I originally joined Twitter when a guy I hardly know, accidentally clicked the link which automatically sends invites to everyone in their email address book. I used my nickname, which was also the name of the shop I owned at the time, and intended to use it as a marketing strategy for the shop. I had no idea how, but it was free so it made sense to try it. So there I was in 2008 with my new Twitter account. I gave it a go, but struggled so much with the concept of only communicating in 140 characters that I pretty much gave up. I re-engaged with Twitter when I got to Uni and was advised that the industry I'd decided to be a part of used Twitter in a big way (which they do) so I decided to give it another go. I started following a few celebrities and made some random tweets.
I'm currently on Twitter under multiple personalities. The original account, which I now use as my personal one, is where I follow my real life friends and a handful of celebrities. Last year I registered another name as a more official(ish) account to help with my ongoing education. Instead of George Michael, Simon Pegg and Stephen Fry, @WorthyOnTheWeb follows people like Zeldman, Steve Krug and the Web Standardistas along with speakers from the various events I attend, an assortment of online writers and new contacts connected with digital media. The more I engaged with Twitter the more I "got it". I stopped trying to use it in the same way that I use Facebook and it all made a lot more sense.
I'm a big fan of word Free and learning new stuff, so one of my many regular activities is attending free lectures and other events which combines the best of both worlds. As with any new thing there are terms you don't understand and stuff that everyody else seems to know how to do and Twitter was no exception. At my first event I didn't understand the concept of hashtags. I also couldn't believe that people were not only allowed, but actively encouraged, to play with their phones and iPads during speaker presentations. I decided to try and join in and quickly realised that I didn't know how. This is where multiple Twitter accounts came in handy. It let me try using hashtags amongst other things in tweets from my personal account to make sure I was doing it right before I tried it in my new persona. This reduced the risk of looking like a muppet whilst I got the hang of things. Maybe George Michael should have tried the same thing, then he wouldn't have had to put up wth some smart arsed journalist taking the mickey out of him because he didn't do his links correctly, made a mess of hashtags and told the world what he had for lunch and time he was going to the dentist. Personally the fact that he writes as a real, ridiculously famous but still real, person is one of the reasons I follow him. I'm certainly not an obsessive George Michael fanatic but for some reason, I really felt the need to defend his right to tweet whatever he wanted to. That's the point of Twitter. You can tweet whatever you want - within reason. People don't have to follow you. I can unfollow George anytime I want to. If I decide that Simon Pegg's use of the C Word offends me I can just click the button. It doesn't as it happens, but the option is there anytime I want. With his vast wealth, hired staff and inevitable entourage I'm sure that George didn't partcularly need me to rise up and defend him against some toss pot journalist who was using his fame as a easy way to score points, but for some reason I felt the need to tweet him my support anyway (and then tweet about it) At the end of the day some celebrities use Twitter purely as a way of telling you what they have for sale, whilst other celebrities use Twitter to write tweets that amuse and entertain you, share their personal views on things, tell you what they had for lunch and occasionally / regularly tell you what they have for sale. The 'and' is the bit that makes the difference.
So that's my personal experience of Twitter. I still prefer to make notes during events rather than tweet during the presentions, but at least now I know how to.
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