the (r)evolution will be televised

a few days ago, i was checking linkbacks to my site (yeah yeah, i have these occasional moments of vanity) and i found one on tim ferris' blog. surprised (tim is quite a celeb blogger in his own right), i clicked the page. half expecting it to be some sort of mistake on technorati's part, i was pleasantly surprised to see the linkback was from my own comment (technorati's wizardry at work, i guess).

i read my comment. and was fascinated. i then read the entire post and all the remaining comments. and was fascinated even more.

the post was about ways tim uses twitter and why he doesn't do some things people generally do with twitter.

my comment made me realise how much my use, and interestingly, my approach to networking in general (both online and off-) has changed.

here's my comment:

i guess i’m the exact opposite when it comes to twitter use - although my extreme is also quite practical for me.

i follow everyone i know in real life, on twitter. i also post random things about my day (okay, not “just bit into a muffin…mmmmm!!!”), but things like what i’m doing, what i’m feeling, an observation, a thought that someone might appreciate…it goes on. most of my friends (with a few irritating exceptions) also do the same. that way, i’m always in touch, without actively being in conversation with everyone. if someone’s having a bad day, or if i have something to say that won’t fit 140 chars, i pick up the phone and call/text. i dislike links because they force me to fire up my phone’s browser (or leave whatever’s already on it) to complete the picture of what my friend wanted to say.

twitter is different from phone or text or im, because it’s a sort of selective broadcast. it’s also more timely than a blog. twitter is also not the sort of medium where i’d post something i’d want to recall a month from now. that’s going straight to my blog.

twitter helps me stay in touch with friends who might have otherwise drifted apart due to geographical/time zone distance. compared to the friends who aren’t on it, the contrast is stark enough to be black and white - if a friend lives in another city and isn’t on twitter, it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll be out of touch in a few months :D

and what's changed since then:

most of my then friends have left twitter. their accounts are still there, but they seldom use them. and i mean less than once in 2 months, or worse even.

on the other hand, i've embraced twitter as a platform for meeting new people. i now add people on twitter and if i meet them and they turn out to be the sort of people i want to associate with, we swap numbers, facebook accounts and the works.

and i now use facebook to keep in touch, almost the same way as i used to use twitter back then.

strange but true. and a full circle in (online) social media.

ps: title inspired by "the revolution" by bt. one of my favourites!!!