One of the many questions from my publisher is whether I am already posting tweets or would be willing to.

(Well, if I were already tweeting, they obviously aren’t following, or they would already know!)

But to answer their question, I reply, “Yes, willing, but need to learn more.”

I have a lot of questions of my own around this. Is Twitter really worth the time? Will anyone follow, or will I wonder as I do with Google+, where is everybody? Is Twitter really the new haiku as Stanford University’s Richard Dasher suggests? Is it a quick research tool, a helpful newsfeed, or just more noise? Do I need to start and when?

As I mull over these questions, I’ve been reviewing my brief social history (which I freely confess I’m listing here mainly for myself, so please feel free to skip it and go to the end):

May 2 – I begin my foray into the social networking world by joining LinkedIn, thanks to several invitations that began arriving in April of last year (and yes, I know it’s odd that I actually kept them pending for over a year, but hey, they actually still worked!).

May 16 – I join Facebook – a couple of years ago, I was actually on and off Facebook on the same day—on to look at some pictures from a friend, off because I didn’t want to spend the time adding a picture, adding friends, etc. In lieu of having my own profile, one of my sisters has been my Family Facebook Liaison, but I didn’t want to rely on that forever.  Besides I had long wanted our church to be on Facebook and once that was done, I joined too.

May 18 – my name is added to a Facebook group for pastors in my denomination, I leave a comment, and someone responds:  “It’s been a bit of a blur, see you show up on Facebook, and then seeing you jump in with both feet.”

June 4 – I launch this blog. My first two posts are actually dated May 29 and June 1, but it was June 4 before everything went public. As people start liking and commenting, I start exploring other blogs too.

July 30 – I join Google+. I had an old invitation for that too and decided to check it out, and am now connected with a couple of people there who aren’t on Facebook.

Is Twitter next? I don’t have a date for this yet, but will likely explore it too.

Writing/Reflection Prompt: What about you? Who do you follow on Twitter, and why? Or why not?

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