Late to the Party

I tend to wait until the initial bugs are worked out on a new fad  before I jump on the grand old band wagon.  I did that with cell phones; I swore I would not make the switch, then when my landline provider Qwest acted like a dick and wouldn't take partial payment on a two month bill, I threatened to shit can my landline altogether and go mobile.  The man on the other end of the line pretty much dared me to do it.  The next day I had cell phone in hand, converted my home number to my sparkly new phone and disconnected my landline forever.   No one would ever believe my phone number was a cell number, because it was a typical local number and people would ask me "if I was sure that was my number."  I'd paid attention when the legislation passed that allowed packing up your home phone number and transferring it to your mobile, apparently they had not.  Eventually lots of others jumped on, so I guess you could say I was ahead of the curve on that one.

Not so with Twitter.   Although I don't know an actual local soul who's started up an account, it is certainly all the rage worldwide, so I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about.  The final push came from my viewing last weekend of the film Chef which disguised itself as a 2 hour commercial for Twitter.   I guess I can no longer say I'm not influenced by advertising, if the product piques my interest.

I found a very, very helpful "how to" article: http://www.momthisishowtwitterworks.com/ which navigated through the basics, none of which I knew anything about.  So I started at square one and dialed myself up an account.  Of course it requires the usual privacy stripping ordeal of allowing access to your contacts and personal information, etc., so I used an email account that is devoid of any personal information and has no contacts attached to it.

I have yet to post my first tweet, retweet (RT) or photo,  but all in due time, all in due time.  I have, however, viewed some very funny footage posted and a few tidbits of random, yet interesting info, such as NBC's refusal to screen the Obvious Child trailer since it mentions abortion.  And a 15 minute laugh-fest with Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer stricken by a bad case of the giggles trying to get through a Swiss tennis exhibition promo they were filming together.  Quite entertaining.   Tennis obsessed fan that I am, it was thoroughly amusing.

And so it goes, keep up, or get left behind.  I'm not sure I want to expend any energy on one of those high profile, full blown shit storm Twitter pissing matches, but I shall forge onward and at least give it an honest  go before I declare it too "new-fangled" for me.
@ruthieflymorgan