140 characters ... or a preference for the Dawn Chorus

Looking forward to learning about Twitter

Am I going to become an "actwivist"; I don't want to become a "twitterazzi" but wouldn't mind becoming a member of the "Twitterati" dispensing "Twisdom and falling prey to some "attwaction". I hoping to pay "atwention" and finally sign off with a "fly-bye". Or perhaps just I should just "detweet" now!

Being a wordy person 140 characters is going to be really difficult. At least I don't have to keep my blog entry to 140 characters

Biggest challenge yet ... the experience
Twitter has been my biggest challenge yet and it's just not a question of 140 characters.
Log on to Twitter easily. Filled in a bit of profile and changed the appearance a a bit.

A digression on personalisation ....
Have realised that the options to change the appearance of your page on social media sites aren't just there to be time consuming or work procrastinating, but to make what is an impersonal piece of software - well -personal; rather like putting a on stunning and individual piece of jewellry, a haut couture dress, or idiosyncratic leggings. It says me or do I mean you! However, in this case limited time meant limited me!

Back to the challenge ....
Looking at suggestions for who to follow I discover the same "popular" categories of the other social media we have looked at; "family", "fashion", "food and drink", "health", "sport" but also "business", "charities" and "politics". Decided to delve a bit further and find that "charities" are using twitter and although there is an American bias. I identify The Peace Corps, American Red Cross, UN Refugee Agency, Oxfam International, WWF and Unicef. Signing up to Oxfam I later receive a tweet job advert. How amazing is that! What an effective outreach tool.
"Health" throws up an eclectic mixture of authoritative bodies such as WHO, alternative health practitioners and, good number of health and beauty magazines. Again, there is an American bias.
"Politics" mixes up the The Economist with unheard of American politicians. Amazed to discover The British Monarchy tweets!
"Music" takes me into the danger zone of the celebrity and I quickly retreat.
Checkout tweepmlorg and wefollow.com. Search the websites discover which libraries tweet find the Bodleian doesn't nor the British Library but the National Library of Scotland does! They are also on Facebook Flickr and YouTube.

Next I have to start tweeting ...
I am nervous about starting a conversation but the follower of my blog seems a friendly kind of person so decide to tweet at them. Think, they get half a tweet, a tweet or even the same tweet twice!
Utterly confused by #ox23 until I find the search box on the right. Now I have found a whole community of confused or confident twitterers or do I mean tweeters? Love the tweets of Konnie Bunny and Co at the RSL. Laughter is better than a squawk of frustration!
Tried retweeting (RT) article on why women should be active partners in climate change. It shot off without the opportunity to explain why I thought this was important enough to RT. I have no idea who got it, if anyone. Found an interesting tweet from NLS on Scottish ballads and RT it from NLS website. This is more successful falling happy into the Twitter dialogue box, I was able to add a comment and press send. Checking "retweets by you" I feel confident that it was RTed. But who got it? Checking #ox23 find mention of Tweetdeck. Losing will to tweet.
Managed a direct tweet (DT) more by accident and then any expertise gained. Besides couldn't let "Other Half" get away with snide comments!
Got home and looked at Twitter again in order to write this blog entry. Finally worked out what @marthbraithwai was. I am so glad that I'm not the only one who isn't roosting with the rooks. I'm definitely a cuckoo in the tweeter's nest.