How it all began I can’t recall exactly, all I know is that two weeks in I am enjoying it.
Some rave about it, others have referred to it as a sea of fatuity (I had to look it up: fatuity means complacent stupidity; foolishness). My initial discomfort stems from the seeming ego-centrism of it all. Now that I’m forty something, I’m trying to deflate my ego (I know, I’m a little slow getting into adulthood here): who really cares what I’m doing/thinking/reading at any given time? I’m not really that important and I’m certainly not that interesting.
You would think that I might feel the same about what other Twitterers (or Twits I think they’re called) are doing/thinking/reading, and sometimes this is certainly true. Done well however, I really like the sharing on Twitter: a whole army looking at things online and sharing the best of what they find in links is fantastic. Someone had a Ted.com video in a tweet for example. It was very cool. Having seen that I found a bunch of other extremely thought provoking clips on Ted.com and thought, “Yes, this is what the internet should be!”
Is it all real estate related content that I can use to make more money? No, it is not. As much as I love real estate, I am also interested in things like new Theories of Everything, and new paradigms for farming, and whether or not Google is living up to their “Do No Evil” motto. Learning new things helps me to be a well-rounded human, enriches my life, and make me a better person. If I’m a better person, especially in the real estate business which demands technical saavy, business acumen, and finely tuned people skills, then perhaps I’ll be a better real estate broker.
One benefit I’ve never heard discussed is the focus it brings to exactly what you are doing at any given point in time and how you communicate that. Maybe it’s silly but rather than tweeting that I’m “working”, I try to be more precise, e.g. “scanning, emailing, and following-up”, or “researching comps”, or “designing JS postcards”, or “prepping for a builder meeting”. The diversity of what I actually do when I’m working helps me realize and appreciate what a diverse job it is. Maybe others who follow, whether prospective clients or just people who might refer me, come to that realization as well.
Also enlightening are honest answers to the question, “What are you doing?” that I do NOT care to post for eternity (yes eternity—beware your online reputation!) Some examples would be: “Procrastinating” “Obsessing about my competition”, “Ready trashy magazines” or, “Pouring my third drink”. Making myself consciously aware that I don’t care to share that with the world leads to the thought, “Hey girl, why don’t you do something more productive with your life!” So again, beneficial I find.
During the two weeks I’ve been part of Twitterverse, a number of Top 10 People to Follow lists have been proposed. I just have three recommendations: @melinatomson, @elainehanson, and @paulslaybaugh*. They are all extremely witty and always cheer me up when I read their tweets. Just be sure to follow them as a group because as a threesome they are highly entertaining.
*This “@whatever” is the notation used for someone’s twitter name. So for example, if I suggested you follow @BradAndersohn you would go to: http://twitter.com/BradAndersohn and there you would be able to click on the button to follow his tweets.
By the way, you can find me on twitter @kathleenbuckley (not that I have anything interesting to say.) Follow me and I'll follow you is my policy!
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