{"id":7285,"date":"2011-01-18T12:43:50","date_gmt":"2011-01-18T19:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/?p=7285"},"modified":"2022-08-27T17:53:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-27T15:53:55","slug":"twittering-twits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/","title":{"rendered":"Twittering twits?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twittering twits?<\/h1>\n<\/div>

When the Dutch Queen made some denigrating comments about the internet and social media in her Christmas speech, it elicited a barrage of protest on the internet. Are the technological developments and social media the cause of individualization as Beatrix stated, or do they generate more human contact?<\/p>\n

On twitter the topic generated interesting discussions. In a letter to the Queen, \u2018Off-license girl\u2019 Petera de Boevere wrote that social media are in fact combating isolation: \u2018People call help lines if chat contact is offline for too long, they find like-minded people and have real new contact.\u2019<\/p>\n

Living on Curacao I have noticed that the contemporary technical possibilities do lead to more contact, whereby distance is irrelevant nowadays. This can have a significant positive impact on feeling being balanced and having a grip on your life. Friends who live abroad get their children to talk to grandma and grandpa via Skype. Sometimes, the grandparents even read a story to them before bed\u2026 More often than when everyone lived in the Netherlands!<\/p>\n

People also help one another via twitter. Off-license girl: \u2018Recently there was someone walking down the street in Roosendaal, crying, because he had got into the wrong train and couldn\u2019t get home any more. Tens of people tried to find him a place to sleep through their networks. It\u2019s like the nativity but then 2000 years later.\u2019<\/p>\n

Like the Queen, I used to find all these network sites and social media stupid. Something for people without real friends, too much time on their hands, living in their own little worlds. But three months ago, just before my book was published, my publisher thought I should have a twitter account. Reluctantly I succumbed.<\/p>\n

First I looked at what others were twittering about. There were a few distinct groups:<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
  • <\/i><\/span>
    People who only discussed their business and clients: \u2018I am on the way to see company X.\u2019 I wondered how interesting that was to read for those outside the sector.<\/div><\/li>\n
  • <\/i><\/span>
    Next there\u2019s the group of people who take the twitter question \u201cwhat are you doing\u201d oh so literally. They twitter about their precise activities several times a day: \u2018am currently eating a sandwich with cheese.\u2019 Or even worse: \u2018Am twittering.\u2019<\/div><\/li>\n
  • <\/i><\/span>
    People who twitter about twittering are irritating anyway. \u2018Haven\u2019t twittered for an hour\u2019, or \u2018Twexit\u2019, etc.<\/div><\/li>\n
  • <\/i><\/span>
    Fortunately there are also Twitterers who pass on interesting tips, links, films, etc. about their profession (such as Martijn Baarda and Martijn Aslander). Interesting!<\/div><\/li>\n
  • <\/i><\/span>
    Then there are those who are simply funny writers and are fun to follow (such as Off-license girl).<\/div><\/li><\/ul>

    When I was recently invited for a presentation\u00a0and the contact person told me she had found me via Twitter, my interest was certainly tweaked. I started experimenting with a mix of private\/business and funny\/serious and looked to see which got the most reactions. Via the twitter search function you can find out exactly what is being said about you and which messages are being sent. So I collected some feedback. I try to focus mainly on fun, daily details, food for thought and eye-openers. And of course I abuse the fact a little that I spend much of my time under the palm trees\u2026 Within two months I had 500 followers!<\/p>\n

    These people now react to messages I post and questions I ask. Such as to an appeal for collecting stories for my new book Heb jij al een foute man? (ed. trans. Do you have a bad man yet?). But also when I was on the road one day and had forgotten a particular phone number!<\/p>\n

    There\u2019s a sort of \u2018twitiquette\u2019 to follow someone who\u2019s following you. You may get hundreds or thousands of messages crossing your screen in a day. I regularly hear complaints that it\u2019s really tricky to read everything that\u2019s said when you\u2019re offline. But it\u2019s not something you have to worry about. See it as a group of friends already in the bar when you arrive. You\u2019re not going to ask everyone to repeat what they\u2019ve said, are you? You simply get involved in the ongoing discussion.<\/p>\n

    I would recommend anyone to start twittering and if you already have an account, to experiment a little more.<\/p>\n

    A number of tips:<\/p>\n<\/div>

    <\/div><\/div><\/div>
    • <\/i><\/span>
      Make clear choices. Want to profile yourself as an expert? Then twitter mainly about your topic and give practical ideas, links and tips.<\/div><\/li>\n
    • <\/i><\/span>
      Want to give people an insight into your life? Then always think about whether it\u2019s interesting for others to read.<\/div><\/li>\n
    • <\/i><\/span>
      Don\u2019t post more than three tweets per day. Nobody\u2019s waiting to be overwhelmed by messages.<\/div><\/li>\n
    • <\/i><\/span>
      Consider taking two accounts \u2013 a private one and one for business, or for Dutch and English.<\/div><\/li>\n
    • <\/i><\/span>
      Search regularly on your own (user) name for reactions. This is the most direct feedback you can get.<\/div><\/li>\n
    • <\/i><\/span>
      Think how twitter (and other social media) can help you gain greater balance in your life. So don\u2019t sit for hours behind your computer aimlessly for hours a day but think about whether you can outsource something, or make something more fun or interesting because of the new possibilities.<\/div><\/li><\/ul>

      The fact that the world is really small, also on the internet, was clear to me when I posted a tweet from Curacao around Christmas time. \u2018Christmas in the tropics \u2026 I just saw a water skier with a Christmas hat!\u2019, when I received a reaction from a total stranger: \u2018Was it a red boat? I was sitting next to you on the plane!\u2019<\/p>\n

      Published in VCV Magazine, January 2010<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

      <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-visibility"],"yoast_head":"\nTwittering twits? - Esther Jacobs \u2013 the NO EXCUSES LADY: speaker, author, digital nomad<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twittering twits? - Esther Jacobs \u2013 the NO EXCUSES LADY: speaker, author, digital nomad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Esther Jacobs \u2013 the NO EXCUSES LADY: speaker, author, digital nomad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-18T19:43:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-27T15:53:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Esther Jacobs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Esther Jacobs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Esther Jacobs\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/dae99707167aff5186f2328d8d82b61d\"},\"headline\":\"Twittering twits?\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-18T19:43:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-27T15:53:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/\"},\"wordCount\":1433,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/dae99707167aff5186f2328d8d82b61d\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Visibility\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/\",\"name\":\"Twittering twits? - Esther Jacobs \u2013 the NO EXCUSES LADY: speaker, author, digital nomad\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-18T19:43:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-27T15:53:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/blog\/twittering-twits\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Twittering twits?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/estherjacobs.info\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Esther Jacobs \u2013 the NO EXCUSES LADY: speaker, author, digital nomad\",\"description\":\"Live without excuses. 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