Trying to cope with Twitter

~ beetleypete

During the last year, I have been trying to make some sense of having a Twitter account.

I set aside some time every day to retweet the tweets of those that I follow, and even send the occasional direct message too.

I ‘Like’ the retweets of my own posts, and I am very grateful for those.

But it is like trying to push an avalanche back up a mountain using a teaspoon.

No sooner have I switched from ‘Notifications’ back to ‘Home’, then there are just as many tweets as when I started two minutes earlier.

Some people retweet their own tweets every few seconds.
Is there a setting for that?
I find it hard to believe that they spend the entire day doing nothing but retweeting their own tweets.

So many of you cope admirably with Twitter. You really ‘get it’, and it seems to be second nature to you.
In my case, each new ‘Twitter Day’ becomes a challenge, as I struggle to keep up, and wonder if I have failed to do something ‘Twitterish’.

Then there are the replies and messages. They are almost never linked to the tweet I sent in the first place, so I often have no memory of what I said.
I get included in ‘mass tweets’ sometimes too, and I am never sure if I am supposed to reply. Half the time, I am scrolling through, liking and retweeting, often to discover that I am retweeting the posts of people I have never heard of, because they were retweeted by people I actually follow.

I am overwhelmed by Twitter, like King Canute trying to turn back the waves.
It is relentless, it is unforgivable of those who don’t instinctively get how it works.

I feel as if I am hanging on to the edge of the Twitter crevasse with bitten fingernails.

Is it just me? I suspect it just might be.

83 thoughts on “Trying to cope with Twitter”

  1. I so agree Pete! I tend to spend time in the morning tweeting or retweeting the work of people I engage with, I usually pin my latest post to my site and spend some time in a little banter, than I try and read posts and comment, then off to work! I was out of town for a few weeks and had almost no traffic. It’s a frustrating system! But I love to write so I’m just going to keep blogging and promoting when I can.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. I still have no idea how to use Twitter and get overwhelmed by it all! There are some scheduling apps (one is called Later if I remember) that you can use to schedule tweets! I just find it’s like being in an overcrowded hall and everyone is shouting something random! Xxx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. It Could be just you and me – but I doubt it – whether acknowledged or not among the madding crowd
    I don’t have Twitter, but am back on Facebook (since 2015) after leaving it in 2010 – early adopter, quick bandwagon leaver, etc., etc., etc.

    BUT – if it’s any consolation – I have time each day to connect and/or promote what I do, or engage in marketing attempts that say, “Look at me! Look at me!” OR
    I have that time to connect, foster real relationships that survive algorithms, software updates, marketing & SEO systems that change more frequently than the black box of math that determines one’s credit score – –

    LOL – I just be myself, for good or ill (no, I refuse to search myself on Google and/or ask for all my data files – cuz it will tell me what I already know to be true about myself – –

    Sometimes I’m an arse – or focused on a ‘thing’ and forget to be diplomatic with ‘people’ in quest to solve an issue, problem or just respond on what I was just ‘asked to comment on, share my thoughts on, etc…. (Chime in, All comments welcome, etc., etc., etc.)

    And often, I just carve out time where I can to connect – try to keep ‘platforms’ as streamlined as possible –

    I can sit on my butt, not accomplish any productive work and support others in their quests – OR I can buckle down and get real work done –

    That all said – you are not alone – me thinks – though many are overloaded by social media, email inbox and/or spam robo-calls – – who believe they have the ‘right’ to ‘down time, fun time’ and still getting productive work done when they wander into a field they’ve never plowed before – I disagree – I think we have become slaves, to technology, already, even though few will say it out loud – –

    I know I am – I earn my living through using technology, software and tools and such –

    IF I walk away – I’ll be homeless/starve/etc.

    IF I play along with the ‘vision’ I spend umpteen hours trying to be security minded, researching, learning new tools, etc…..

    Sometimes productivity comes about – sometimes it doesn’t and I walk away and say, “Okay, I’m done – don’t care if you like me or not – but my life time is just not worth spending on this – ”

    Course, I have a high opinion of myself – – 🙂

    This is ‘me own version’ of ‘connecting – my timer is about to go off and I will be back ‘to work’ – on real things – that benefit folks I know – some who pay me to do it and some who accept my volunteer hours – 🙂

    May the coming Holiday Season that should be filled with family/friends, good food and a slower pace of fun, be a wonderful one for you – and if not? Sigh – okay – mud and drizzly skies and never ending rain does that to me, too – – 🙂

    Do you want my ‘mud pies’ recipe? Good for fooling your 6 year old cousins into thinking they are cookies – – LOL

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. I’ve been on the ‘learning curve’ of such things for a long time – never ends – really – gone are the days of spending a life time to master just one craft – – :). me thinks – and accept – but, over the past 3 years, as I’ve watched, I, at least, NOW, understand why folks dream of Armegeddon arriving – – LOL – So there’s that ‘plus’

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  6. Of all the social media platforms I use (which are wordpress, Instagram, Facebook, twitter and Pinterest), I find twitter to be the most useless. It is, as you say, a continuous avalanche of information that you can never possibly sift through. I use it, nevertheless, as all authors must have twitter, so they say, but I use it sparingly.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Hi Pete,

    I find that it’s best to stick to one or two social media channels, the ones that work for you. Accounts retweeting their own posts all the time are likely bots. I have no interest in spamming twitter with my own repeated content and it’s easy to spot the accounts which do that on a regular basis. A constant shower of repeated tweets is more likely to annoy your regular followers than anything else, at least that’s my experience. Twitter can be good as a tool to check what’s going on in the world and what people are talking about, you can learn a lot about topics that interests you, but it can also send you down the rabbit hole if you are not careful.
    Have a nice weekend,
    Weronika

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. I use twitter like an extra newspaper (yes, we still take a daily one!) so that I can know what other people are thinking and what is going on locally. I deliberately chose a right wing and a left wing person to follow and some writers and someone who is funny. Also a few of my family are on. It is a very select bunch and half of them don’t follow me back. I almost never retweet.I left it for a while and missed it so I’m back. The advice is to clear out people who don’t follow you ever so often. Good luck.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. Facebook once a day for 10 minutes is enough for me, normally to check in on a few groups I’m in and if I see a post on my home page then I might like it. Oh and I will check Instagram if I’m waiting for Malina at the bus stop. I have no idea where people get the time to do what they do on al the various platforms.
    They must be bored 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. I wholeheartedly hate social media. Instagram used to be good but now they have destroyed that too and now I use it only because I moved abroad and lots of my old colleagues follow me there and are curious about our life in Ireland. At least some of them still see my posts but that’s just a matter of time until the algorithms will prevent that, I guess… Twitter is the only one I can open without being annoyed after 2 seconds. But I think it’s because I’m very strict with who I follow. If I follow someone and notice they are too “spammy”, like retweeting anything all the time, then I’ll unfollow. I’ve been quite good at keeping my feed “clean”. If there’s someone I want to continue following but they are too spammy, then I’ll mute them for a while. That way I can still communicate with them if I want.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  15. Personally twitter is my favourite social media account. I get my latest news, travel, weather, sport, etc in one place. Also from a blog point of view my sports blog twitter is by far where my most views come from. I join in with the conversations on my blog posts and have a nice following. I guess if you don’t fully get it in can be a bit much. Pinterest and Instagram are the same for me, just don’t get it so I don’t have accounts. Horses for courses Pete. Ian

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  16. If you are only interested in retweeting/commenting on certain people’s tweets,or those you follow, you can add them to a list, Pete. Then, you can simply check that list each day to narrow your feed. Hope this helps!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  19. Twitter is a battlefield. I will never have the time to invest that much of my life in trying to catch up and stay afloat.

    I once liked Instagram before bought by FaceBook. I still use it for photographs and inspirational quotes but have no delusions it does anything for me.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  22. As you know, I’m on Twitter, and have thus far built a following that is just shy of 1,000. Mostly, I’ve done so by liking/replying to other tweets. If I’m interested in what a particular individual has tweeted recently, I do a name search in the “Search Twitter” field, click on the name, and go directly to the tweep’s home page, where all his/her tweets are listed. I’ve had my tweets liked by some big names, and have also received replies from a few. I follow roughly half of those who follow me, mainly because I’m too lazy to click on the “follow” button…

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  23. I am under the Twitter waves already and have admitted defeat. I lost the battle at the Facebook fort too. I tried Instagram to see how it works and have already been locked out of three accounts without being able to use any of them more than once.
    I laid my arms and hung out the white flag long back.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  25. Twitter is like Instagram for words. Quick comments, opinions or as you point out, sharing a blog post there for people to react to if they choose…everytime it refreshes there are many new posts and it is indeed impossible to keep up with, so just browse for fun and share your posts there for others to find!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Yes. 🤣
        To be part of the Twitterati you have to be constantly checking it, at least once every 5 mins, retweeting any posts by people who retweet yours, and retweet peoples posts who you’d like to have follow you. Also best to follow celebs, serious people, and politicians so you can join in the inane threads, the ‘I’m a clever dicky’ where you can show off your witty banter and political rants you can rail at. You have to take part in all the quizzes your contacts post and engage,engage,engage! The advice you give to new bloggers is the same you need for Twitter, but at 90 miles an hour instead of 5. 🤣🤣

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  28. Your post this morning encouraged me to google twitter and see what the heck it is. I think I know why so many blog comments ask the blogger to follow the commenter’s blog–it is an extension of twitter etiquette??? From what I read, good luck with keeping up with a twitter feed, Warmest regards, Theo

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Twitter is so different to blogging, in my experience. Compared to most people, I follow very few others, and have few followers. I just don’t seem to be able to cope with it. I might go back to just using it to promoting my posts. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Like

      Reply

  29. It’s not just you Pete 🙂 I have my favourite people and I try to keep track of them (especially the crime fiction authors) but I don’t fret about it.

    Just can’t do it, and I actually have a life outside of screen time. I do enjoy it when someone I haven’t heard about pops-up but all in all it’s a tool I can choose to use or not.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I started off using it to promote blog posts, and then tried to be a little more ‘involved’. That doesn’t seem to work. I also have nothing at all to do with Facebook.
      Best wishes, Pete. x

      Like

      Reply

  33. It’s a fast moving quick slapdash commentary on a fast moving slapdash world and some love it because it makes no demands and stops verbal diarrhoea.
    On twitter that would be my limit but there’s a bit more space on wordpress we can lounge out our thoughts stretch them add disconnected tit bits. I
    I expect the up and coming young bloods love it , it’s like lightening gone in flash.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  34. Join the club. I do not get it at all. My first experience was ages ago when I relied on Writers’ Magazine to tell me what writers are supposed to do. I lost one account and opened a second by mistake, only to lose that as well. Life went on happily until I decided to look and found the first account. I try to keep up with WordPress – and there is purpose in that, but Twitter gets neglected. I suppose Twitter to us is like The Internet seems to people who never use computers.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  35. I have deliberately refused to be persuaded by Twitter, Pete; aside from the extra drain on my time for probably very little, if any, benefit, my perception of the platform is that it is an opportunity for a lot of people (apologies to all the genuine & positive users, of course) to enjoy being rude and obnoxious with very little fear of recrimination: I don’t need that negativity in my life. Cheers, Jon.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Jon. I haven’t seen any of those negatives on my own account, but I don’t get involved in the many ‘pointless debates’ there. I get a few clicks on my blog because of Twitter, but I just wish I could get a handle on how it works so well for so many people.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Like

      Reply

All comments welcome

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.