The Twitter Allure
To Tweet or not to Tweet.
I was talking about Twitter with a couple of people around the office yesterday, and they were asking me to explain what’s awesome about it. I had to think about it. I have my own personal reasons for loving Twitter, but I was trying to get at the deeper draw. I finally came up with four main reasons to Tweet. Any or all of these probably apply to everyone on Twitter.
1. Everyone elses’ lives are more interesting than our own.
I’m pretty sure this is a universal truth, and it’s not just related to Twitter. It’s why people gossip and why people watch horrible reality television (Note: I am also guilty of such nonsense). It doesn’t matter what mundane thing someone else is doing, it’s still more interesting than the mundane thing that you are involved in.
2. You can follow the lives of the semi-famous.
It is very easy to follow minor (or former) celebrities and still manage to be sure that they are who you think they are. For example, as I mentioned before, I’m following three of the cast memeber of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I followed a very short and very stable chain to find them.
Scott Johnson (Podcast host extraordinaire) who is following ->
Felicia Day (Internet superstar, Dr. Horrible, The Guild) who is following ->
Wil Wheaton (Real life friends with Felicia Day) who is following ->
Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton
So, there I am. Celebrities sending updates into my little inbox. Fantastic. And their lives are just as boring as mine, but I get to hear about it (See point 1).
3. You’re promoting one of your other internet ventures.
That’s why I wound up on Twitter in the first place. Not because I was promoting something of my own, but because the guys who do the podcasts I like to listen to leave messages on Twitter saying when they’re doing the cast live and listeners can join the chat room. It’s sort of expanded from there. But it’s a good way to let people who are interested in what you have to offer know that you’ve updated something or are running some sort of promotion.
4. The possibility of internet stardom.
It’s part of the same reason why people blog. People want other people to care about them and what they’re doing. I’m not going to lie. Internet stardom is so very appealing. I’m so into so much web culture that I can’t help but want to be a part of it. Hence the blog and the Twitter and all of that.
So, that’s that. The Twitter Allure. So go forth and Tweet.
And you can follow me on Twitter.