about promotions over the past couple of years and I'm now trying to put those lessons into place here, Twitter was something I just (gulp) had to do. J thinks I'm making too big a deal about this, but that's coming from the guy who solely uses Twitter to catch up on Brandon Sanderson's tweets, along with baseball. I, on the other hand, am using it to connect with people who hopefully have a quirky sense of humor and need to find someone who also thinks of selling their precious snowflakes more than once a day. It's a whole 'nother ballgame.

So, my friends, I am trying this Twitter thing out. If you're a fellow Twit (gawd, is that what they call Twitter users? For that reason alone I'm groaning) I would love it if you clicked that cool little button on the top right corner of my blog and said hey to me. Feel free to offer tips so I don't toss my computer out the window in frustration. Throw me a bone, folks. Help a mother out.

I'm going to try and figure this whole tweet thing out, probably embarrass myself a few hundred times, and try to find some of you. And while I do that I think I'll listen to this song that has been stuck in my head ever since I pushed that "Create An Account" button






6 comments:

Cheryl said...

I keep thinking I should jump on that band wagon. You will have to walk me through it. I'm scared... ;)

SRM said...

Ahhh, the blind leading the blind. I love it ;)

said...

Ok, Twitter in a nutshell:
1. Everyone that follows you can see everything you type unless you DM (direct message) someone.
2. If you want to direct a comment to someone in particular but not put it in a DM, you type their @twittername somewhere in the tweet. That way the person knows it's directed to them (but remember, everyone else can see it too).
3. A hashtag is how you search for topics. Like the Grammy Awards for example. Everyone who is tweeting about the Grammys will put #Grammys in their tweets. You can follow all of the tweets about the Grammys by searching #Grammys. Conversely, if you don't want to see any tweets about the Grammys, you can filter using hashtags as well.
4. Sometimes people use hashtags in funny ways. They'll say something like "Mick Jagger really should get looser fitting pants. #oldmanmooseknuckle
5. Keep it under 140 characters. Spaces count.
6. To find people, start following someone you know or want to know & see who they follow then start following those people...it's sort of like a spiderweb.

If you need anymore help. Let me know, I'm all about the Twitters. And no, people who Tweet are not called Twits. We aren't called anything.

--Tara
@taraburkholder

Amy @ Pounds4Pennies said...

Hi I am a new GFC follower. I have been waiting to join twitter too. I don't understand it and I guess I should jump on the bandwagon too. Maybe you could post some great how to articles, since you are learning.

SRM said...

Tara, you rock!!!! I am going to print your comment out and keep it by my computer. Thanks for the info!

Hi Amy, and welcome to my blog! I'd be happy to post a twitter How To once I feel confident enough to take my floaties off and swim in the deep end of Twitter =)

Jen said...

Twitter is awesome and will soon take over your life.

Er, I meant welcome to Twitter. ;)