I think Twitter works on at least two levels for me. It encourages me to narrate my own life in 140 character bursts, and once I started doing that, it was hard to get my brain to stop. I nuked my first Twitter account because I was doing that way too much, and it was interfering with my everyday life, taking me out of the moment as I thought about how I would type it up for Twitter.

But I came back to Twitter for the other level: the community. I wanted to be able to post a message to my whole online social network in one fell swoop. And I enjoy getting those messages from others. I have more or less learned to take it easy and avoid the problem with the first level.

Lastly, there are some people who are just really funny/compelling in the Twitter format.

Twitter isn’t a bit sticky for me. But it sits on my desktop (in Twhirl) and chirps from time to time keeping me linked to my desk friends. I love their wit and expertise … and you never know when a new idea is going to drop into your life. 140 characters? No problem. Keeps it short and sweet.

I’m like Kate. I have Twhirl open on my desktop most of the time and do enjoy seeing what people are up to, although I have to say that the reasons that people would be addicted escape me. From time to time interesting ideas and resources come through, but there’s also a lot of “noise” to sift through.

I hear you, Kate. I’m in an office alone, but am a very social person - Twitter is companionship.

I twitter a lot, after assuming I wouldn’t like it at all. But I’ve found it’s an excellent way of participating in a community. You don’t have to be distinctly on or off, like IM. You don’t have to go to different sites, like you do with blogs and comments. It’s ephemeral, so you can miss stuff and not feel completely left out. But when you’re engaged, so you can great conversations. I’ve really developed some friendships through Twitter (which is kind of amazing, since each post is 140 characters or less) and gotten some really good personal and professional support.

Oh, and for the longest time, I had no client for Twitter. I just habitually refreshed my Twitter page and posted straight to Twitter. This didn’t stop me from posting a lot.

I haven’t completely decided yet. It’s fun and I’ve met some great new people, but I worry that it will negatively affect office productivity. Some people seem to spend a lot of time on it during their work day.

One of my favorite high school teachers did an experiment with us one day. He handed everyone a stack of little slips of paper and told us to jot down whatever we were actually thinking about during class. At the end of the hour he collected them and read them out loud. They were wonderful — funny, silly, sad, even sometimes semi-profound (although all these years later, the only one I remember was one that said, “Just how much taller is Art Garfunkel than Paul Simon?” — doubtless a response to an album cover that was pinned up as part of a display for another class).

Twitter reminds me of that exercise. It reminds me that so much of what we think and feel is tangential to what we are doing but is nonetheless important, even crucial. I live so much in my head, which is populated with memories and ideas and thoughts that often bounce around in an ADD-like fashion. Twitter gives me a way to acknowledge that, even celebrate it — and it gives me a way to connect wit hall these other wonderful people whose minds seem to work in a similar fashion.

The things that connect us to other people are so varied, so messy, and Twitter seems to be a particularly good way to capture the things that make those connections and thus create a community.

Twitter is several things for me. I enjoy the humorous posts from colleagues (nice to get a chuckle every now and then), informative posts with links to blogs (keeps me up to date and connected), and keeps me informed as to where friends/co-workers/colleagues are (e.g. several at MLA conference right now that I’m missing).

One way that I use it on a personal note is for safety. When I’m walking the dogs in remote areas I make sure I Twitter so that in case anything “bad” should happen someone has a last known location for me.
And last but not least Twitter has connected me to others in the profession and I’m enjoying the social and professional “getting to knowness” that Twitter provides.

Hi, my name is Christa and I’m a twitteraholic. Why am I addicted though? Not an easy question to answer. Every time someone asks why I do it, I come up with a different answer.

Definitely networking is big. I get to communicate every day with a group of smart, funny, innovative people. I’m learning new things all the time.

Also, the personal aspect of it is great. I get to know people as more than just their blog posts or presentations. Wow, these library movers and shakers are real people like me with real lives! Wow, how sad.

It can be hard to get into it at first. You just have to reach out and start following people. Twitter is social - you can’t do it alone.

But, once you have gotten the hang of it, it can also be hard to step away from it. I’ve had to learn that it’s OK to miss tweets. I don’t have to scroll back thru every tweet that I missed while sleeping or at lunch or in a meeting or teaching a workshop. I can just pick up the conversation in the middle and it won’t be the end of the world.

I hope. Nah, it’s OK. Right? ::bing:: oooo…what are they saying now??

I hated Twitter a lot, and walked out of a Library Camp session on it. It just seemed so self-indulgent and conceited. That someone would want to give constant updates, as though the world could not live without knowing what they were doing.

I don’t know what happened.

On Metafilter, showing your Twitter was an option, and that led me to follow some really cool people. Then, I found out about the awesome library folks who were on Twitter, and I was hooked. It sticks for me though, because of the narratives (whether work-related or not), even if they are of people I haven’t met IRL. I like the stories, and I check it (even going back pages if I’ve missed some) because I want to find out what happened. I also like the random one-offs, and I appreciate learning about tech tools and reading blog posts that I would have ordinarily, due to my blog reluctance.

In my own tweets, it’s hard for me to find a balance between work (people I know from the internet) and nonwork (people I knew before Twitter). I have meatspace friends on there who absolutely do not care about citation management tools. I also do worry about sounding like a self-important jerk.

Sometimes I wonder what would happen if Twitter went away (and were not replaced), and I would definitely miss it, at least for awhile.

I started a Twitter account a while ago, but never kept up with it until I got back into it recently. Similar to Brandi, the fact that a lot of people I knew and/or met at the last CiL were using it got me interested again. Twittering at the conference was a surprisingly rewarding experience. It was easy to find people at the conference because I was following them, and I got to “hear” bits of other presentations.
And because I’ve moved away from “home,” it’s been great being able to keep in touch with many of my friends.

Twitter is compelling for me because it is an icebreaker. It makes it very easy for me to approach another professional (who may actually be a stranger to me) in order to ask a question, invite a presentation, etc. If I have even a shallow sense of your interests and professional expertise, it is easier for me to establish rapport.

Sometimes, the use of Twitter acts as a current awareness tool regarding issues or news. I follow several analysts on Twitter because they surface interesting material.

Sometimes, the use of Twitter allows me to see into another publishing professional’s world. I follow a CEO of a major publishing house on Twitter and his tweets surface issues or concerns in that sector of publishing that may or may not be similar to those of the publishing sector with whom I work.

I’ve tried it a number of times. Only recently is it getting more interesting. For the longest time it seemed like a lot of people talking about what they were eating. Sorry, too busy for that. Lately, I’m starting to find more valuable tweets.

The place I still really struggle is figuring out what to say myself. Concise is hard for me, so is telling random people random facts. Still haven’t hit my stride with this part at all.

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