Twitter: Terminate account?

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twitter

After exterminating my RSVP account, it seems I am in the mood for online housecleaning.

So I am thinking of doing the same for my Twitter account.

There is a downside to doing so.

There are a number of people and groups who I’m pretty sure only get wind of Consider The Sauce news and posts through Twitter. They include a couple of MPs, community and lobby groups, and people whose reading of CTS and subsequent comments I genuinely value.

But I find it so ephemeral and the conversations, such as they are, confusing. I just can’t get with it.

Facebook, by contrast, I find – despite its flaws and creepiness – enriches me both as a blogger and human being.

There, I have numerous thought-provoking and often hilarious conversations with folks from all over the planet.

And FB messaging has become a valued conduit for running blog posts by interested friends and exchanging views on all sorts of subjects best not addressed in public.

The obvious solution is to post links to CTS posts on Twitter and then forget about it – and that’s mostly what I do.

But I find there is something inherently unsatisfying about not doing Twitter well that makes me want to be done with it entirely.

As well, there are plenty of people who would consider dropping out of Twitter as self-harm for a blogger.

It’s not a big deal – I have friends who will not have a bar of either Facebook OR Twitter!

But I am really interested in knowing how CTS readers use both services, and how they feel about them – both in terms of their interactions with Consider The Sauce and in their lives in general.

9 thoughts on “Twitter: Terminate account?”

  1. Just leave it the way it is.
    I do twitter but not Facebook. Me and Facebook just don’t gel.
    Now I have set my tweets so that they appear as posts on Facebook. It’s extremely easy to do and it looks like I’m active on a medium i care little for.
    If i was you, I’d be very aware of not duplicating all the information you generate. I’d just run the blog and broadcast through the others, just checking for when feedback comes through.

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  2. I have never been a tweeter and cancelled my FB account 18 months ago. I understand the need for social media but am hoping I can build my business without it. It’s tough, but I believe that it’s not necessary and will change over time anyway. I believe in doing what works for you and it will work fine . Naive maybe, optimistic maybe, but I prefer not to be part of the over telling, self indulgence that social media has become. Not saying I’m right , just how I feel. You do what works for yourself and CTS. Good luck!

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  3. I’m a huge fan of twitter. It gives me access to professionals across the country and the world, and their expertise, in my professional arena, as well as interesting thoughts and opinions from people who are also interested in my recreational pursuits.
    Having said that, I don’t really feel that you’re _on_ twitter anyway. I wouldn’t use it to communicate with you, because mostly what I see from you are links to blog posts (which I get via RSS by preference) and very occasionally other posts – but not so often that I know if you’d notice me talking @ you.

    I didn’t ‘get’ twitter at first. But it’s all about the community you build, and you get out of it what you put in. If you don’t have time to maintain another social network, then you are probably better off sticking with the one you’re happy with. But even if you do that – it wouldn’t hurt to crosspost your blog post links to twitter anyway – people who want that will continue following you on twitter, and people who want conversations will have to come to the blog, or go to Facebook, or find you in person somewhere.

    As long as you set realistic expectations – maybe even mention in your bio links to places to contact you (eg fb page, the blog) – then that’s still a valid use of twitter. It’s just not so much the ‘social’ side of it.

    Sian

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    • Hi Sian! Yes, I know you’re right on top of Twitter! I think the status quo for me is the go. I suspect it’s a matter of my expectations of Twitter being awry. You explain it well. I want engagement and Twitter doesn’t do it for me.

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  4. Have had this bookmarked for a week to comment on because it is an issue VERY close to my heart.

    After leaving the corporate world and having time on my hands I fell in LOVE with twitter. Immediate news…. intelligent opinions… and local networks. I loved finding a smart, witty, pro-western suburbs crowd on there.

    If I still had the time, I would still be on there… refreshing every ten minutes to see what’s going on and what people (whose opinion I value) think of it. But I had to stop logging in…. and it kills me to think of the great convo’s or advice or tips that I have missed. But it can just suck your time for stuff that makes you feel good but doesn’t pay the bills….

    I tried to set up my business twitter account to post to Fb but couldn’t get it working so now the opposite occurs and Fb posts end up on Twitter (sometimes over the 140 char limit).

    It’s an unhappy compromise till I get more time….

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    • Man, if there’s one thing I hate about twitter, it’s accounts that post only to fb links. (I’m fortunate that I have a fb account anyway, but it really doesn’t do much for me emotionally). I’m sorry we were too noisy for you to keep up with! Do you know about ‘lists’? But yeah, in my situation I can afford feel good not profit social media – obviously pretty privileged.

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