To Tweet or Not to Tweet - Christine Kane

So, I’m on Squidoo.

I’ve got a MySpace page.

I’m on Facebook. (Just barely. There seem to be fish in my aquarium and plants in my terrarium. And I have no idea how they got there.)

Now, I’m on Twitter.

And I’m curious to hear from you. How, if at all, do you use Twitter?

I’ve been using it to pretend that my Followers are my Song Coaches. I tell them when I go write songs for my next CD. Then, I tell them when I return from my songwriting session. They hold me accountable. (At least I pretend they do. They’re probably too busy trying to figure out Facebook to pay attention.)

But as for being connected all the time to Twitter –

I can imagine no greater distraction from creative focus. (That’s just me. I need complete disconnection from the internet when I write songs.)

Seth Godin aptly called it Noise Creep.

What about you? Twitter? (Or Facebook? Or Squidoo? Hub Pages? Forums?) How do you use them?

Here’s why I ask:

During the blog conference this past weekend – as each speaker was doing their thing – the people at the tables were Tweeting about the conference. They were Tweeting each other, and all their Followers who weren’t at the conference. Opinions, descriptions, snippets in rapid fire during each presentation.

I whispered to someone “Twitter is the opposite of Eckhart Tolle.” She looked at me like I was nuts.

Maybe I am?

67 COMMENTS ADD A COMMENT
  • GSIK

    great to see you on twitter.

    i’m truly addicted to it now, please follow me: http://www.twitter.com/gsik

  • Sherri

    I often ask myself questions like “to tweet or not to tweet” (or Facebook, or…). I started a Twitter account about six months ago and I’m just now getting to the point where I post about one tweet a week. As for Facebook, I just started about two months ago and really didn’t know what to do with my account. About one month ago I realized that it’s turning out to be a great way to stay connected with my step-siblings and cousins in other states. I haven’t seen my cousins in many years and now I am planning to visit one of them. I stayed away from Facebook for a long time, but it is actually helping me get in touch with long lost friends and family. Twitter hasn’t done that for me yet, but you never know.

    My Twitter: http://twitter.com/lifeafterweb

  • Pat K.

    I think Lialia said something really important here. It struck me like a ton of brick…how to sum up what I feel about a lot of (not all, but most) forms of electronic communication. Here is that snipped.

    ….really made me question the difference between connection and bond.

  • Gabrielle

    Oh forgot to mention…

    I do “do” Flickr
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/arttherapy-etsy

    Anyone else do Flickr for socializing and networking?
    I like this option a lot.

  • Gabrielle

    I created a few Squidoo pages as stepping stones of creating my main Squidoo page highlighting my paintings and fabric art. Alas, I haven’t created that MAIN page yet because I wanted to have my website completed before doing a Squidoo page. ack! so many things on the to do list!

    anywho….here’s the squidoo pages I do have:

    Expressive Arts Therapy/Creative Arts Therapy
    http://www.squidoo.com/expressiveartstherapy

    Top 25 Abstract Paintings
    http://www.squidoo.com/200abstractpaintings

    My Toddler’s Favorite 12 Books (changes weekly)
    http://www.squidoo.com/mytoddlersbooks

    And nope, I don’t Twitter and doubt if I will. Facebook and MySpace? Maybe someday.

  • Emily

    I don’t think that it is these sites themselves that create connection or disconnection. I think someone who has all of these sites (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc) could be extremely connected to Now, to people, to nature, etc. I also think that someone who doesn’t have any of these sites (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) could be very disconnected from Now, from people, from nature. And vice versa on both. I don’t think it’s these external things; I think it’s US who keep ourselves either connected or disconnected…
    however we go about the connection or disconnection.

  • Annie Galvin Teich

    Hi, Christine-

    I’ve been listening to the CD you gave us last weekend at SOBCon 08 and enjoying both your stories and songs. As I’m reading and studying Eckhart Toille and Wayne Dyer, I made a conscious decision to NOT join Twitter even though folks were tweeting all around me. There is already more vying for my attention than I can handle and I’ve been systematically pruning inbound chatter. Although I am absolutely sure there is something I will miss, I’ll just have to live with it.

    I share your feeling that in order to create something new, you have to isolate yourself however you can.

  • MOKANA

    I think you might want to spend time Blogging on other websites so that search engines continue to pick you up and your presence is broadened (is that actually a real word). Viral is good. The more you are out there with links back to your website the better. I think you are a very talented woman and I sure would like to hear you amongst the clutter that is out there on the airwaves. I linked you in on my website and in less than 48 hours was able to see your name with your Leap song come up on a Google search.

    Aloha!

    MOKANA

  • Mother Earth

    i am on the fence about twitter. often I march to a different drummer – one of my friends called me on it recently when she said how can you be such an advocate of blogging and not use a cell phone ? I asked her how did I ever survive w/o TV and never ever use a microwave? I call it choice. I admit to being afraid that I’ll get twitted out. Or sucked in or have more to become a personality on – not that being out there is such a bad thing – So for now – no tweets for me. Do me a favor and share as you discover it – and what you like and don’t, I’d appreciate hearing more

  • Brandie Kajino

    I like Twitter as sort of a stream of consciousness thinking out loud kinda thing. I used to work in corporate america (pardon the analogy), and Twitter is like a way to say those comments you’d say over the wall of the cubicle. It’s an extrovert’s dream… as long as you’ve got something of value to say once in a while.
    Btw, love your blog! πŸ™‚

  • Mihaela

    I want to tell you that I like very very much your songs and your blog too! You are great!

  • Dezann

    Hi Christine, I am one of your overseas readers (not in the US) though in cyberspace there are no geographical boundaries.

    I haven’t heard of twitter.. until you mentioned it. Though where i am, we are “techno-hippies”. I have a facebook account too – though i hate the application invites and joined just to keep in touch with my ex classmates: I’m not into Squidoo, or MySpace or Twitter. I do get RSS feeds from your blog to My Yahoo Homepage….(remember when Yahoo was the in-thing!) And like patti above.. you website here has everything, why would i go anywhere else. To Tweet too is entirely up to you.. though for me i prefer to read your blog right here! It’s more personal and “connecting”. Christinekane.com has got more of the “power of Now” than any other page. And i do believe that Tolle would agree!:)

  • Mindful Mimi

    Christine,
    So you do get lost on the internet too and are being kept from being creative sometimes, like ‘normal’ people πŸ™‚
    I don’t do any of the things you mentioned. I am kept up with the internet enough as it is to be adding more sites to regularly visit and update. The only one I do is Redbubble where I put my photos: http://www.redbubble.com/people/mindfulmimi

  • Marilyn

    When a couple of long-time blogging pals sent me Twitter invites in April ’07, I checked it out and thought: this is the stupidest thing EVER. There’s no WAY I’m gonna waste my time doing this. “What am I doing?” Who cares?! About a month later, I reluctantly signed up when it seemed more and more were using it. Thought it was like Facebook: (sigh)…oKAY, I’ll sign up. But unlike Facebook which I loathe (deactivated my basically unused account…found the interface really confusing and the invasion of privacy utterly creepy) Twitter has become an integral part of my online world. I don’t watch network news and only a little cable news, so I get most of my news from the ‘net…and a lot of that is from news organizations (and political reporters) I follow at Twitter. The place goes nuts on primary/caucus days and it can be fun (I don’t volunteer for a campaign) to ‘watch’ the action in my Twitter stream on those days. One of the biggest things I love about it is what I love about blogging in general–it flattens hierarchies. Where else can I IM with 10 Downing Street (we talked pot)…have real-time convos with my fave NPR show…return home from work to find a London news channel has Twittered a Burma story link for me…or have a political heavy-hitter reply what he thought would happen to Hillary after IN and NC? My Twitter stream is filled with folks who are long-time blogging pals, new campaign-follower pals, people and orgs who kindly follow me back, folks from all over the world who’ve stumbled upon me somehow. That said, it can be a time-suck and somewhat addictive. But I’m in control of my time–so it’s up to me to find the balance. Twitter and Utterz for me seem like the next step in the blogging experience. A year into it, I’m in deep Twitter love.

  • Jannie Sue

    I have recently signed up with Twitter to see what it’s all about but I doubt I’ll do anything with it, as I haven’t folowed up with Flicker either.

    Songwriting tho, songwriting I could do all day (and night) long!!

    Jannie

  • Michelle

    I started Twitter a while ago thinking it was rather pointless but I quickly got a bit addicted to it. I was leaving twitters all the time. I have fallen away from that now and only update once or twice a day. I really do like it though. I am now following you too!

  • barb b

    when do y’all eat,sleep, work. if i spent as much time on facebooks, myspace, twitter etc, i’d never leave my house!!! BUT i am slow to the technologies, i just got dsl. i hate the phone, i like email since the reciever can read it at his/her leisure as opposed to a phone call that unless you screen calls must be answered. Unless of course it is election time. then all calls must be screened.
    i can’t even figure out how to order a slide show so i have no desire to end up on one of these pages. i’d probably be found by some stalker. i’ll sic Bull on them. anyway, y’all enjoy as i firmly believe “to each her own” and yes Tolle probably rolled his eyes. twitter must not be in the NOW.

    barb b

  • Pat K.

    I find most of that kind of stuff, especially “communicating” via texting, (don’t know what twitter is), and any kind of electronic communication to be very anti-social because of the nature of it (yes, I said Anti-Social, even though these are forms of communication and “community”.)

    Think about it. You are interfacing with a machine of some kind. Wouldn’t you rather interact with a human being if it were possible? One of the very few forms of communication that involves a machine of any sort that is Okay by me is a plain old telephone. These things do have their place, I’m no Luddite. But think of them as tools that you would take out of your tool belt WHEN NEEDED.

    Oprah had a point when she was at this great conference and found everyone around her was interacting–with their Blackberries, writing to friends who weren’t there, instead of talking to their friends. I think much much more comes out of those connections you make when you talk, in person, to someone else. Those connections, inflections, body language, are all missed cues and missed opportunities.

  • Christine Kane

    well, it’s obvious that everyone has their way of approaching internet tools! i don’t agree that we have to be in each other’s presence in order to connect. just think about prayer, phone calls, and on-line love affairs!

    i do think that, as an artist, my “time management” has been shaped by the creation of my songs. when i write a song — even if it’s only a two hour block in the morning — its presence looms around me for the rest of the day. I’ll still grab my guitar, or write a lyric in my small notebook as I’m doing other things like making dinner.

    in that way, i’ve impressed in my head a model that unconsciously says “activities don’t end.” (which is why i think lots of artists have a terrible time in the “practical” world.) so — shama suggested in one of her blog posts that one might consider limiting twitter time to 15 minutes a day. that’s a great thought. AND – some of us don’t have that capability built into our brains! “segmenting” is really hard to do for artist types. (at least for me. even though i’m good at the biz side of my art — i DO get overwhelmed quite a bit.)

    so, if twitter is “going on,” then it might occupy a part of our brains even if we try to segment it into just 15 minutes.

    that probably doesn’t make sense. but it is what came to me as i read the comments.

  • Ruth Marie Sylte

    I was at SOBCon08 with you. Thank you so much for the music!

    Perhaps I’m truly a product of my liberal arts education, but I find myself of two minds about social media. I find it helpful and, indeed, important for my work, which involves a lot of left-brain functions. And then there is the right-brain side that wants something different.

    Right now, I’ve decided to mix it up. Professionally, you can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Personally, I use MySpace to explore my right-brain stuff on the Internet.

    I often tell a story at my conference and training presentations (where I help “non-techie” people to understand how to approach and use the technology out there) about the time an attendee asked me, “We see your ability in understanding and teaching about technology, but we’re wondering — what do you do for *fun*?”. I laughed and gave her an answer she didn’t expect: “I go to Norway and hang out and dance and make music with farmers (i.e., people in rural areas).”

    So do I think it’s possible to be creative *and* technically adept? Absolutely. It’s all in finding a balance! And I’m grateful for both “sides” because I believe they help me to be a better person as a whole.

  • Nicole

    I like the idea of Twitter and just started using it. For me it’s a way of being in the Now, being fully present. To read another’s “tweet” awakens me as well. Annie Dillard wrote in “Pilgrim At Tinker Creek” that we are constantly falling asleep at the wheel no matter how hard we try to pry our eyes open with toothpicks. We have to remember to awaken so that days and years don’t pass us by. “These are our few live seasons. Let us live them as fully as we can, in the present.”

    Nicole
    twitter.com/neremite

  • Pam

    No Twitter. No MySpace. No Squido. Who can keep up?!? I do have a FaceBook account, but only because I was invited and I only go there when someone talks to me. I have a blog where I track my weight loss journey, but it’s more for myself than anyone else. I already have way too much “Noise Creep” in my life to invite it in with Twitter and all the rest.
    ~Pam

  • Janice Cartier

    Twitter IS the opposite of Eckhardt Tolle. Was going to sign up…but too much..need some silence and stillness to create. Maybe later.

  • Sarah

    I just can’t seem to jump on the twitter bandwagon. I’ve been signed up for a couple of months, downloaded twhirl (which is better than the web-based site) but still don’t get it. I mostly check out edublogger stuff to learn new technology applications and the edubloggers swear by twitter.
    I became ultimately frustrated when I wanted to join a “Crowd Status” but couldn’t send a direct message.
    I’m on facebook and LinkedIN. Plus I’ve joined a couple of Nings. I use flickr, jing, screencast, and jott, googlereader, google analytics, google docs, and google pages. I’ve signed up for a number of other Web 2.0 apps but haven’t used them too much.
    There’s a lot out there now and I think that just like with the initial internet boom — how many dog care virtual companies can an economy?– a lot of these will fall by the wayside and we’ll have a few solid applications. Is twitter one?

    I used to swear that I’d never txt msg.

  • Elaine

    …I tried just to check Twitter out…but it’s blocked in Dubai a big red message came across my page (hope I can still get out tomorrow)!!!

  • Shama Hyder

    Isn’t Twitter EXACTLY like Eckhart Tolle because it forces you in each moment to be present to what you are doing? To stop and pay attention. = )

    I use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn (requires the least amount of time). I use them all as marketing tools for my marketing business. So far, so good! = )

    -Shama

  • Susie Monday

    I tweet about 1 to 2 times a day and check in on a few others. I am following only those who use Twitter as a micro-blog — not a constant chatter. I refuse to look at Myspace or facebook but I LOVE my blog and how, as you said, it’s changed the landscape of my career. I often use Twitter just as a pointer to my blog for posts that I think are useful or valuable to a larger readership — yep, shameless self promotion, as Alyson B. would say.

  • Colin

    I’m starting to see a world where the ‘username’ is the stamp on our forehead that reduces us all to ‘sender’ and ‘recipient’ instead of flesh and blood. Good fodder for any sci-fi writers out there. Wait…didn’t Orwell…? God, somebody give me an asperin.
    Crusty

  • Tim

    Christine:

    As a new blogger, I’m still not familiar with the names you threw out. Heck, I’m still trying to get Google Analytics to give me some data for my blog Traffic. But if you say that Twitter is the opposite of Eckhart Tolle I say resist it – or at least keep it under control. Reminds me of going to concerts with my college buddy. He always snuck a little DAT recorder to all the concerts we saw. So yes, we were at the Pink Floyd concert, but was he really there? He seemed to spend half his time checking levels, flipping tapes, trying not to get caught, etc. I just wanted to experience that concert at that moment in time.

    Tim in Chicago

  • Ed Brenegar

    One more thing … I have done very little instant messaging or text messaging. But Facebook now has IM and it has been a good tool to interact with people that it was be awkward to initiate a casual conversation other wise.

  • Ed Brenegar

    My question is “Just how social is all this technology?” It reminds me of business meetings where everyone is in a hurry to express their idea, and no one is listening or hardly cares. As usual, technological development is way ahead of human/social development. I’m on Facebook, and like it. I quit Twitter because I found my life was not so interesting that I needed to tell strangers what I was doing every three or four minutes. It is alot more peaceful now.

  • Debbie G

    I have a pay-before-you-call bare bones cell phone (that I do not text on) to use in emergencies. I have put about a dozen blogs on a reader feed, and I know just reading them all sucks up a lot of my time that later I think – I could have been ‘doing’ something -myself-, instead of living through others. I am, as someone earlier said, an information junkie. It’s a habit that I need to keep under control – in these days there is endless immense amounts of information – simply more than one human can process.

    I have actively stayed away from FaceBook, MySpace, Squidoo, Here I Am, Look At ME, etc, etc. If I had kids involved, I’m sure I’d be different, just to stay connected in their world. But otherwise, I am deliberately staying in the ‘here and now’. That is enough to keep me very very busy, and very connected with people I love.

  • Tim

    Christine:

    I am a “follower” on Twitter and I must say, I enjoy getting your updates. They pop up on my cell, real time and I find them funny, inspiring, enlightening ….especially during my busy day…all of sudden I get a nice distraction to remind me to just breathe if nothing more. I use twitter also, but mainly to upload (not as frequent) bits and pieces of whats going on nothing special, but if someone peruses my site (family/friends) they can get the latest update and whats going on. I am an information hog so I love it. But like you, I need complete solitude and time out to refocus.

  • Patricia

    Wow, just spent a few minutes perusing the twitter page and I must confess, I do not get it. I recall a time years ago when a friend was extolling the virtues of their new-fangled video game, telling me her kids were getting better eye-hand coordination because they used it for hours a day. It was a hopeful thought, but a bit off base.
    How very rude to twitter during a conference. That’s like using a cell phone to call people who aren’t there to tell them what you’re listening to. I’ll skip the twitter. It’s just more noise in an already very noisy world.

  • Lisa

    I do not believe the value of twitter has yet been discovered for creative types. I’ve put that problem in the back of my mind and am waiting for a brilliant answer. You’ll know once i find it since you signed up to follow me πŸ™‚ I’ve not yet tweeted a thing and I suspect it might be that way for a while. Gotta just observe for a while and see how it feels.

  • Paul C

    I wasn’t actually sure what Squidoo or Twitter was before reading this post. And I can understand the reason of not wanting the internet’s presence while getting into the process of creativity.

    From what you’ve explained so far about Twitter and other related sites, I can see the truth in your observation about it not being like Eckhart Tolle at all, I would have nodded. And from my current understanding of “common” human behaviour so far, I consider you a very sane individual Christine. πŸ˜€

  • Dubber

    Hi Christine,

    It was really great to meet you at SOBCon. I was one of those people tweeting the best quotes and useful tips to the world. And I’ve found it really quite helpful. To me, Twitter is like the useful bit of Facebook, without all the nonsense.

    That said, most of my followers are other bloggers and, mostly, musicians and people in the music business who should be hearing what people at SOBCon are saying. That’s my audience.

    You may still be searching for the right combination of tools and techniques – but congratulations on being one of the few artists actually looking in the right toolbox.

    All the best,

    Andrew

  • Irene

    Hello Christine,

    I am on Facebook but have not done much to it. I joined so my nieces mostly can communicate with me. I keep forgetting to go there. I do not have a picture yet. As for twitter first time I hear about it. My way of communicating is email, phone, letters or in person. I guess I prefer reading your blog, newsletter and emails I receive from others. I usually stumble across great blogs when I do research which explain how I found you. I could say the methods I have to communicate is fine by me.

  • KMG

    I definitely vote Not To Tweet. I signed up, played around for 2 minutes, then deleted my account. I didn’t see the point of adding useless info to the lives of others, and spending time on it myself.

    I have a Livejournal because it’s useful, and I am contemplating getting rid of all my other annoying, time-wasting social networking accounts. And then someone messages me on Myspace … *sigh*

  • donna

    I’m with Walter. Can’t stand the whole “social networks” thing. The Internet all by itself IS a social network. If people find these tools useful, then great – but they are tools. Fake socialization shouldn’t be an excuse for not simply being present WHERE YOU ARE. It’s rude to be twittering away while at a conference or someplace where someone is trying to communicate with you. Consolidate your thoughts for later, perhaps, but above all, be present.

  • Joe S

    It seems like a whole lot of stuff about the “process” and the “tools” of communicating digitally. I think they are neat and I’m willing to try them, but I stick with what works for me. Thats Facebook right now.

    I do follow you on twitter, Christine. I can see how its creepy to some. It doesn’t have the critical mass among my friends to make it useful yet. Its all about what works for you and your social network. For me, thats Facebook. But twitter is neat.

    I really really really loved your “just this” post a few days ago. It was awesome.

  • amylia

    P.S. Let me be clear–reading a certain number of blog regularly AND my own blogging has been extremely helpful to me.

    The time-wasters for me are twitter, facebook, myspace and constant instant messaging. I basically use my Yahoo IM to tell me when I have new messages.

  • amylia

    Hey Christine,
    I joined facebook, twitter and myspace, but rarely use them. I used to read a lot of blog and blog daily, but now I find it distracts from my life instead of adds to it.

    Like you reiterate and Cheryl Richardson says beautifully, Living a life of abundance has more to do with what you REMOVE from your life than what you add to it.”

    So while I have some followers on Twitter and the rest and follow some folk (at least according to Twitter), I rarely find myself on these things because the last thing I need is ONE MORE DISTRACTION!

    The last thing I twittered was “just this.”

    And I think I’m keeping it there.

    πŸ™‚

  • Christine Kane

    wow! Lots of thoughts on this topic, huh?

    I don’t feel hostile towards any of it – especially since having a blog had completely changed the landscape of my career in ways that I absolutely love. twitter can be fun too. AND, as with anything, it can be used as a distraction. but i don’t think that’s for me to judge for anyone but me. i just notice that it can lend itself to creating a definite non-present-ness.

    (and of course, i’m glad that some of you laughed at the eckhart tolle joke. I thought it was funny myself! πŸ™‚ )

  • Carolyn

    My school actually blocks all blogs; I’m not sure how I get you, Christine. I love reading comments. I see the danger of my space with
    impressionable teenagers, and I taught my kids about
    an article from PSYCHOLOGY TODAY last year which said email and all of the tools of the internet trade were making intimate face-to-face interactions very awkward. One of my 8th graders said he was too painfully shy to talk to girls, but he could IM very easily. This disturbed him and he wanted to come out of his shell face-to-human face.

  • Vicky

    Christine,

    I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of Twitter being the exact opposite of Eckhart Tolle (sp?), in the sense of not really being present. I have had an issue with MySpace forever, and I just don’t get the draw; very egotistical–kind of like caring who Oprah is endorsing for president or what book I should read next (don’t get me started). It seems like a bunch of people who want to be celebrities in their own right. Now, of course not everyone uses it for that purpose, but there is just this weird narcissism about it all, that, like another commenter said, gives me the creeps.

  • leah

    well, i blog, i have a myspace that i rarely use, and i’m trying out twitter right now. like you, and a lot of people, i’m not sure i need one more thing to keep track of, but i’m going to give it a try for now and see how it feels. just about anything can become a distraction if we let it. personally, i like your idea of using it as a form of accountability.

  • Peggy

    I don’t use any of the services you mentioned. I’ve seen Twitter, and surfed around it a bit. In a way, it kind of reminds me of people I used to see (years ago, pre-internet) when I worked at a local museum. A surprisingly large number of museum visitors took everything in through the lens of their video camera, they recorded everything they looked at as well as the reactions/interactions of their children or companions. Presumably to watch the playback later? I never understood, I imagined at home they had hours of videotaped versions of their life experiences. I think Twitter and the other services have the potential to be like that. I don’t multi-task very well, I end up doing neither thing as well as I could if I was focused, particularly when listening is involved. So, I guess I don’t understand the ability to experience a conference (for example) while also constantly trying to share the real-time experience with others via technology. Why not take it all in now, and talk/write about it later. One thing at a time. (“just this” ?)

  • Michelle

    I have a blog and I am on Facebook (though I check it maybe once a month). I signed up for Twitter but quickly found out that it was techinal and information over load for me. I just don’t feel the need to tell (to twit) the world what I am doing on a continual basis through out the day…I am not that interesting that I need to share that much. I have been on a big “simplify my life” kick lately and not adding more technology to it is a big deal for me. Eliminating what I have would be tough (except for Facebook which I could do away with and easily survive).

  • Diane

    I don’t do any of them! I also had never heard of Twitter until you mentioned it. I wouldn’t be familiar with facebook or myspace if I didn’t have friends who have teenagers. I refuse to even text message and I was probably one of the last people to get a cell phone. My husband insisited I get one when I was pregnant and that made sense so I agreed. Am I the only one who enjoys old fashioned communication?! I recently had a friend that told me we would be closer friends if I would only text!!! I’m just amazed at the number of people that can’t turn off their electronic devices for even one hour…like during church or a meal.

  • blisschick

    For little thoughts, whatever happened to a pen and a journal? The twitter thing utterly confuses me, and yet I am a blogger — but I blog with focus and purpose, not just to talk to strangers (as you, Christine, blog with focus and purpose). And I think this type of blogging is where it’s all headed — toward a legitimacy that has been lacking; eventually, the diary sort of blogging will simply go away — unless the person is extraordinarily funny and in that case, it is simply a digital memoir.

    But to speak to the larger issue. Yes, Twitter is exactly the opposite of Tolle. Since when did every little thought we had become so important? Why do we think we are all stars of our very own reality TV shows? Perhaps when we have the urge to tweet (is that the verb?), we should sit and meditate instead or do some yoga or walk outside and listen to the birds, the original tweeters.

  • Mark

    We are so on the same page on this Twitter business, Christine.

    I am totally resisting it, even though people say it will attract more people to my blog.

    1. I don’t think I want people knowing what I’m doing all the time. Not because I’m doing bad stuff, but because I don’t want people knowing what I’m doing all the time!

    2. Too many computery, gadgetedy distractions as it is!

  • Linette

    First, thanks for such a lovely blog. I know as soon as I see a new post in my feedreader that it will be useful, beautiful, or emotionally compelling, which are my requirements for reading anything.
    As for myspace, facebook, and the rest, I am so far behind the curve on these things, and I don’t really care, although perhaps I should. I do have a myspace, to keep up with my daughter (who lives with her dad one town away) and other assorted family members, but the rest seems like overkill to me. From what I have read of Twitter, it would be like all those prayers in the movie Bruce Almighty, a constant barrage of background noise, making creativity, or even just thinking, impossible.
    But, again, perhaps my reaction is just the deeply ingrained reflex of an introvert.

  • Deb

    What’s the point of being “connected” if there is no presence or intimacy.

    As for the person who “looked at me like I was nuts…” One of my sons elementary teachers had a sign in her room that read:
    “What is right isn’t always popular; What is popular often isn’t right.”

  • lilalia

    Perhaps there will come a time again when we will all be able to go about our days with minimal technical connection and maximum heartfelt bonding. A few years ago, I met my sister for dinner. We hadn’t seen each other in two years. Her life was so busy, she could only come to town for one evening (I had flown over from Europe to visit my mother). She sat down to dinner and her cell phone was still on. I asked her whether she could turn it off, and she couldn’t. We ended up having a delightful dinner. Yet, the incident with the cell phone really made me question the difference between connection and bond.

    I don’t have any interest to Twitter and, like you, believe it is counter intuitive to living and experiencing the now.

  • Judy

    I have two blogs. And a page on Facebook. The Facebook page is to connect with my daughter and understand what she was talking about when she was on Facebook all the time. That obsession, thank goodness :-), has passed. I never did write on anyone’s wall, or poke them. I just didn’t get the point. I’d rather write and e-mail. I signed up for Twitter. And did nothing with it. I did not immediately “get it”, the way blogs can be instantly understood, and I did not have the time to spend figuring out why I should spend time on it. A friend calls the internet an energy vampire. It is easy to spend too much time on-line and leave drained of creative spark, and time. Both are too precious to squander. Just because all these tools exist does not mean they have to exist in our world, or at least not in a way that they interfere with real life and real connections. Thanks for your honest reflections.

  • Carrie

    I’ve got Facebook, a lame MySpace, a Squidoo page, a blog. Can’t bring myself to Twitter. I keep thinking that, really, I’m not that damned interesting that strangers need follow me around all day. And, I’m already big time behind on blog reading, which I really enjoy. I laughed out loud at the Eckhart line. So, so true!

  • laine

    I’m on twitter (and following you) mostly because everyone else is and I wanted to see what it was about. I only remember to check it once a day or so, and it seems that every time I check it I am eating, so all my posts would be “eating oatmeal” “drinking coffee” or something and people would think all I do is eat. So, I try to write other things. I haven’t figured out quite what to do with it yet. But I like to see what others are doing.

  • Mags | Woo-Woo Wisdom

    I tend to resist anything that “everyone else is doing” for ages, until I have a valid reason for joining πŸ™‚ … yes, I’m otherwise like that!

    I joined FaceBook eventually to reunite with many old school friends, and it has been fun catching up on all the years inbetween then and now. But I keep wondering if I’ll lose all my FB friends if I keep ignoring their requests to become zombies or whatever the flavour of the day is now πŸ™‚

    As for Twitter… well, I finally joined that too, but I don’t think I’m fully “getting it”. So, it’s like FaceBook’s status function, but just that? Darren Rowse from ProBlogger seems to use Twitter a lot for asking questions and getting quick responses, which I guess is a benefit. But I keep forgetting to log into Twitter….

    Also, with FB status and Twitter, I sometimes just don’t know what to say! FB’s status used to force you to use the form “Mags is…” but that’s good enough for me – I am πŸ™‚ What more do I need to add?! I think your comment re Twitter and Tolle is spot on!

  • zach

    I’ve never really looked into twitter myself. Is there any use for it other than saying, “Hey! This is what I’m doing right now!”?

    I didn’t mind facebook when I started using it; it had a nice clean design and it’s been useful for keeping in touch with some old friends who live far far away. I am not a fan of the countless applications, however. No, I don’t want to be zombie, a pirate, or a vampire. No, I do not want to know what 19th century reclusive author I would most likely fall in love with. That’s just crazy. Anyway, I already know the answer.

    Also, using twitter is called tweeting? That’s… interesting.

  • tre ~

    all of these seem good options for making connections and probably what each creative has to determine is how much time to devote to each….
    i’m still in that geeklike adoration of all….have a facebook page…have a blog….am just beginning to use twitter….want to set up myspace and squidoo.
    prolly the gal looked at you like you were nuts b/c she may not get tolle……we’re perhaps more insular than most (we creatives)…and by that, not a bad thing…just crave the stillness and silence more…have had to learn to carve out moments of stillness to hear the words, the ideas, the stuff that makes us pause….all the rest may feel like surface huggabaloo…
    my sense: commit to your creative moments as if they’re irreplaceable….unavoidable…the most desired times of all….( i think of these moments as if i’m caring for an infant…my creative moments are just that to me…infant ideas just being birthed that need tons of tlc….but i’m not a mom and at times that’s just a good analogy b/c nothing would make me lose sight of the care an infant needs…so too i’m striving for nothing to make me neglect my creative moments). and then use the others as opps to connect…as they fit in….my sense now anyway. ….hugs from the tropics πŸ™‚
    tre ~~~~

  • Jean Dayton

    I’ve just signed up for Twitter! I found out about it from Alyson’s blog – i think its easier than facebook thats for sure……happy twittering Christine!

  • Nic Wise

    I’ve given up on Facebook, never into myspace (not a muso, can’t stand the page designs, they give me a headache), but I rather like twitter. I use it as a combination of micro-blog, public shared IM, and for those thoughts which aren’t worth a blog post, but need to come out

    It works for me, until it doesn’t. then I’ll stop using it.

    I have found that I use it like I use email – the app doesn’t stay open all the time, unless I’m in a conversation with someone. Otherwise, it’s too much of a time and creativity drain. I only follow people I actually know (like I would with IM)

    http://www.twitter.com/fastchicken

    πŸ™‚

  • pati

    Hi Christine,

    I’m reading through your 18 stupid mistakes post and listening to the free song you let us download. Thank you for both.

    As for the techie stuff . . . mmm, maybe I’m guessing wrong, but it seems that you would like people to see your soul (and that you would like to help us find ours so that we can do the same). I think some of the techie stuff detracts and/or distracts. As powerful as your words and music are, they will be even moreso without so many detractors/distractions. If they were like stars shining on your star, I’d say keep them. They seem more like shadows, dimming your star.

    I signed up for your blog and will follow along. You know a lot about these things (much, much more than me), so maybe I’ll be proven wrong. I’ll stay with your blog, bypass your twitter, squido, and facebook pages, and perhaps your myspace as well. Your blog has everything — why go elsewhere?

    Thank you for your music, teaching, sharing, and caring!

    pati

  • Walter Hawn

    I find the whole FBook/MSpace/Twitter/Sqidoo thing to be mildly creepy. Who are these people who write notes to people they don’t know? And apparently expect a reply! I’m on FB and MSpace and Twitter, but only as a presence to maybe point people to my REAL place on the ‘net. I certainly don’t plan to ‘follow’ or ‘poke’ anyone, and those who chose (why?) to follow me are gonna be pretty bored, I think.

  • StrAinge

    I’ve noticed the Tweets on the few blogs I’ve read. You certainly don’t want to overdue it, but it can be fun if you have a unique observation or something funny you want to share. Here’s one for you “Is it just me, or is Twitter the opposite of Eckhart Tolle?” See…that works!

  • melanie

    christine,
    i am really behind, I didn’t even know what twitter was until you wrote about it! πŸ™‚ Of course, I still find myself not quite understanding all the pokes and super- pokes on facebook.