Deborah Woehr

I’ve been hemming and hawing about joining Twitter for the past several months. When I first heard of it, I thought it was another fad that would die out. I tried the social networking sites like Ning, but quickly grew tired of them because they took too much time that I didn’t have. The only time I visit my MySpace page is when someone posts a comment or sends me a private bulletin. So, why would I bother with Twitter?

Reason #1 - Several of my friends are there

Some people can walk into a room full of strangers and feel totally at ease. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. What I do in that situation is walk up to the friendliest-looking person and start up a conversation. That’s harder to do online.

Reason #2 - Curiosity

I keep receiving emails from Internet Marketing gurus about how Twitter is pivotal in the success of their businesses. Now, I’m aware that these guys like to pour on the hype. But when John of Syntagma told me that I was missing out, it piqued my curiosity. I began reading the posts on his Twitter page and those he is following.

Yesterday, I decided to go for it. That’s when I found profiles for several of my friends. Not only that, but my oldest son signed up for an account two weeks ago without telling me. A few new silver strands sprouted from my scalp yesterday.

I set up my profile, posted a few things, and tried to pull away from the site so I could work on my latest chapter. Then I found myself distracted when my Gmail alert told me that a friend was now following me. I went back online and downloaded a Twitter alert app. Soon, I was back on Twitter, responding to my friends’ updates.

Despite this, I managed to get over 500 words written for my WIP. Right now, it’s 9:20am and the board is being fairly quiet. That’s good because I have to take the boys out for school-related errands. Yes, that time of year is coming.