Lately, several new friends have started, or shown an interest in, using Twitter (the popular micro-blogging service I’ve described before) for the first time. Here are my answers to some questions from one of them:
The default setting for Twitter allows anyone to read what you post. For people who are open to making new friends or wanting to promote themself, this is as it should be. But you should only post thoughts you’re willing make public. Always remember that Twitter, like blogging, is broadcasting. Anyone on the planet with Internet access can read your public micro-blog. Sharing details of your life on the Internet is not unlike being in a “reality TV” show. Act accordingly.
Are you a privacy freak? Than navigate to your Twitter Settings and check “Protect my updates”. I don’t recommend this for most people. I think it undermines the innate value and nature of this medium — something like “watching” television with a towel draped over the screen, or publishing a newspaper but refusing to sell it at newsstands. If you’re so very concerned about privacy, than maybe a private email list would be more suitable. Also, hiding your micro-blog may give a false sense of security. Although this privacy feature will only reveal your updates to your personally approved followers, there’s nothing to stop them from “retweeting” or otherwise reposting or sharing your posts themselves, much as any recipient of your email can forward it to someone you didn’t anticipate. So, just like email, you still should never post anything that you wouldn’t want the world to read someday. Show common sense.
Assuming you’ll keep your micro-blog public, some complete strangers will “follow” you (subscribe to your posts). Normal people will typically follow because they like what you say or a mutual friend recommended you. Others will follow in the hope that you’ll follow them back and read their posts. The worst of these folks post only shallow and obviously self-promotional crap or spam, or links to other crap. But this is harmless, since you only receive their posts if you choose to follow them.
I recommend you simply follow people you know and anyone you find posting interesting things. Let your own tastes be your guide. If you follow someone but don’t like what they say, it just takes a couple clicks to unfollow them. (Or post the command “leave” followed by their Twitter name — for instance, “leave LolaRennt” — to immediately stop your subscription to their posts.) It’s that easy. So there’s no harm in trying someone out, then dropping them if they bore you. This effortless experimentation is just part of why millions of people find Twitter fun and sometimes addictive.
Oh, and if you like my occasional tech tips here, follow MYKLbiz on Twitter, and you’ll get a tweet (a micro-post) with a link whenever I write a new one. Twitter users can also ask me questions, by sending me a Reply or Direct Message. Wondering who else to follow on Twitter? I setup the TheCurator account just to keep track of some of my favorite microblogs; look at TheCurators’ friends to see if any of these people or bots (Twitter-based tools) interest you. Wondering what Twitter’s good for? Read about the idea that first got me interested: using it as a kind of daily grounding haiku. Whatever you do, I hope you’ll let me know when you sign up!
