Twitter, oh Twitter

So, first let me start by saying neither Maggie nor I are addicted or obsessed with this blog, apparently. It's really quite sad because we had such lofty goals in the beginning. But don't give up on us yet. I know we'll continue to blog when the urge strikes. That said, the urge has struck me. There's something I've been wanting to blog about for a while now just as one of those pet peeve sorta things.

So back in the good ole days of 2007, Maggie tells me about this new thing called Twitter that Kevin Pereira from G4TVs Attack of the Show had been talking about. And she says I really gotta get on there cause Kevin's so awesome. And I resisted for a little while because I didn't "get it". I was still all into MySpace (see, I said, the good ole days!) and was really trying to even get a grasp on that Facebook thing. Didn't really want another thing to get caught up in. But sure enough, my arm didn't need much twisting because, yeah, I'm a techie at heart and like to see these new things early on.

I joined and followed Maggie and Kevin and singer/songwriter Matt Morris for what feels like forever because in it's infancy, no one was really doing the whole Tweeting thing. When I finally remembered I had one and went back to it after a few months, I started to get it because of it's simplicity and to this day, that's the thing I love most about it. Call me a victim of the MTV generation with the whole lack of being able to pay attention to anything for very long. I was getting sick of MySpace and people's ridiculously decorated pages and I still was (and kinda am not) feeling Facebook and all the damn quizzes and stuff. So, yes, Twitter was becoming and still is my social networking site of choice. The app on my iPhone made it so easy to fall deeper and deeper in love with it, too.

Given all of that, I don't want to say that I'm like the Queen of Twitter cause I know I'm far from that. BUT having been around it for longer than a bunch of people that I now follow, kinda leaves room for me to make some observations that are generally reasons for me to stop following people and it makes me sad even though I'm sure someone might be able to say the same about me for some reason or another. I mean there are real, legitimate friends who I wish there was a way to stop getting their updates because they're such annoying Twitterers but I don't because I don't want them to see I stopped following thus causing some sort of Twitter War because of feelings being hurt. So, I'm resorting to blogging my general annoyances and if I stop following you, it's not personal. I just don't wanna be annoyed when I log on to my favorite little website of the moment.

Here's the lowdown...

• Don't tweet too much - There's nothing I hate more than when I see on Friendbar (a ticker of tweets for Firefox) the same pic/name for like 10 posts. Twitter's 140 characters for a reason. If you got more to say than that, take it to a blog or Facebook or something.
  
• Learn how to use RT - Retweet stuff that you want everyone to know, not just when you feel the need to reply to someone. I don't see when you reply to people I don't know for a reason, and I like it.
  
• Do you really think P Diddy is gonna see you tweeting him? - I get the whole loving the fact that Twitter gives you a bit of accessibility to celebrities in a way that we've never seen before but really, said celebs are likely getting thousands of @ replies and there's a slim to none chance that you're gonna get a reply or acknowledgment when you try. That said, it's not completely wrong to do, just don't do it all the time, cause really? It's ridiculous.
• Trending - Sure, some trending topics are fun, but man, it's not a competition to get something to be a trending topic (though some are amusing) and making every tweet of your day a # is just wow, too much.
  
• Sharing of information - There's a bunch of people that are either TMI or not enough info. I think the people who share waaaaaay too much are equally as annoying as the vague ones. It's like both are searching for attention and replies and it's just frustrating...okay, wait, I think I hate the vague ones more cause it's like "Really, WTF are you talking about?!"
• TV Tweeting - I like to see what the people I'm following are into, as far as TV and music and all that fun stuff, but man, when you feel the need to give me a play by play of what you're watching, there's a problem. Step away from the computer or cell phone and just WATCH THE FUCKING SHOW. I don't need to know every detail of it. If I did, I'd be watching it myself.
  

I'm sure there's many, many more things that peeve me about the way people are on Twitter but those are the ones that come to mind. Again, if you notice I stopped following you, no offense...you're probably doing at least one of these if not a combination of them and I just can't take it.

Call/Text/Twitter/Myspace/Facebok/Me. Love ya!

With the addition of the Facebook chat-toolbar-make-it-easier-than-ever-to-stalk-your-friends-thingie, I've now come to the conclusion that its completely impossible to NOT communicate with your friends anymore.

Cell phones are one thing. Calling, texting, hell I call people from my purse sometimes without even meaning to do it. (Has that ever happened to you? The background noises ALWAYS make it sound like one of your dear friends is being kidnapped and shoved into a trunk or something. Its always somewhat alarming.) Texting is handy when you have things to say but don't really feel like actually talking to someone, or are in a place where actually having your phone to your ear is not the best plan of action. But now, with the plethora of social networking sites and instant messaging applications, I almost feel like I work for some secret government agency tracking those fondest to me at any given moment.

Myspace and Facebook alone offer the abilities to blog, comment, chat instantly with your friends, and be "cryptic" and "mysterious" with status updates, as well as updating everyone you know, wish you knew, knew ten years ago and can't remember why you stopped talking to them in the first place, or don't know at all but didn't want to offend by denying their display of cyber friendship the opportunity to be notified whenever YOU update something. You can spill your soul, pimp your favorite artists *cough* Matt Nathanson *cough*, and look like you have way too much free time by posting obnoxious glittery kittens and unicorns all over your friends pages. Its fun, I swear.

Sites like Twitter take it a step further. Twitter offers you the opportunity to type or text update to their site that you can then post on your other social networking sites of choice. The problem here becomes that some people abuse the privilege (I'm looking at you, Matt Morris), and will sometimes post so frequently that its nearly a minute by minute feed. I don't really need to know you that well dude, just get the album out already. K thanks.

There are sites like LastFM.com, Goodreads.com,and Dvd Profiler, which allow you to meticulously track the songs you listen to, the books you read, and the movies that you watch. There are also sites that allow you to go so far as to keep a record of what you consumed that day, or keep track of everything from what medicines you took, to your menstrual cycle.

A quick Google of the two screen names I use the most often brings up my recent message board posts, my LastFm and Twitter accounts, and a host of links to online friends of mine, among other things that I either participate in, or signed up for and long forgot.

The point is this - I'm a solitary person by nature. Luckily I have the type of friends who understand for the most part that its exhausting for me to be with people in a social setting, and every now and then I just have to isolate and take some me time, plug in and recharge my batteries. With the advent of constant communication, this has nearly become impossible. Dropping off the radar for a day or two is no longer an option without a barrage of messages, emails, texts, etc - all wondering where I am and if I'm okay, and if I've thought about contacting someone for the obvious depression that I must have going on if I simply haven't felt like talking to anyone for a few days.

I'm an open book by nature. I'm obnoxiously outgoing, I'm definitely not the type of girl to have secrets. This is probably a good thing, because in this day and age its simply not possible anymore.