How many of us got involved in social media for fun? Then transitioned into using it professionally? If you joined Twitter pre-2010, I can pretty much say most of us. It was a new thing. And rather exciting. It was like a rolling conversation at a cafe with complete strangers just talking.

So this is a get off my lawn post. Just warning you now. It really is.

I joined Twitter in 2008. My life professionally and personally was transitioning. I was a new mom living in a new city and state in the Midwest. Social media helped me connect with friends and family I had left behind and missed terribly. Twitter helped me connect with people who were liked-minded and frankly fun. Through Twitter, I’ve made some long lasting connections. Connections, which developed into friendships in real life where we make every attempts to get together whenever one of us is near-by.

Twitter changed.

Twitter use to be the first thing I’d check in the morning. I couldn’t wait to read what was going. Who had @’d or DM’d me. I’d have running conversations with people. And often we’d all talk well into the night.
When I get on Twitter now, well, it isn’t that way. I rarely see folks I use to chat with a lot. Twitter has become wasteland to me. And that makes me unhappy. It is filled with links. Or broadcasting without at attempts to interact.
Don’t get me wrong, I share a lot of links. I’m part of a couple Triberr tribes and paired with my love of reading I share a lot. I like sharing information and in hopes of it sparking a discussion around a topic.
After all it is called social media. And I enjoy the social part of it.

We need to bring the conversations back to Twitter.

Do I have any words of wisdom to share? Not really. Other than common sense. We need to remember why we joined Twitter in the first place: to connect with others and to talk with them. When we interact with each other, the platform comes alive. We need to be entertained. We need to be informed. We need to be enraged. We need to smile and laugh. We need to form bonds with each other as humans. That can be done in a meaningful way on social media. But it takes more than one person to be social. It takes a community.
So if you are up for some conversation, then let’s connect on Twitter and talk. Let’s take back Twitter. Let’s make it a place for conversations again.
 
PS – I’m kinda passionate about this topic. I’ve written about it before:
Would you follow you on Twitter?
Social Media: Connect Not Collect
Lost in Lost in Social Media Fog
 

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