Twitter: The Great Public Forum aka The Underground

“Welcome to the underground.” That is what I said to my friend from Canada when she added me on Twitter. The off-the-cuff remark was as much joking as serious about the nature of interaction that takes places between people from all over the world. I’m sure the creators of Twitter never dreamed that interactions would reach the levels they are today, as the dynamic flow of words traded back and forth across the ether have gained ground and influence in the lives of America and the global population.

First off, you have the option of opting in or opting out. That lets you control the conversations that you want to take follow, take place in, or block like spam that has been sitting on the counter since Tuesday. “Convo” (Conversation) takes place with others opting to even respond. Even in the silence, people are reading the words and processing the information. I have found myself going to other profiles and reading comments, when in search of adding a “follow”. I follow the links and look at the entire chain of tweets that created those comments. I use that method to decide if I even want to follow that person, though, when I do find a spambot, I block it on principle.

Granted, there is some spam. MLM marketers and opportunistic companies will set up an account that, using an automated program, will send out links for their product. Sometimes it is mixed with motivational quotes, but, a brief check of the homepage will tell the story. If it’s the same message sent over and over… it’s a spambot. I block them. That is the beauty of the “opt in” or “opt out” nature of Twitter.

I must admit that I didn’t get it when I started my account Jan 13th of 2009. I only posted 30 times in that first month. I didn’t understand the fleeting nature of the conversation style. I didn’t understand the relationships that are formed with the person represented by little square icon that is supposed to encapsulate and represent the entire personality of an individual. Twitter requires a learning curve. That much I knew from the start. I just didn’t realize that I would be able to develop my own following, or, that it would really matter to me what I said to the people that I met. I also didn’t realize how much I could say in 140 characters. I’ve learned to read and write Twitter shorthand. Some of the tricks I’ve learned include removing punctuation. I shorten words to make sentences like: “U nd 2 B some1” That is what anyone’s objective should be on Twitter, “You need to be someone”. I told one guy to just talk about what he ate and how his day was. It is those human exchanges that others are so intimately curious about.

I was actually quite pleased to learn how many times I ran across the words “Thank you”. It represents the humanity that exists on Twitter, even if it is just a “TY”. The sentiment is felt. Receiving communicative praise or condolences from another human next door or in China, really puts an emotional spin on the 140 character tweet that often represents so much more. Compared to Twitter, now, I am finding blogs and forums to be a one-sided form of expression. Responses can come long after the author posted remarks, and, may not even feel that way anymore. Anonymous comments leave an almost emptiness to the words.

The response time of Twitter is a sharp contrast to blogs. Ther is an interactivity found in tweeting. Emotional responses are received in real-time, so the receiver has a chance to interject, and, we know exactly who we are talking to. Well, at least I recognize the cartoon character that lives in a purple explosion of an icon.

The real “underground” aspect of Twitter is that ideas are being traded. Influences are being made. People are talking about heavy issues that range from abortion to big government. Of course, it is often broken up over a good recipe that someone shares or a random compliment or re-tweet that needs to be addressed with a thank you, but, it’s just part of the chatter that evolves on Twitter. The conversation today may be reflected in the tweets of tomorrow, but, it’s never the same thing twice, unless it’s spam.

So, Twitter is how I’ve decide to help change America. Influence comes from communication. Communication of ideas is how we will end the wasteful spending that runs rampant in our government. Talking to people across the nation is the only real way to initiate change we actually need.

I’ve decided that my “equality of responsibility” is to show others why I am a conservative. I believe that “We the People” are the owners, or even stockholders, of America. Turning over our rights and money to an ever increasing federal authority is just counter to our founding documents. The citizens of that age were willing to do anything they could to establish freedom. We should be willing, at minimal, to talk to others and let them know why we believe in conservatism. We owe it to America. We owe it to our children.

So, I will take my role as a communicator to Twitter, and, talk into the stream of conversations. I have made a few friends. I’ve agitated a few people. I hope that I have made them all think. I will continue to debate and encourage. I will accept and enjoy all of the challenges that I meet. I will also share my recipes with the masses as often as possible. It is a common denominator that everyone shares around the world.

Friends share food.

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~ by Danny on April 30, 2009.