Twoliday, Twabbatical, Tweath

There was a recent BBC article on the growing language of Twitter^[1], and I decided to apply this language to my conundrum.

I have noticed that recently a lot of my favourite twitterati have fallen off of twitter, some gradually reduce their tweets, engage less, and generally fade, others seems to just stop. This has led me to considering the idea of a twitter holiday (twoliday), a twitter sabbatical (twabbatical), or the ultimate twitter death (tweath) – I am sure someone has already coined better phrases but this is the best I can do.

I think it is always good to have a Twoliday especially if you have some reason i.e. you actually are on Holiday . I think it is nice not to broadcast your every thought, and to keep some things private from the rest of the world. Also I have noticed when people come back from their Twoliday they have more to say. Obviously there are some occasions where because you are on holiday you will have more to say, and more time to tweet, and more interesting things happen – so you don’t have to use that as your excuse to have a mini-break. I think the breather also lets you connect with what you are doing – I feel like sometimes people are so busy tweeting about stuff they forget to enjoy it, and forget to enjoy it with the people they are with in the real world - for me it’s a bit like the people that go to a gig, or concert only then to video the whole thing through their camera or phone, but watch the camera more than they do the stage, and then end up actually missing out on the experience.

I have to admit I am currently going through a Twabbatical and I am oddly enjoying it. In a recent discussion with someone I said about twitter “you only get out what you put in” – so if you are a lunatic, you will get insanity out, and if you angry, you will grief out, if you are flirty you will get fun times (probably) out of it. I think my problem was that I was putting in inane rubbish and therefore getting it out. I had lost anything relevant to say. I think the problem came when for about 7 days I couldn’t tweet as I had such limited signal, and then on getting back I didn’t really have much to say, so I tried really hard, and then I just seemed like I was trying. Also it felt like I had followed so many people that my timeline was getting confused, I was struggling to follow people, and certain people that annoyed me and I loved to hate were turning from deliciously annoying to just plain repugnant. Of course everyone is allowed their view and everyone is allowed their say and I have no problem with people expressing a different opinion to me – in fact I welcome a bit of lively debate. But it does annoy me that there are influential people on twitter that don’t enter into debate but state their opinion, and there is a strong pressure to conform.

Then there is the ultimate. The Tweath – your twitter death – I have known some to be resurrected, but others have taken the plunge never to return. I have to admit I get it and am more and more tempted. I sometimes feel like I have been sucked into twitter and that I know more about what is going on in a random person’s life than I do my friends, or that I have the same circular conversations with people “good morning, how are you?”, “good night sleep well” – don’t get me wrong I would say twitter has introduced me to some lovely people, some attractive people and some lovely attractive people (a bonus) – some of which probably don’t know I exist – but that is fine, I don’t need them to. But those that I really care about I have met, and I interact with, whether it be through facebook, or in actual real life.

I could give you a long list of the people I like, but that would be embarrassing and weird – so I hope they know who they are. I probably will be back (probably tomorrow).

^[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14785537