#117 tweet tweet

Remember when "tweet tweet" was something only the Rockin' Robin said?  Not any more. After my entry about our tree planting tradition and the #Tree (see #104), a former colleague offered to give me a full lesson on Twitter.  Since he lives six hours away from me, I got my own tutorial -- via the joinme.com site that allowed me to see his computer screen from my desk by just clicking on a link that he sent me.  I was impressed (intimidated?!) before we ever got started.

From my own chair, I could see his cursor whiz across the screen, opening up multiple windows and sites, from SocialBro to HootSuite to Tweetdeck to Bitmark. He showed me how he can post tweets from his multiple accounts -- Facebook for home, work, hockey league, dad's golf league, etc. and Twitter accounts from another dozen sources.  There is a wonderful dashboard system to keep track of your multiple accounts (as if I needed to know how to do that!), sites that show how you rank in your town as far as influence goes -- or whether your lack of retweeting makes fun of you on Klout. It struck me as ironic that a simple communication vehicle -- designed to boil the essence of a message down to 140 characters -- has spawned such an elaborate empire around it.  
I am all for instant communication, but when the estimated life cycle of a tweet is 18 minutes, it seems that something is getting lost in the process.  In contrast, when cleaning out my Mom's house, we found a whole box of letters that my dad had written her 60 years ago.  The shoebox of treasures for future generations will be virtual, if it's even there at all.

There are times when tweeting is the perfect thing to do [Happy Yom Kippur @Stacey77 and to all my Jewish friends #Jewish #holidays], but there are other times when the 140 characters on paper makes all the difference [a thank you from a candidate].   Choose your communication method with intentionality #advice.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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