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The thought occurred to me today that a lot, if not all, of the advice I read about Twitter sounds like it’s written by people who already get it, people who are already on there with many followers, and people who might even make a living doing this. Their perspective is valuable but not always inviting or relatable. I, on the other hand, as a brand-new Twitter user, might be more relatable. You tell me — here are my credentials:
- Up until this point, I did not think Twitter would be helpful to me and was just waiting for it to go away. It’s not like I had time to be on it anyway. I don’t even get Internet on my phone. Isn’t everyone using Twitter on the phone?
- I’m not young. I’m not old, either, but let me put that in perspective: In high school, my friends made our weekend plans over the phone. We used pay phones when we were out. It was a big deal if one of us had a beeper. I didn’t start using e-mail until a college class forced me to sign up for one. There was no such thing as more than one computer in my house. The first computer I remember having was an IBM PC jr. (Some of you are saying, “Um, I didn’t even grow up with computers!” I do have the advantage that my parents were technologically “with it,” but we all understand the concept of computers and the Internet now, so that’s no excuse.)
- Back to using Twitter on the phone: I have never paid for a cell phone. I always get the free one. No data plan for me, thanks. I barely use it to make calls. I figured I couldn’t be effective on Twitter if I wasn’t available 24/7. Twitter’s time-sensitiveness scared me.
- Twitter goes against every fiber of my copy editing being. I have made a living shrinking text, but not at the expense of spelling and grammar. I thought the only people on Twitter were ones who wouldn’t blink twice at “skool” and “in2″.
So, I’m old enough that I missed the point of texting but young enough that I don’t fear the robots. I hope I’ve earned your respect.
When I decided to jump full-on into Twitter (my freelance work dried up, so time is plentiful), I wanted step-by-step instructions for how to not completely mess up. Yesterday, I pointed you toward Denise Graveline’s post You Can’t Be Mary Poppins In Social Media. I figured this out before I read her post, but she describes the exact place I was in the last time I tried Twitter, so please do read it if you are at all hesitant about plunging into the raging rapids that Twitter sometimes feels like (especially at the beginning).
I’ve decided, as I’m writing this, to make a series of posts about how to feel comfortable getting on Twitter if you’re a very beginner. I want to document my Twitter successes and failures while I’m still new to this so that I can offer that perspective. I also am just so jazzed about what’s possible on Twitter, things I didn’t see the first time because I didn’t get a good start.
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