Twitter: The one category/account you’re missing
One of my favorite music guys I follow on Twitter is Ian Rogers, starter of Topspin.
Ian wrote an insightful blog about why he massively unfollowed people on Twitter last week, dropping his follower number from 1500+ to 179.
I might have been one of those un-followed (I’ve been following Ian for many years) and it makes me feel good if I was!
Why does it feel good to be unfollowed? Because this is how Twitter remains useful for people: You need to decide how you want to use it, and if you end up following 1000s of accounts, it’s useless.
Ian’s categories for what he follows are similar to my categories:
- News (favorite writers and bloggers and trusted news accounts)
- Favorite indie music labels (Unlike Ian, I’ve left room for a limited amount of favorite bands)
- Friends who are active on Twitter (some are musicians)
- Some tech accounts
- A few humor accounts
I’d like to propose one more category Ian’s missing, one we should follow for our Twitter feeds: OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY
Twitter is a wonderful way to stay connected with your local community: that nonprofit down the street; your favorite independent bookstore or coffee house; that shared workspace incubator; the local DDA or Chamber of Commerce; that awesome guy who dress up in a Werewolf mask and plays violin on the street…
* * * * * *
Following local community Twitter accounts can be problematic. Many local, small town professional accounts don’t use Twitter well. They sync it with their Facebook page. The manager goes on negative personal rants. They try to be funny rather than informative…Or they never post.
If you live in Detroit, this is easy. Detroit creatives, nonprofits, and new business accounts use Twitter well!
If you live in a small town, this might be difficult.
But it starts with you.
Against popular belief, Twitter isn’t a social promotion tool or micro blog. It’s a connection feed. It’s a news feed. A place to not only tweet about a celebrity dying or live tweeting about Break Bad’s season premier, but what’s important to you, your home, your world.
And honestly, you get to decide how you use Twitter. It doesn’t have to be the same way I do, or Ian does, or Lady Gaga does. It shouldn’t be.
But I hope you leave a little space for your local community.
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