Twitter Is Weird.

Monday Listicles time again.  Jacqui at Chicktuition chose today's theme: Guilty Pleasures.  Since I have too many guilty pleasures to list in one little blog post, I thought I'd focus on particular pleasure I have been enjoying lately.  And it's definitely a guilty one, since my free time seems to disappear into its big black hole, never to be seen again.

You may remember back in May?  When I joined Twitter?

Yeah, well, since then, I've sent out 2, 535 tweets... okay, make that 2, 542 tweets.  What? I had to respond to some @ mentions!  And since May I've also had a huge education in Twitter, tweeting, tweeps, twitpics, Tweetdeck, twitter parties...  And I've discovered that twitter world is like some kind of alternate universe where pretty much anything goes, except spam.

So, without further ado, I give you ten reasons why twitter is both weird and wonderful:

1.  Twitter isn't like real life, where you're ostracized for eavesdropping and butting in to others' conversations at random.  In fact twitter is all about eavesdropping, and when it comes to weighing in and sharing your opinion, the more the merrier. And at the very least, the people you're tweeting will appreciate what the mention does for their Klout score.  When was the last time you felt comfortable adding your two cents to the conversation of some random strangers on the bus?  This is one area in which Twitter has real life beat!

2.  At the same time, though, you don't get to read body language and facial expression to help judge the tone of a conversation, and this can lead to misunderstandings.  Or just worrying that you might have offended someone.  One night, after some pre-bed tweeting, I lay awake worrying that I may have greatly offended the husband of a real-life friend when I teased him about his taste in movies and TV shows.  I'm pretty sure I was over-analyzing and worrying for nothing, but you never know, some people take their films mighty seriously!

3.  And then there was the Friday night I agreed to send a bag of chips to a nice lady I met on Twitter via #wineparty.  She lives in California, and apparently they don't have such exotic chip flavours as Dill Pickle, Ketchup, and All Dressed.  I mean, can you imagine life without All Dressed?  I had to throw her a bone and send her a few packages.  Now her life is complete and she has me to thank for that.  (It's great to be Canadian - why not pay it forward?)

4.  If you don't read the newspaper, watch the news, or read it online, you can always find out what's happening in the world by signing on to Twitter... Who, me? No, of course I wasn't referring to myself. Obviously I read 16 newspapers cover-to-cover every morning!

5.  You can tweet celebrities and people you admire.  They don't have to know you in any way for you to say something to them. But that doesn't mean they actually have to listen to what you are saying.  For example, it's possible that I have, on occasion, tweeted one or two Glee cast members.  No, I didn't receive a response, but they're busy people, you know.

6.  I did, however, use Twitter to commiserate with Amy Beeman, a local radio personality, when she tweeted about raiding her toddlers' snacks to munch on with her wine one evening.  From there, she must have checked out my profile and followed the link to this little blog o' mine, because next thing I know, she's tweeting this post and recommending it to a friend!  To say I was honoured would be a major understatement.

7.  Sometimes you tweet something totally random off the top of your head and get a huge response back, and other times you wait all day to finally tweet something you thought was really clever and it registers nary a blip on the radar.  Twitter is very mysterious that way: it likes to keep you guessing.

8.  If you have a burning question, you no longer need to Google.  No, that would be the old-fashioned way.  Now you can just ask your tweeps and presto! Dozens of opinions that may or may not be helpful or even relate to your original question.  I recommend caution when applying this principle, however.  For example, if your question is of a medical nature, you probably still want to page Dr. Google.  I mean, really, has he ever led you astray before?

9. Through Twitter, I have met some truly amazing, supportive, and talented fellow mommy bloggers. Okay, I'll just come right out and say it: I consider the people who live in my computer to be my friends.  I'm sure that sounds strange to those who don't blog and/or tweet.  But it's true nonetheless.

10. So far, the twitter coup I am most proud of is helping to organize a get-together of some of those lovely mommy bloggers who live in my computer. It started out as a casual mention of holiday travel plans to Vancouver, and spawned from there, and it involves cross-province and even cross-border travel for a few of the attendees, so I've dubbed it The Mother of All Tweet-ups.

So yeah, twitter is a weird, weird phenomenon.  But in all truth, so many great opportunities have come from being connected on Twitter, and I have met some really incredible people. 

And if this list hasn't already convinced you to join Twitter, consider this: No one can poke you incessantly for no reason on Twitter.