Twitter

I adore my friends. I truly do. And while I want to hear about their baby’s first steps and the first tooth and the first day of school, do I really need to know that the baby ate lunch today and the baby doesn’t like peas and the baby is sleeping? Likewise, do they really care if I’m sitting in traffic or watering my plants or standing next to Shawn Johnson at Coffee Bean? Okay, they might care about the last one.

So while all of my friends were creating Twitter accounts, I was the lone soldier who refrained. There is already so much clutter in our lives that I didn’t feel like I needed to intentionally add more. However I have finally realized how powerful Twitter is when used to your advantage. For example, I can follow Dan Schawbel and throughout the day I can read about branding and social media on my Blackberry. Or I can follow the progress being made by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Now that I am realizing the full potential of Twitter, I’ve been investigating ways to make it work for me. As I was researching companies and subjects of interest for me, I came across this amazingly comprehensive compilation of environmental organizations that are on Twitter (http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/05/12/80-environmental-organizations-to-follow-on-twitter/). I can follow the ones that are most important to me like Global Green and the National Park Foundation. It is like having my own customized news feed. I am beyond thrilled. Now I can follow news that is important to me and tune out all of the static!