Why Do You Tweet?

Hard as it may be to believe, these people are probably "talking" about the same thing. Except using a different medium - Twitter. Classical example of automated conversations

I love twitter, I have been referred to as a ‘twitter-holic’ [I do not know if such a word exists] sometimes and I quite do not understand why. I joined twitter ‘way back in the day’ or so I think. I was never active on Twitter until early last year, as Uganda was going to the polls. Somehow it felt cool, to be on phone while telling people what is going on. It just felt like Wooooah; this new cool trendy feeling: the one that comes with belonging  to a certain group.

Pardon my manners; You all know what Twitter is right? If not use Prof Google and if he does not help then see a shrink/; Something is definitely the matter. But just so you know; it is a social media, where you have the opportunity to have people following you at will. And also where you get to say as much as you want as long as you can fit in it groups of 140 characters.

Well I soon grew accustomed to tweeting and I think that at one point I over did it. I got hooked, and by the real sense: could hardly do without it. And while I was trying to get away; I actually went through the stage of trying to get sober. You know the Denial Regret, and the Acceptance of your fate at one point….? Something like that.

And through the days I have gotten accustomed to reading people’s tweets and kinda defining who they are. I have got to know many people through Twitter some of whom now call friends.  I have jumped onto Band Wagons just so that I can get to see a ‘tweep’. You know put tweet to a face? Those things. I have had coffee dates with tweeps, some of which have been disastrous, others quite interesting. It has been an interesting journey.

So why do people tweet/ Is it just because they have been presented with a forum which in this case is a social media network. I thought that I would in my way try and see why people actually spend time and money on bandwidth and sometimes go mad at the fact that there is no 3G in some place and in other places there is no connection. People actually take these things personal. I wish I knew why.

But let’s try and figure this out:

Venting:  “@bored who the hell does he think he is: #ninjastyle:”   Sound familiar, sometime people are saying such things to air out their frustration at someone or something hoping that maybe they will be heard and paid attention to. I think. Because why then would you be telling the whole world why you hate someone? Will that heal your hurt?

Looking for Info:  Some people actually make good use of Twitter. They are looking for things and stuff and are hoping that someone somewhere knows where they can find it. So you will find tweets like this :   “@merah; Anyone know where I can get me a good looking ostrich to stare at? #tweephelp.”

Looking for People with Like Interests:  “@wharrup: Am in the mood tonight , anyone want to roll with me?” Huh; Yeah , people actually tweet stuff like that:. In the mood for what? Roll on what and to where; But they still get responses!

Showing Off :  I know when people change their cars and when they have acquired something new and when they have money. Because they will always have something to say in that direction. So you have tweets like “@vanti; this iPhone just doesn’t feel right. Have had it for days now & can’t get used to it. I think ama settle for a Samsung Tablet…” What good does it do for the rest of humanity when you settle for Android? Wanna tell?

To trend: Twitter always has trending topics. Whether it is relevant to you and me in Uganda; people just jump in.  Maybe so that when the tweets are being counted in the pool, their handle appears. [Considering that we do not tweet as much here so our topics may never get to trend]. So you end up have a TL with tweets like: @foxznt : #snowsongs: Valu Valu by Chameleon. And this tweet has Uganda tagged to it! Whoooa!

These are some of the few reasons that I think people tweet:  I just find it funny that people put so much thought in to why and what they tweet and others do not. So why do you tweet? #Jussaying. 

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