Last night, I tell my friend that I’m definitely not interested in using twitter. “Why would anyone care where I am or what I am doing?” Besides, I don’t really know how to twitter.
“You’re thinking about twitter all wrong,” he says. “Twitter is about influence. You don’t tell people that you’re eating a hamburger right now. You tell people that you’re eating the best hamburger, and you give information about where and how they can eat the best hamburger as well. You’re influencing others with good information.”
But what would I influence people about? I blog about beautiful things–just to share them with the world–but how could I use twitter, too?
I woke up wondering about this. Then my youngest daughter asked me to teach her how to know whether a peach is perfectly ripe. I had been feeling horribly inadequate as a mother all week, and then all of a sudden I didn’t. Motherhood wasn’t about big moments or spectacular feats of patient nurturing. It was, in part, about very small moments of instruction.
We felt peaches together in the kitchen.
The peach instruction opened a new world of confidence in mothering. What else could I impart today?
So I twittered about the peach. In 140 characters, I hoped to influence other mothers who felt bad about themselves today.
Living with flair means influencing others when you learn something.
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Journal: Can I influence others about something today?
0 Responses
I love this Heather! I feature lots of guest bloggers at my site, and I give many new bloggers the same kind of advice… It's better to share your hear on one focused idea in 300 words than it is to brain-bump everything you know at the opportunity in 1200 words.
Great perspective, and I'm glad that you shared it in this post today!
Welcome to Twitterland! I was skeptical, too, but now I love it. Lots of new friends!
Heather, think of Twitter not only as “influence” but also as “adding value” to those who follow you. Ask yourself: how can I add value to others? By the way, loved your chapter on secret ingredients; I'll always think of semi-colons as one sentence romancing the other.
Social scientists call what happens on social networks “ambient awareness” and it actually builds connection/engagement. Welcome to Twitter. You have so much wisdom and influence to share!