Chris Berry On The Net

As a follow-up to My Great 30 Day Twitter Experiment, I wanted to give you an update now that I’m three weeks into the project. Am I a Twitter addict yet, or is the whole thing just as pointless as I had imagined? The answer is definitely, maybe, probably.

I’ve made it a point to post updates on a regular basis, and I’ve averaged around four per day. Some of the folks I follow never seem to post, while others average at least four per minute. I tend to un-follow those folks pretty quickly, since their incessant spewing of random brain farts makes it impossible to pay attention to whatever anyone else may have to say.

I haven’t made much of an effort to recruit followers, so I guess I’ve failed when it comes to running up the score. I’m sure there is a tried and true method for attracting hundreds or even thousands of followers, but I have not discovered it yet. I’m only up to 18 so far, so I guess I’ll go eat worms.

The biggest question I had going into this is whether there is any valuable information to be found on Twitter. I was pretty doubtful at first, but I’m beginning to think otherwise. It is true that there is way too much shameless self promotion, and there are far too many people who feel the need to share with the world every time a new song comes on the radio. On the other hand, if you take the time to sift through the nonsense, you might find an occasional gem.

Last week I saw an announcement for a lunch gathering of social media users in Roanoke. I read it at 11:20, and the meeting was scheduled to begin at 11:30. Fortunately, I live close enough to downtown that I made it with time to spare. The event was surprisingly well attended, and I ended up meeting several interesting people. One of them contacted me the next day looking for some help customizing a WordPress site, and I ended up with a nice freelance project. On that basis alone, I have to admit that for something that seems pretty silly on the surface, Twitter can be a valuable tool.

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