My daughter can take it no longer. "You've got to get on Twitter, Dad!""But I don't know what to tweet," I answer. "That is the right word, isn't it?"
"Yes, Dad. You tweet things."
"What things?"
"Anything!"
"Like a Facebook status update? I know how to do that!"
Sighs from your children are never good. And I know what this one means. It means Dad, you can be so dumb sometimes. She'd never say that aloud, of course. But she does still make fun of my flip-phone.
"Well, I guess if Rockin' Robin can go tweet, tweet, tweet, I can too. How do I do it?"
"You set up an account."
"Okay. I've set up accounts before. Can't be that tough. Where?"
Her brows rise. "Seriously?"
I flash her the puppy dog eyes so she won't scold me in front of my grandchildren. "Twitter.com?" She gives me a slow nod. I avoid her stare, bring up Firefox and start singing. "All the little birds on Twitter Street, like to hear the Paw Paw go tweet tweet tweet." My grandkids give their mom that Is Grandpa okay? look. I make a face at them and sing louder. "Rockin' Paw Paw, tweet tweet. Rockin' Paw Paw, tweet tweet.""Please, Dad. You're scaring the kids. You're a writer, not a singer. Stick to what you can do, okay?"
So I took the plunge. During the course of getting everything set up and configured, I learned things, things like "Skip this step" really does mean you can skip the step--except when your daughter says not to. I learned that I didn't know five tweeter handles I wanted to follow and couldn't help but wrinkle my nose at those Twitter suggested. I learned that forty-eight-year-old parents should not set up Twitter accounts without one of their children supervising.
Some things I didn't learn despite asking, like when I said, "Wait a minute. If I'm limited to 140 bytes then how can I upload a picture?" Instead of answering, she laughed. Hard. Hey, I thought it was a good question, but I didn't press since she was doubled over and trying to breathe through snorts of uncontrollable laughter. I'll just Google it.
But, hey, it's spring time now and I'm twitterpated! (Gotta play off Bambi whenever possible, I always say.) But be warned, I've yet to tweet anything. For the first time in my life, I don't know what to say. I just feel like my first time should be...special, you know?
140 characters? Polaroids of the digital age.
You can find me at @JeffreySHargett (I may have to look into upgrading that old flip phone after all.)
I'm the same way about Facebook. I've had an account for ages and I think I've only ever written one thing on my wall. Goodness knows what I would do with a Twitter account!
ReplyDeleteI got into the Facebook swing by posting a small (self-written) funny each evening. I've later funneled almost all creative juices into my book. I may resume the practice once the draft is complete (hopefully this week!!) though.
DeleteMine is @rpatrickhughes. But will we ever have anything to tweet about?
ReplyDeletePerhaps a milestone in sales for one of your books or letting people know when they go on special at Amazon? (Just tossing out ideas.)
DeleteI can totally relate to this sort of interaction with my son. You're way ahead of me with the flip phone. I don't even own a cell phone and I've yet to tweet. I hear all the agents are on there and it's a good way to stay in touch with what they are looking for, though I have no idea how you would even do that. No idea...
ReplyDeleteHadn't heard that about agents, but then I've never really followed Twitter-based news...
DeleteI love my flip phone. Something about closing the phone to end the call just seems...right.
I've had several Twitter accounts. Rarely tweeted. On Twitter again...I still rarely tweet. I'm just not that in to it. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL. I do understand, Linda. I think I've decided what my first tweet will be... Now I just have to wait until the moment arrives... hopefully not much longer.
DeleteI've a FaceBook account that I can't deal with. It's all music that I don't really like, or people bitching about someone else...forget it, at least I tried it, but for some reason, I don't think I'd get along with Twitter either...so, I guess I'll just stick to blogging.
ReplyDeleteA few of my friends have already given up on FaceBook too.
Yes, I think I prefer blogging the most too. I enjoy playing a certain game on Facebook and catching up with friends and family, but it's the first thing I drop from the list when the muse arrives.
Deleteahahahaha - this was hysterical! I just got on Twitter a month ago - same thing, peer pressure, LOL! Everyone say "oh the agents are on there and blah blah blah"
ReplyDeleteNow that I've been on there a month I've actually found I like it - as someone told me, Twitter is a social network centered around common interests, rather than friendship/personal networks. The unique and great thing about Twitter, unlike Facebook, is that it lets you connect instantly to complete strangers who share similar interests.
I haven't figured out much interesting to general broadcast tweet about, but I do spend a lot of time retweating interesting things other people say and replying to people/having 1:1 conversations with people. And for that I'm finding it invaluable!
Thanks, Terri! My children like to have fun with me these days. I suppose it's fair seeing as how I had so much fun at their expense when they were younger.
DeleteI've actually tweeted a few times now. Even re-tweeted a time or two. The stream can be a bit overwhelming, but I figure I'll tackle lists next. Maybe that'll make it easier.
Glad you stopped by!