Personal Observations About Twitter

I began using Twitter in March of 2014.  To date I have tweeted 622 times.  I follow some others, 56 as of this morning, while 57 are following me.  By any Twitter standard, those are small numbers.  I understand some Tweeters have thousands of followers and follow thousands more.  I wouldn't know how to handle a few thousand messages every day!

My tweets typically use the hashtag #Genealogy, #FamilyHistory or #History. Quite often I omit any hashtag so that only my followers - a few of which are Coffey researchers - will receive it.

They generally announce the publication of a Edward Coffey Project blog or, a new quarterly issue of the Coffey Cousins' Newsletter.  I also share what I consider to be interesting historical items that I find and read on various websites.  Sometimes I will tweet a whimsical item or two just for amusement.  Most often I go for days or a week or more without tweeting anything.

Somethings that I have noticed about Twitter:

1 - There appears to be a stringent protocol.  I have publicly tweeted some who inconvenience me by habitually screwing up embedded links and, when asked to do it correctly I learned they don't like to be scolded.  Who knew?

2 - Many claim to be interested in genealogy but tweet incessantly about  everything but.

3 - Many others follow in hopes of selling something.  I quickly un-follow spammers.

4 - I sometimes re-tweet interesting items; rarely do any of mine get re-tweeted.  Perhaps the keyword here is "interesting."

5 - Very few offer really good research advice.  There are a few that do and I follow and read their tweets religiously.

6 - I have noticed that after I tweet an obscure item, often within a couple of days someone alleged to be reading my tweets will tweet the same item, just reworded a tad.  They most probably had not read mine prior to that. Yeah, that's it!

7 - Some that I follow tweet a dozen or more times a day.  I wonder where they get the time?

8 - Tweet anything good about FamilySearch.org and that will get "favored" and re-tweeted a dozen times or more!

9 - Many followers turn out to be a hippy-dippy teen or, someone who obviously would have no interest in anything I write.  I guess they are looking to build up their number of followers.  I don't reciprocate and sometimes will block them from contacting me again because of the trash I find when I check their Twitter profile.

10 - Don't bother asking for help; none is available.

In conclusion, I cannot imagine why I bother to use Twitter then bitch about it.  Perhaps I'm what some folks would call a curmudgeon. I am old and experienced enough to be one!