Again, one of those brand-names-turned-verb à la Google. I can’t help but find this
odd. The same goes for nouns. I hate it when people say Kleenex instead of
handkerchief or tissue. My vacuum cleaner is not a Hoover. And if you cut
yourself while chopping onions in my kitchen, I refuse to give you a Band-Aid.
Ask me for a plaster instead.
Hubby-to-be and I went out for dinner with some friends last
week, the day I registered on Twitter. I wasn’t really familiar with the
terminology – hashtags and Follow Fridays, even now that’s all I know – and I
was blissfully unaware of the fact that Twitter has coined its own verb – to tweet. I figured something was not right
because as I was rambling about twittering
(capital letter?) this and that, my friends’ smiles changed into little smirks. Oh right, you
don’t twitter, you tweet…
It’s a bit of a strange tool isn’t it? It took me a few days
to get the hang of it. And what’s with all the spamming? Every time I see my
followers increase I get really excited. Until it dawns on me that most of them have
no idea who I am and what I do. And their names – for some reason always
alliterations – sound so silly they can’t be taken seriously. Block. Block.
Block. And I’m left with the 30 followers I had two days ago. Sigh.
And what do you tweet about anyway? Do your followers really
care what you’re having for breakfast? Probably not, unless you’re Kim
Kardashian, but sending out a tweet every few hours increases your visibility.
And that’s what it’s all about. It makes me wonder, what is it with our society
and being seen? Why do we want to share our ups and downs, ins and outs with
people we don’t know and create a cyber identity? Why is it so important to
post every single milestone – is a work trip to France even a milestone? – on
Timeline? To be honest, I don’t know. I have a Facebook account. I have a
Twitter account. And I have this blog. Don’t ask me what I want to achieve by
being a member of these “online communities”. I don't even think I actually
want to achieve anything. My Facebook account connects me with friends, although
admittedly many of them I hardly ever meet. My Twitter account is more of a
professional tool to exchange thoughts and ideas. This blog is my creative
outlet. Nothing more than that. If I can make one reader smile, think... or both, I’ve accomplished my goal. There you have it, I do have a goal.
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