Tormented by Twitter
A quick observation: Twitter is a corruptive influence for those of us who multi-task. I was curious, so I am learning-by-doing with this tool. And I keep getting distracted by the twits (tweets?..not sure) that pop up. It’s worse than my RSS feeds. Right now I feel like an idiot consumer who gets hooked by the clever twits (tweets) people fling at me. Of course, I chose to “follow” them. I’ll just have to learn better self-discipline in preventing myself from poking into the links they post.
For those who do not know it, Twitter is a quick tool to share what you “are doing now” in 140 characters or less via the web or text msg. While this sounds like a 13 year old’s dream –like going to the bathroom together with friends– it also is a way to share fleeting or momentous thoughts. The really clever folks include links that lure you from your work.
What am I doing RIGHT now? Writing an email, editing a web review, teaching a new reviewer, answering another email, writing a blog post, and reading twits…
My Twitter persona: @cshively, for those who care. Torment me.
I only check it twice a day and then I use twitter. You can keep it from interrupting too much. you have a great blog. I’m enjoying reading it. I have a question — I’m working to encourage newcomer/ bloggers and have an open invitation for those who’ve been blogging less than two months to write a post — “If you were coolcatteacher for a day, what would you say.” I’m then coaching the new blogger and we’re editing it and I’m posting it on my blog.
I think you have what it takes to be a great blogger. Send me an e-mail if you want to talk about this, I have one other person in the works right now and will be posting hers this week.
Let me know … I loved your inspirational post for Kristin, that is how I found you!
Comment by Vicki Davis — January 20, 2008 @ 2:42 pm
Vicki,
Thanks for the comment. You are a marvelous “connector.” I am afraid it would be a misnomer to call me a “new blogger,” however. Think Like a Teacher is new, but that is because I moved over from an unattended edublogging hosting service based in the UK (Blogs2Teach). That service did not do software updates, and spam blocking was non-existent. They also prevented access for users to administer plug-ins to rectify the spam problem. I had a blog there for more than 18 months. Unfortunately, the version of WordPress they were running and the settings they used also made it impossible to export over 20 months of entries and comments. Believe me, I spend my “spare” time for over a month trying various means: importing from RSS feeds, horsing around with code, etc. Finally I gave up. The link to the <a href=”http://chshively.blogs2teach.net/”old blogis on my new one.
So I guess you could call me an “orphaned” blogger, driven out by forces outside my control. I wonder how often this happens to others. It is quite frustrating for someone who enjoys writing, thinking, sharing.
Just FYI, I was one of the enthusiastic but little-known folks at EdubloggerCon in Atlanta. I have only more recently (past 20 months or so) had the opportunity to fully participate in the online dialog, and even now my participation can be sporadic when work and home priorities press hard.
Perhaps you’d like to do a piece on “orphaned” bloggers and how they can share the heritage of their “birthblogs.” Is this a common problem?
Comment by thinkteach — January 21, 2008 @ 9:16 am