dear pants. it’s not me it’s you.

In The top 10 worst Tweets of all time I gave examples of good tweets and bad tweets and I posted this blog post on Facebook and my good friend and colleague from our completely awesome work together at Deloitte the most spectacular @MargaretSutton asked me whether the examples that I gave were extreme from a professional perspective.

Cartoon by Hugh at gapingvoid.com

This was my response:

“Yes. They are extreme professionally; but boring, mundane updates are not good either. There is a LOT of “noise” on Twitter and therefore a lot of competition to get noticed and be heard.

Twitter was actually about answering the question “What are you doing?” for about a whole five minutes and the ways that we use it have evolved significantly to become so much more than that.

You have to be interesting and engaging if you want to use Twitter in an effective way to truly connect with people and develop relationships.”

For example yesterday I was putting on running clothes knowing that there was not a chance in H*LL that I would go for a run because it is so hot outside so I tweeted

I am wearing running clothes today. It’s the thought that counts.

Also yesterday when I was at Publix wearing my not-to-be-functionally-tested running attire some guy practically accosted me and wrestled me to the ground TWICE in his efforts to make me take a flier he was handing about some church he wanted me to go to and I tweeted

dude. it’s going to take a lot more than a flier to get me to go to church. think ACT OF CONGRESS

One day week last month I was having a bad day week so I tweeted

today Critter Control is coming to deal w/the mice in my crawl space. tomorrow, appliance repair man. maybe on Friday I can get a root canal.

And a couple of months ago I put on a brand new pair of pants that were too tight and I was mad at the pants so I tweeted

dear pants. it’s not me it’s you.

I think that Twitter has helped me become a better writer and communicator. I find that my brain now literally even thinks in Tweets: quips and bits of information probably about 140 characters or less.

Being limited to 140 characters – 120 if you want it to be easily retweeted – forces you to be concise (duh) and therefore more colorful in your language in order to express yourself effectively.

My point is that I’m not saying that you have to be extreme. Just be relatable. And creative. Paint a picture for your subscribers! They will pay you millions of dollars thank you.