Twitter-pated

Friend Owl has listed the symptoms: weak knees, head in a whirl, air-walking, knocked loops, and lost heads. The prognosis? I think I love Twitter.

I know this is bad. My reputation is on the line. Why, it was just in my last post that I was publicly declaring my love for Facebook and how Twitter was deficient in so many different ways. Now, through the medium of HootSuite, my impressions have completely changed. Twitter is no longer the clunky, poor excuse for a social networking site that I have always believed it to be. Now, it is quick and fun. I can set up multiple streams that automatically retrieve tweets containing keywords of interest and display them in an easy to read format. I can see a list of my tweets that were re-tweeted by others, so I can more or less calculate my net social worth. I have hashmarks and I am not afraid to use them.

Meanwhile, Facebook thought it would be a fantastic idea to change how their chat system works, much to the chagrin of the world. Seriously? When it comes to social networking sites, I like to enjoy a certain level of customization. I want to be able to display information that I either want to display, or has some particular use to me. I like features to be easy to use, without the need to navigate cluttered menus. But above all, once I have become comfortable with the look and feel of a site, I do not appreciate it being changed, especially without notice or consent.

I tend to see connections between relationships and things that normally shouldn't be connected with relationships. For instance, I once related concept maps to serious relationships: I want them to work and I see their worth, but I don't seem to be any good at doing them.

In application of that same sort of metaphor, I feel as if Facebook and Twitter are fighting for my affections. Facebook and I have been going strong for too long, but sometimes I wake up and feel like I don't recognize it anymore. Back in the day, we were exclusive and had a simple relationship. Gradually, things began to change. First, it started seeing a lot of other people, offering itself to high school students and people who worked for different companies. Then it started playing games with me. Now, we can't even talk anymore. I mean, I admit that Google+ and I have been hanging out a lot lately, but honestly I was thinking of you the whole time.

Twitter and I met a couple years ago. We both had similar interests and we knew a lot of the same people, but we didn't really hit it off right away. Looking back, I've noticed that Twitter was present at some really crucial moments in my life. I tweeted when I found out my family in the Philippines was OK after some major flooding. I also randomly tweeted on the very day I decided that I wanted to become a teacher. Class last Friday really helped me see Twitter in a new light. Twitter is accommodating in that it lets me do my own thing, but is always there for me when I need it. Twitter always has something interesting to say. Twitter might be involved with a lot of other people, but it still makes me feel special. Twitter doesn't play games. In terms of my own professional development, Twitter provides me with a community of educators who are available to guide me and support me, cradling me in digital arms and letting me know that despite what we learn in EDUC 649, everything is going to be alright.

Because sometimes, Facebook, I just need to be held.