September 30th | by Suzanne Shay
A few months ago, I made the leap from Facebook to Twitter, much to my husband’s dismay. He already had (somewhat legitimate) concerns regarding the amount of time I spent on Facebook catching up with lost friends from high school. Now I was adding the world of celebrities (in what my son referred to as legalized stalking) on Twitter? Yep, I sure was. Keith Urban is on Twitter, you know! So without knowing what a tweet was, I had an account of my very own.
It’s been a few months since I joined Twitter, and the list of people I follow has grown from one (yes, it was @KeithUrban) to over 300. As for the level of contact I have with the people I follow, it varies greatly. Some people are in my follower list, but I never even see their posts buried in the live, streaming feed. Other people, I communicate with much more frequently and in a variety of formats–Twitter, Facebook, blogs, email, text, IM, and phone calls. Some people will be lifelong friends; some are friends in the now. All are valuable in their own way. What ties us all together is the desire to know and be known.
One of the things that I am finding so interesting about Twitter is that I can be known by so many different people in so many different ways. There are the obvious parallels in “real” life, as one person can be known simultaneously as spouse, parent, child, sibling, employee, et cetera. I never imagined, however, that within social media it would be the same–especially on Twitter. Those people are, for the most part, strangers to me. I’ve never met most them & likely never will. I’m just one person, should I not come across to a large group of strangers as basically the same? Strangely, I find that I do not. Different people have engaged different aspects of my personality. I have never felt so diverse…
I am finding that’s how it is on Twitter. With one person, you may talk about running. With another person, you’ll discuss music. With yet another person, you’ll cover politics. There are some people that cross over multiple topics. Fewer still are the number of people that go beyond any and all topics and find you. Even then, they usually see just a side of you. They may come to find that you are smart, or lazy, or caring, or determined, or emotional, or sarcastic, or adventurous. A very small number come to find that you are all. They will know the good and the bad. And they may choose to walk away from the total person that they now know. But… is that not what drives us? Being known? May we all be lucky enough to be known by the ones that see all & stay anyway.
Connect with Suzanne
Twitter – @ZUZANNE72
Facebook - www.facebook.com/swshay
