Dear Twitter
Ever since we announced our engagement, I’ve had a sad feeling in my heart. I’ve been thinking a lot about you and I lately. All the good times and laughs we used to share. When we first started out things were different. We were more open with each other. We used to stay up late, just talking and hanging out. Now things are different. You’re too busy for me. You’ve become successful and with that success you’ve become distant … cold. We don’t talk like we used to. We aren’t relating to each other anymore. You’ve changed.
You say The New Twitter is going change how we spend time together. You say it’s going to bring us closer together … it’s going to strengthen our relationship – increase our quality time. I sure hope so. Because it feels like this relationship has become pretty one-sided. We don’t talk, we don’t relate to each other. We just broadcast our thoughts, feelings and share information. Without discussion or engaging … or even a thank you for the RT.
I’m trying really hard to save our relationship. I follow the people you say I should. I respect your code of ethics and try to always have something meaningful to tweet – to put out into the world. But you’re so busy broadcasting your content you’ve forgotten about me. About my thoughts, opinions … and feelings. Hello #FAIL it’s Jill talking. If The New Twitter doesn’t change our relationship, I’m worried that we’re doomed to a life of information broadcasting, breaking news reports and YouTube links.
Maybe it’s me but this relationship isn’t going to work out unless you spend more time with me. Talking, engaging, and RTing like we used to. It’s not too late Twitter. There’s still time. We can save this thing if we both try a little harder. Forget therapy. You’ve been down that road. You’ve forgotten the vows that @aplusk and @mrskutcher took before one million followers became the norm for celebrity couples. I’m not rich. I’m not famous. But we’re in this thing together – for richer, and for poorer. Let’s save what we had … together.
xxxooo
Jill
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jill Atkinson, Rooster Post . Rooster Post said: @magelly @Teresacottam @gregobr @truvoip @AaronBillard – a "lite" blog post on engagement http://wp.me/pBptv-7M [...]
Asifa told me about this article – love it! Was telling her I don’t have this issue on my personal account or TV, eh? account, where I feel like I’m part of an engaged community of like-minded people with similar interests. But in my new work account I’m having difficulty finding the entry point to engagement because in that world everyone seems to be broadcasting instead of discussing. People ask for suggestions and then ignore the responses, for example, and very little conversation is going on. I’m hoping some time and effort will help me find the entry point into a community instead of what’s basically a glorified RSS feed.
Hi Diane
Thanks for your comments. I wonder if the levels of engagement change depending on the size of the community that we engage in. Smaller groups of like interests welcome newcomers and welcome input. On Twitter for example, there are too many social media experts to count – and all of them are broadcasting the same sort of information. Most of them are jockeying for publicity, and to gain new followers. They are really not interested in actually connecting with people.
I find the same lack of engagement on many of the social groups that can be found on the internet. I guess it’s easier to be present – but not really be present when you don’t have to go through the effort of physically showing up. It takes a lot of work to be fully present and engaged. But like you said, time and effort are the keys and eventually you will find common ground and find quality discussion.