Twitter Power

Twitter is one of my main distractions when doing online work.

I first tried the service last year, and I lasted for about two weeks.

"Grocery shopping at SM"
"Coffee at Starbucks before going home"

I would imagine someone responding with, "SOOO???!!!" or "Who cares?!!!" Actually, a more realistic fear is not having anyone respond at all at anything I've posted.

I may have posted an original tweet or two, responded to a few tweets, retweeted more. But I felt foolish for not having followers whom I personally know. I just couldn't understand the logic of using the service for non-celebrity people like me. Who would bother to know what I'm doing at any moment? Why would anyone want to announce to the whole twitter world what they're doing or thinking?

So I deleted my account.

Fast forward to January this year. I decided to give Twitter another try because I see that many businesses and personalities have jumped into the Twitter bandwagon aside from having a Facebook presence. Being the news junkie that I am, I opened a new Twitter account and now am happily following news sites, news persons (persons connected with news organizations) and a few celebrities and businesses.

I still don't tweet about boring personal stuff like what I'm currently doing, where I'm shopping or who I'm with at the moment. (Although I do participate in contests and raffles to win prizes.)

Most of the time I just read the tweet feed and reply only to those I have a strong opinion on. I retweet also those things I think should be known by my 5 or so followers. I share my thoughts to those who ask for them. And it feels great when people in the news or others instantly respond to my tweets. At least I know who among those I follow manage their own account, as opposed to having an assistant who take care of their tweets.

News sites or media persons with Twitter accounts often ask for people's opinions on the day's events. I'd like to think that I help contribute to a healthy online information sharing environment. This way too, I get to have my voice heard in public issues. In the Philippines, a couple of issues being hotly debated these days in Twitter is the one on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill and the other, on whether the late President Marcos deserves to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Cemetery of Heroes). People can voice out their thoughts freely. Hopefully, policymakers would listen to all and discern what is best for everyone. Same thing goes for businesses. People who follow businesses share their experiences and opinions on products and services. Hopefully too, companies take note of all feedback and work on making their products and services better.

Now I get the value of Twitter to ordinary mortals like me. I love Twitter because it generates public opinion that brings about change for the better. Long live Twitter Power!!!