Twitter…again March 25, 2009

Most of you are finding your way here through Twitter…The rest of you don’t understand my love of it.

Many have attempted to explain it…and there really is no way to sum it up easily. You either get it or you don’t…My best friend, some of you know her as @fourformom, summed it up the best. She said “it’s like jumping a train…you just have to run alongside until you can figure out the right time to jump on.” Nothing sums up Twitter more accurately.

You just have to sign up and go…and when you think you have the hang of it, you just jump in. Most people can’t seem to figure it out because they only go to my page so they just see the nonsense I post…which doesn’t make sense…there are random messages to other people and you can’t see what they are saying…but that is the beauty of Twitter…you just wander the pages until you find someone you find interesting and you follow them. You don’t request to be their friend, you don’t have to know them, you just think ‘wow, that’s one funny fucker’ and click “follow”. If you eventually think “ug, not as cool as I thought” – you just click “unfollow” and you’re done. No harm, no foul. Eventually you get ballsy enough to @reply them (that sends a message directly to them) – and sometimes they answer and sometimes they don’t…and in this forum, it’s ok…because it isn’t an e-mail. No one is ignoring you…they are seeing what you say and nodding their head and moving on…everyone is on the run, no one is stationary, we only have 140 characters…we say what we have to say and the train goes on…You can find people with similar interests, sense of humor, lifestyles or even just locations. You can open an account with a crazy name and say things you never thought you’d say and no one cares…because no one knows you and if they don’t like it…they will just unfollow you. Where Facebook is you at your best, putting on your Sunday Outfit to impress everyone you ever knew from your formulative (that’s a word right? I have spelled it incorrectly though…hmmm) years, Twitter is you on Saturday morning, unshowered, drinking leftover wine out of the bottle because you just damn feel like it. Facebook is the lovely things you say and Twitter is the stuff you REALLY think.

I wish I could follow all of my followers back, but it is overwhelming enough to keep up with those that I currently follow….and you learn that you don’t take it personally when someone doesn’t follow you…you can’t keep up. That isn’t what Twitter is about…it’s about jumping in and following other people’s funny. You learn that hobos and pancakes and bacon and unicorns are all things awesome. That there is some hilarity to be found in Hitler. That you can be very funny in only 140 characters…but mostly, you learn a whole new community. I didn’t think I’d ever be so worried about a strangers pre-mature baby or another stranger’s husband’s cancer diagnosis…and yet…I am. I am personally invested in these people’s lives…it is a whole new circle of “friends.” Imaginary, insane, drunk, slutty, no-pant wearing friends…but friends nonetheless…and even those that don’t follow me back…I feel linked to them and their lives.

You should probably join. If not just to see how douchey Ashton Kutcher seems and how John Mayer should PROBABLY date me.

www.twitter.com – go get yourself an account www.textism.com/favrd – here’s where all the funny people end up