twitter

I’m reposting this from an old blog. I realized the link in my Twitter profile brought people to that old, unused and, frankly, stupid blog. So, this is the explanation for why I don’t automatically follow back. I refuse to read it now or I’ll spend time I don’t have editing it and correcting it. It may or may not hold true today as it did in May 2009.

who are the people in my twitterverse?
Note: As I was writing this I considered defining Twitter terms, explaining them to help readers who don’t use Twitter. Instead of doing that, I’ll post this link that discusses the basics of Twitter.
A few days ago I met a very cool woman whose Twitter name is @choley. She was funny, sweet, and she and my husband have a lot in common. As we sat eating ice cream I began an argument with myself (in my head). I knew then I didn’t want to follow her on Twitter, though I couldn’t say that to her at the time. I did lay the groundwork, though, explaining in a blurty and rambly way that I don’t follow many people and that it would be possible if I followed her I might unfollow her. This is the kind of thing that I worry a little bit about. Did she take that personally? I consider this but I have to let it go. It definitely wasn’t about her. It’s just that that’s not how I use Twitter.
Over the past six months or so I’ve gotten into tweeting. I’ve found the challenge of 140 characters a lot of fun. I like resisting the urge to Tweet only the banal and tediously ordinary as I try to stay slightly creative or at least, random. What interests me in the tweets I read are just those things, the element of surprise, randomness, entertainment. I like to read the same kinds of things I like to share (though I count on the tweets I read to be funnier than those I send out!). No doubt about it, I also tend to slip over to Twitterrific to post very mundane bits and thoughts. As I said, I try to resist that urge but am definitely not always successful.
I’ve written before about the labels some people place on certain kinds of Twitter users. Even with my low numbers, some might call me a “Twitter Snob.” There are real social rules in Twitter, some quite mainstream (using #hashtags, for example), and some specific to smaller subcultures. I happen to be someone who doesn’t seek out followers. More touchy, however, is the fact that I almost never follow-back. I don’t fall into the camp of those who believe it’s polite to follow back, so they almost always do.
When I first started using Twitter I added the small handful of people I already knew were using it (like my husband and our friends from Houston). I looked at Coparent’s tweets and picked out a few of those folks to follow. Coparent was getting really into it. I wasn’t. I didn’t see the appeal and was much more interested in Facebook. His list of followeds and followers grew and grew. He’s got around 250 followeds and followers now. Among some Tweeple that number is actually low. Compare that to my about 50 followeds and about 100 followers and I’m not even close to being a real player in the Twitterverse. (I don’t even need a system like Tweetdeck to sort my incoming tweets.)
But as I talked with this super nice local woman over ice cream, why did I know I didn’t want to follow her?
I figured it out. There are two issues related to why I don’t do much following. In the case of the local woman, it was because she was local that I didn’t want to follow her. I don’t use Twitter to find new friends. I don’t want new friends. I don’t have time for more people in my life. I don’t mean this at all to be unfriendly. It’s just practical. I’ve got some very close friends offline and a few good ones online, too. I just had a baby. I’ve got an almost-six year old, a husband, a business with active clients, a rental property to manage. As I write this I realize just how taboo it is to say out loud, “I don’t want to know you” to people, even to an anonymous Internet based “you.” By following local people it will become more and more awkward if, let’s say, I want to unfollow someone. If I’ve met someone offline how would it not be insulting to unfollow them? Following local people creates a sense of community. I see that as Coparent gets more involved (hear him on Monday in his second appearance on the Word on the Tweet podcast). There are great advantages to what Twitter can do in bringing people together in their offline worlds.
But that’s just not how I use Twitter.
It’s not just the locals I mostly avoid. I’ve already got my online friends there. It’s only very rarely that the mood strikes me to start following a new regular person. When I do start following a regular person, I frequently change my mind after just a day or two. It’s not that I have some high fallutin’ standard they need to meet, it’s just my need to keep the stream simple.
I’ve got a handful of celebrities (perfect for me: entertaining and random like @robcorddry or @michaelianblack) and a few information Tweeters like @theonion or @eatmedaily. Too many more, regular or otherwise, will make me feel cluttered and overwhelmed. Even the few I’ve got can be too much at times (it’s been ages since I’ve clicked a link shared by The Onion).
Again, I’m not looking to make new connections. I was talking through all these things with Coparent the other day and I think he nailed it, helped me figure out what I’m trying to do with Twitter (or, what I’m trying to avoid). Despite my outgoing personality and openly sharing online expressions, I am an intensely private person. I don’t let many people in to my life.
The way I use Twitter is a good example of how I need to control the gates. I need space. I need to control (ah! the therapist’s favorite word!) who gets in to my life. Having an audience for my tweets (followers) is one thing. It’s fine. It’s flattering, really (even those who have thousands, if they don’t unfollow me, I’m amazed). I sometimes even consider going out and finding followers just because it tickles me to know people are reading my tweets. But, again, I have no desire to follow more people. I have enough to read. I have enough people I want to know about on a regular basis. Any more and I might completely lose my mind.
It shouldn’t be an insulting thing, though, that I don’t want to follow you. A great part of why I don’t want to follow you is because you might be interesting. I might want to take the time to read your tweets, respond to them, and learn even more. I can’t add more to my life right now. Of course, I haven’t built any walls, so some people will get in. That’s fine. But there’s got to be a limit. I have a great time tweeting. I hope people enjoy (or are able to ignore or feel free to unfollow) my tweets. I get a kick out of the tweets I get to read every day from the 10 folks who tweet of the fifty or so I follow.
I’m happy with my Twitterhood. Are you happy with yours? What’s your Twitter method/style?
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Of course, if you use Twitter and want to follow me, please feel free. :-)

Even though she was a Republican until the 90s, I like Elizabeth Warren. I like so many of her policies — I even just like that she has policy ideas — but the Native people I follow on twitter still consider her aggressively racist. I am listening to them. I’ve been trying to find more writings by Native/Indigenous people about what Elizabeth Warren should do to begin repairing the harm she has done and continues doing.

There are many articles explaining how and why Warren’s actions have been racist against indigenous people (Google it if you haven’t heard), but I haven’t (yet) found many stating what she should do to begin making real amends.

On twitter, someone replied to a thread — someone, it turns out, who is a freelance writer and co-author of this amazing piece explaining Warren’s racism! — with what seems (to me, at least) like a decent summary of what Warren should do. I’d love for Warren’s campaign staff to read these suggestions and take them seriously, perhaps reach out to this person and talk with them more:

In text (images follow), tweets by Cole DeLaune @ColeDeLaune1:

What would be the beginning (not the end) of the conversation re #ElizabethWarren fostering a relationship with Indigenous America that’s not aggressively racist:

1) a mea culpa that accounts for all components of her decades-long anti-Indigenous record

(1/2)

2) denunciation of the bigotry of her supporters (like the #Brokeahontas hashtag) + acknowledgement of how she contributed to that dynamic

3) inclusion + representation of Indigenous/CNO perspectives in leadership team even if inconvenient 4 her personally

#ElizabethWarren 2/2

Affirming the existence of Indigenous America in her broader at-large policies (ie publicly including tribal institutions in her higher ed overhaul) would also be helpful

https://twitter.com/ColeDeLaune1/status/1129139485063540736?s=20
https://twitter.com/ColeDeLaune1/status/1129141102924058624?s=20
https://twitter.com/ColeDeLaune1/status/1129141427877715968

Deep, deep down, I think most of us white people are scared of the idea put forth in this tweet:

That is to say, most of us white people know on some level that we’ve got it better than Black and brown people. If you doubt it, I’ve seen the following exercise used: ask yourself, would you freely and happily be willing to be a Black person in America? If you say yes, you’d be happy to do that, I question your honesty. Most white people will recognize how difficult being Black in America. We white people must be afraid on some level that what’s not fairly earned might be taken away if we really work for justice.Read More →