05.10.10 Random Musings

Tweet Love
This is probably how my non-Twitter family and friends probably feel about me.

When Facebook reared its addictive head in 2000, my family thought I was nuts to spend hours staring at the profile pages of acquaintances and friends, reconnecting with old friends and learning new things about current and new ones.  I was mocked, teased, and even scolded at (for Facebooking instead of studying) during the early years of my Facebook addiction.

And then most of my family joined the Facebook cult.  And I had the last laugh.  And immediately placed them on limited profile :)

Now 10 years and 1,800+ friends later, Facebook’s begun to lose its allure.  And I’ve quickly replaced with another social media addiction: Twitter.

I read somewhere on the Twitter today that “Facebook is people you went to high school with.  Twitter is people you wish you went to high school with.”  True story.  (If you tweeted that quote, let me know and I’ll give you the proper credit you deserve).  I love the micro-blogging site, the mix of 304 strangers/friends/celebrities/businesses I follow, getting Twitter love on #Follow Friday, and hell, even that Justin Bieber is permanently trending on it.

But what I love most of all is when I get to meet my Twitter friends in real life.  Tweetups, baby!

PhillyGrrl was the first twitter-turned-real friend I made; we met up at a Kailash Kher concert last summer, and became actual friends quickly after (I even  guest-blogged on her awesome website).  Nehapari and I tried to tweetup back in November, but successfully met on Cinco de Mayo with rmitty.  Meeting up with sunlovey back in January in South FL was like meeting a long-lost sister, and I can’t wait to make it down again to FL to visit with her.  Inothernews cemented her role as a favorite person of mine when we met up at the Bunny Hop in Fairmount last month.

I realize how creepy it sounds to be meeting people off of Twitter, but this is no creepy Craigslist ad (which, don’t knock it completely…it is because of a genuine friendship ad that the lovely IshAcosta is in my life).  But I digress…

I give a lot of credit to Twitter for making me closer with people I was acquaintances with.  The lovely cmcandela and I worked together for a year at Cisco, but I had no idea that she was a fellow Vampire Diaries addict.  She’s also one of my go-to tweeps on all things wedding.  I spent four years with carolyn_hsu in college but didn’t meet her once–until we were connected through her BFF/my old Chem classmate on Twitter and then in Boston late last year.  I met both DiyaMarketing and DeepaVidya on occasion, but our 140-character exchanges have taken us beyond mere acquaintances–they are my girls.

I think what makes Twitter so addictive is that perfect strangers reveal these snippets of information that they wouldn’t dare reveal on Facebook.  Twitter offers an anonymity and open audience that Facebook doesn’t.  For some reason, 724 people won’t (as harshly) judge me for sitting in bed, eating Chipotle and watching Gossip Girl.  They’re more likely to respond to my question of “oooh, what song just played during so-and-such scene?” or ask what I ordered for dinner.  That’s a community that I just don’t get, or care to get, from Facebook.

And I’m fine with it.  I am, by no means, deactivating my Facebook profile anytime soon.  But if you want to find out what’s new with me, you’re better off checking my Twitter feed.

And NormTheMinotaur, divyasukumar, sukisukibaby, IndianGirl, sameerkat, amisampat–I want a tweetup soon!

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