“Relationship is an art.” – Don Miguel Ruiz
One year, 10,000 followers, 36,000 tweets, and God only knows how many venti skim lattes later, here Joni and I sit in the same Starbucks that gave birth to @twowisegals, commemorating our first Twitter anniversary and our not so mild addiction to it. As is her style, Joni finds it amusing. As is my style, I find it puzzling and am analyzing what it all means to me…why has Twitter become so much of my life?
She’s the one who finds time to laugh in her latte…I’m the one who wants to know why I’m drinking one. What is it about Twitter that keeps me coming back for more? A year ago my plan was to have some fun for the summer and then close shop and move onto something else. My opinion of those who shared their thoughts on a social network was somewhere between “Get a life!” and “Who cares?” This past year I surprised myself with the realization that I now have a virtual life and I care about the people in it.
Not much for small talk, I get impatient with those who do. For me it’s always been about connecting with another and getting that connection to a deeper level. Over and over again I have been pleasantly surprised to find that happening within a 140-character limitation. Rather than limit communication, this limitation often enhances its quality by demanding carefully crafted interactions that give insight into the psyches of the thousands of tiny avatars racing down my timeline.
Tweet by tweet I am often able to piece together the essence of another and refine and share my own. For me it’s always been about meaningful connections and the resulting sparks of excitement and gratification that come from them. There it is…the reason why I’m on Twitter. Relationship is, indeed, an art…and Twitter is an effective and creative art form.
