Twitter - Why Join, Why Bother, Why Follow

Twitter! What is everyone on the internet all a twitterabout?

http://www.twitter.com/ is one of the coolest sites on the internet. It is a healthy exchange of people's chat about what they are doing and what is currently going on in their life. The best part is that you are limited to 140 characters. For someone who is extremely long winded, this has been a sharp learning curve. You have to learn to make every word count.

Twitter can be very good for your emotional, spiritual, social health. When you are impressed by something in life, you have a deep longing to express it to someone. Twitter gives you that place. By expressing what has impacted you, depression is much less likely, because you are connected to others and sharing. Not only do you share outward, but people express input and you are able to receive affirmation, accountability, assistance, prayer, love, empathy, and so much more. God made us to be relational. Twitter is helping fill that need/ void.

Twitter has made a real difference in my life. That sounds important but it is true.

I really like to talk to people....anyone that follows me on twitter know this. OK, I do tend to reply to all different people when they twit something of interest to me. I love to see people who think deeply about life - even if their worldview is very different than mine. Matter of fact, this is one of the best reasons to twitter...you can expand the type of people that you normally see or hang with and get to find out what they think about and do.

People Twitter for all kinds of reasons. Sure you have your people that are social networking, trying to build up a base for business, marketing/sales twitters. You also have crude, vile twitters. The great thing about twitter is that you can follow whom ever you want and you can let other people freely follow you. Twitter also gives you the option to stop following people and to even block a person from following you. If you want more privacy, you can select to only allow people you approve to follow you. This is how my daughter's account is set up. I get to see who is following her and who she follows, and I get to approve who she will twitter with.

A lot of people use twitter to find people with common interest. The search engine for finding people who like things you are interested in is pretty powerful and easy to use. You can also check out the fellow-twitters of people you enjoy. This is a wonderful way to find more people that you would find interesting.

I have made some really great relationships, and I genuinely care about the people I have gotten to know through twitter. I look forward to the first twitter convention! I just know it is going to happen. Before we know it, there will be twitter clothes, bags, and all kinds of other "in the club" goodies.

Another great plus to twitter is letting people know about your blogging. Many people have greatly improved their blog visits from twitter. You can quickly tell hundreds of people when you have posted a new blog. Also I have found some great bloggers through my twitter contacts and I also find out about all kinds of events and websites that I would never have known about without twitter.

If I had to pick one characteristic that I liked best about twitter it would have to be the loving care found in this community. When I need prayer, encouragement, advice, ideas, or a place to vent.... I can always turn to twitter. I get to be there for other twitters also. It is wonderful to be able to let someone know that you are praying for them or understand what the person has written about. It makes our big, impersonal, fast-paced world just a little more intimate and friendly.

You can twit once a day, once a week or once a month. You can use it for any purpose that fits your personality, lifestyle, and needs. It is a resource, it is an outreach, it is a way to be connected. If you haven't yet give twitter a try. My name on twitter is healingsoul... look me up if you start to twitter. If you are already twittering, feel free to add your thoughts and reasons about why you twitter...and what twitter means to you.