Joining the herd.
Who is on Twitter? I have found a couple of fellow bloggers but not many and it’s a deep dark hole the twitter universe or it appears to be to me.
I dabbled on there sometime ago but to be honest, I didn’t know what I was doing.
Still unsure – but I’m determined to find out so please – if you are on Twitter, drop your handles below in the comments and I will come find you.
I’m finding tips and tricks and adding them into this post (as I find them) and also tweeting them.
Here are a couple I have found so far
https://bloggingbistro.com/5-twitter-tips-for-authors/#.XbJOafjKv80.link
Then this one:
https://bloggingbistro.com/tweet-280-characters/#.XbJOmpGclf8.link
And this:
https://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-hacks/
Please use the comments to add links to your blog posts or lend advice on this topic as Twitter is universally a bit of a conundrum to many.
So…..
I began this post yesterday but 24 hours on twitter is enough to turn a person into a completely different human being let alone a post.
In pottering around reading things that are of interest to me I have been shocked at the level of vitriol about seemingly inane topics on twitter.
I have had to ask myself – who am I? and how do I stand on this topic?
“Well back” came the hasty reply
The trouble is that this is the reply of the rationalist, it is the reply of the broad minded, the person who can see both sides of an argument and therefore tends to be irrelevant on such an argumentative platform.
Or so I thought.
But fence sitters beware – rationalism and balanced debate, common sense and manners are being lost and despite the fact you are not argumentative and would rather read a book then tangle with some ranting red faced person coming from either the left or the right?
Qualification: Not all are twitterers red faced ranters – and some do engage in rational debate – which I enjoy.
The world is moving on without you and it is becoming more split and fragmented by these warring factions everyday.
What is needed urgently is balance. Our eco systems are unbalanced and as a species our inner worlds are becoming deeply unbalanced. Illness both mental and physical is on the rise. This is the result of unbalanced behaviour and thinking.
And you may think – oh well I don’t have to mix with them. Yes you do.
Some of these people are filling up our government buildings, some are teaching our kids and some are rising to positions of great power.
I am all for thoughtful and urgent action on things like climate change but I am not for people shoving it down my neck without asking my opinion or taking it into account if they actually do.
We have lost the art of rational debate, acceptance of other points of view and most of all manners.
Oh God – please forgive my lengthy monologue but see – twitter!!
Anyway I refuse to be silent on Twitter this time round. It is easy to quietly pick at others or bemoan the downfall of rationality but I want to see for myself
Can I remain calm and untriggered?
Can I remain peaceful and rational and not get pulled into another persons storm?
Can I remain balanced and try and talk people into a more balanced point of view?
It’s all very well to meditate in my peaceful little room apart from humanity and think I am capable of all these things
But am I?
It will be an intriguing, interesting journey because my mind is broad and that means that it tends to love playing with itself and I end up with an answer (rather like this blog post) that is thousands of words long.
To then have to condense that scope into a reply that is 280 characters (characters!! – see I just wasted characters within these brackets) long and still encapsulates what I wish to say – hmm that is the test.
And it’s good to test ourselves. That’s how we grow. I used to be worried that I would say the wrong thing, look like an idiot or hurt someone’s feelings.
Now I realise that these are all very good parameters to take into account and then use to frame a reply or a tweet.
But I still have to at some point reply or tweet.
Everyone is entitled to their voice and whilst mine is rusty and quiet – it is still valid
Not more valid than another persons
But valid
and if it makes me think before I write
Then it makes me think before I speak
And I get to ask myself those important questions:
Do I truly believe this?
Is this true?
Am I posting from soul not ego?
Am I prepared to explain/defend this theory further?
And at the end – if getting nowhere (because this is a debate not an argument) agree to disagree.
Thoughts? Oh and don’t forget to drop your twitter handle – mine is 1000bitsofpaper
@goodpix. But, I mostly discuss US politics and take part in local groups. For instance, although this isn’t a group name, those of us who live in New Orleans refer to ourselves as NOLAtwitter. We all pretty much know each other in real life. I do cross post from either Storyteller or from Instagram.
I’d try searching for WordPress bloggers or photographers. Some good stuff might turn up.
One more thing. Twitter is hell on earth. If you must reply to something nasty do it with humor. For instance, I constantly attack the US president to his Twitter handle, who shall not be named. But, I make my words funny.
I agree – humour works wonders – water on fire thanks I will find you and I think our world is too small these days not to know what’s going on I. Everyone’s politics – not just our own country so your insights will be interesting
You already know mine,
It’s a tricky thing for me because I don’t have the app on my phone (my choice), and I don’t want to spend too much time on Twitter (due to time constraints). Twitter is so fast-paced. You need to be there A LOT to be relevant. Or so it seems to me.
There was a time when I was there for more political reasons. It’s something I can be very passionate about. The problem is that you are not in a vacuum. You might be responding to one person and then someone else tags on and derails everything. Yes, I was cool, calm and collected. Yes, it was disheartening to see some people’s lack of reason. Your quote sums it up perfectly: “rationalism and balanced debate, common sense and manners are being lost.” Ultimately, I think I just didn’t have enough time to really make a dent in all of that. It did feel like banging my head against a wall.
This time around I decided to focus on blogging and writing. That part of Twitter seems mostly like a private party group on Twitter. People usually just stick to talking about reading and writing.
I fell down a political rabbit hole yesterday into something I definitely don’t agree with and some of the stuff people were saying was so contrary to what I think. It was difficult not to say something because when they talk about echo chambers I now know what they mean. All these voices supporting this common theme that I thought was dreadful. I made myself continue to read the comments and then not say any thing. The energy was like walking through a bunch of hyenas all baying for blood and I know if I had said something it would have been an instant brawl. Because they were quite insane and it got worse the more you went down the list of responders to the main comment:
I’m finding it a real learning curve but you’re right – it’s sucks time and energy and I will have to be careful. Thanks for your comments – so interesting to hear your points of view.