Twitter...Some people still don't get it...SMH

Man, I've been finding a lot of people who STILL don't understand what twitter is. Case in point: Last night I run in to a guy I haven't seen in a good while like five years. I know it couldn't have been any longer than five years because he initially contacted me about doing a feature in documentary film through my myspace, and my myspace is around 5 years old. Well he just pops in on the spot last night in the middle of my set, completely ZOOTED out of his mind.

Him: "Hey man, whaaaaat's goin on??"

Me: "Uh, not much man... Deejaying."

Him: "So man, how ya doin?"

Me: "Good, kinda worried about the Iranian Elections."

Him: "You wanna little pick me up?"

Me: "Like a Red Bull??"

Him: "Noooooo man, some cocaine!"

Me: "I'mma have to pass on that, lemme check my twitter feed to see if there's any news on Iran."

Him: "Oh, twitter... '8 am, I'm shittin' 9:30 am 'I ate some cereal', '10pm I'm shittin'"

Me: "Dude it's not like that..."

Wes B: "I twitter about everything except THAT."

Him: "Oh are y'all really on twitter... Uh, that's cool."

It was like he'd never met anyone who really used it, and he and his friends probably made fun of it. But now staring me in the face while I'm checking twitter to see about the uprising in Iran, he seemed to change his tone.

This reminds me of an interchange I had on twitter earlier this week, about some drama that started because people don't understand how to read the twitter feed. The drama was only compounded by a less than favorable write up of a performance on a blog.

This brings me to my point. Some people just don't get it. They don't really get the entire concept of social networking. I suspect those are the same people who ruined myspace with constant "hey check out my music" comments. Their myspace's all became commercials for themselves. For me, in the beginning, it was like that also. It was also like baseball card collecting in the sense that I would try to find every band, group, artist, politician, famous person, etc... and collect them. Like I could put them all in a shoe box, and look at them when I felt like it.

I eventually realized that social networking IS all about connecting with people, and having them connecting with you. That's really hard to do if ALL you're doing is talking about yourself. No one wants to watch a commercial for YOU. We all want to be heard, and we all want to be seen, known, admired & appreciated.

That brings me to twitter with it's 140 character simplicity. Almost anything can be expressed through these 140 characters. It's enough characters to tell a joke. A person can link to videos, your myspace, your facebook, funny pics (via twitpic), your blog. Someone can tweet about taking a crap, or walking to the store, but no one wants to follow someone living such a mundane life. Twitter about nothing, get no followers. It's all about being relevant, witty and dare I say "follow-worthy". I've made more connections with people through twitter and Facebook once I realized the simple truth, that if you open your eyes and learn about people, they will in turn want to learn about you.

Also check out myspace.com/tonyskratchere, also facebook.com/tonyskratchere and twitter.com/tony5kratchere

Don't over promote yourself! Don't become SPAM!! If no one's listening, maybe you're not saying the right things or talking to the right people.