My Twitter Epiphany

Okay, I admit it. I was not very impressed with Twitter and the whole concept of tweeting when I was first introduced to it last semester in ETEC 622. Sure, I did my fair share of tweeting for the course. In fact, I think that I was the highest or second highest tweet poster in the course. I really enjoyed looking for information that was sometimes more, sometimes less, on point for the course. I enjoyed sharing that information via Twitter with my classmates. However, conceptually, I just did not get the point. Especially for one as verbose as I, 140 characters just did not seem sufficient! I wanted more space! It just seemed too limited. Despite all the information I read about its value, honestly, it seemed like a pointless, albeit a fun, waste of time.

When Dr. Bert informed us that we would use Twitter in this course and that we had a tweeting obligation I think that I rolled my proverbial eyes. Honestly, I did not want to do it. I thought that I had had enough of that experience last semester. Boy, was I wrong! 

One of the reasons that I am successful in life is that, when given a task, I always do my best to complete it. This is especially true when I am a student. I remember when I was an undergraduate taking a world literature course I had to read Faust. Within the first five minutes of cracking the cover, I was asleep. When I woke up, I tried to read it again and got the same result. After I repeated this pattern once again, I remembered Albert Einstein's quote defining insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." I decided to stop being "insane" and to try something different. I started to read the story out-loud. It came to life! I loved it. I could not put it down. The point is that I keep at my assigned tasks until they are done. 

Dr. Bert's Twitter assignments was just something that I had to do. Or, at least, that is how I perceived it until I had my Twitter Epiphany!

The epiphany hit me, as epiphanies are ought to do, like a sudden shock of clarity. I was in the sauna at the gym reading over my twitter feed. I was reading it not because I wanted to but rather because I felt I "had" to do so. It was, after all, part of the assignment. I started noticing interesting tweet after interesting tweet. I started following the links and reading the related stories. I started retweeting. But, I was not just retweeting to the class. I finally started to think about my other followers. I started thinking about my "audience" and what sort of persona I wanted to project through my tweets. It felt as if the blinders I had been unknowingly wearing upon my eyes had fallen away and I could suddenly see the value and the "point" of Twitter and tweeting. Finally seeing it fascinated me. I lost track of time and spent more time in the sauna than I had planned. The funny thing was that the time felt like it was my shortest time in the sauna ever!

With my eyes finally open to the value and the potential role of Twitter in communication I started to notice things that I had previously overlooked. I started to see the value the selective use of Twitter can bring. What is more, I started to benefit from that value. Following the links that interested me, I found information and links to even more information. I discovered that Twitter can serve as a wonderful starting point and even a travel companion on the modern information highway.

While looking for articles and information to post on Twitter for our course, I encountered three articles which really cemented my understanding of and appreciation for Twitter. The first story covered a suicide at a train station in Tokyo. While suicide is a terrible thing, the story was more focused on the powerful role that Twitter plays in keeping Japanese commuters informed. It also pointed out how photographs distributed through Twitter can help preserve events which many in Japan try to down play or otherwise minimize. The second story covered an English teaching Twitter user who, with correct but rather bizarre English expressions, is providing a very valuable educational tool through Twitter. The third story, which was just too far off the mark to share with the class, deals with a man seen riding the Yamanote train line in Tokyo dragging an ear of corn behind himself on a red doggy leash. While the story itself is not that important, the fact that Twitter is being used to post photographs and exchange information about this possibly insane person is interesting and on point in that it too shows the power of Twitter.

Now, I am a believer. I understand the value of Twitter. I want to Thank Dr. Bert for "making" me have this epiphany. I am still struggling with trying to process all the information coming at me through my Twitter feed. I am almost tempted to reduce the number of people and organizations I am following just so that I have a better chance of keeping up. But, I no longer question its value.

Before I end this blog entry I would like to bring up something that is still bothering me about Tweeting. With the limit of only 140 characters, when I tweet and especially when I retweet, I often have to erase information about my source. Granted, when my followers follow the link they will get the ultimate source but, I still feel a bit weird and wrong when I erase identifying information about a source just to make room for the #sp677e hashtag.

And speaking of questions, I know that we are kind of already working on this question in class but, I really wish I knew how many tweets I "have" to do on a weekly basis.