Lowcountry Geek

“I don’t get it!”

That’s a pretty common response that I hear when I start to talk to people about Twitter.

“Why do you care what other people are doing? Why do people care what you’re doing? Why would anyone follow you? I have too much else to do, I don’t have time to bother with Twitter!”

Aside from the obvious personal insult of “Why would people follow you” I do get why certain people just don’t get Twitter.

It’s not for everyone.

Some people don’t want to take the time to look for the information they really want. Some really don’t care what others are doing or thinking. They’re very focused on their own lives and issues, and I get that.

I’ve previously blogged about how social media in general has helped me develop from an extremely introverted person to someone a bit more willing to meet new people and share a bit more of myself. So I won’t get back into that. And I won’t discuss how Twitter has become one of the most effective mediums for news and customer service. Perhaps I’ll leave that for a future post.

So why do I tweet and why do I love Twitter?

Because it makes the world smaller!

Over the past two weeks I, through Twitter, have conversed with a former NBA star (@Bowen12) and one of the most influential social and economic theorists of the past 25 years (@richard_florida), and both conversations were spurred by criticism of them in some way.

Yes, little me in Beaufort, SC ripped on Bruce Bowen of all people for the bowtie he constantly wears on Sportscenter and questioned whether he was going to be performing with Outkast after the show, to which he replied “Now that would be a live show.”

How about that? A guy who could shut down Kobe Bryant wrote back to me on Twitter.

The same thing happened with Richard Florida when I criticized how he was promoting his new book, The Great Reset, through social media. I wasn’t critical of him or his content, just how he was sorta spamming people with all his promos. He appreciated the criticism, and I’m now one of only 700 people he’s following on Twitter. More than 33,000 people follow @Richard_Florida.

(Side note: Anyone who wants to buy me Florida’s new book for my birthday can feel free to.)

Again, how cool is that?! I think very.

So that’s why I love Twitter: Because it connects husbands (@irleslie) and wives (@care_leslie) and the famous and non-famous alike.

Name me another medium that’s able to accomplish that.