Talking to Yourself on Twitter: Interesting Conversation

Twitter threads are more than just talking to yourself. Seriously?

Makes for an interesting conversation

Social Media is what we make it. Every year my goals and interests shift and change, always trying to keep it real and human, professional and balanced – to make it work my way.

One trend I’ve seen (and am trying to learn) is tweeting long, involved ideas. Twitter doesn’t have a good tool for this, so people have come up with their own solution – talking to themselves aka threaded conversations.

Usually, when an idea is longer than 140 characters – maybe it’s a rant, real-time reporting, or just something that requires more explanation – that’s when a Twitter thread happens.

To keep readers in the loop, the writer @ replies to their own tweets. Often tweets are labeled ‘thread’ and/or numbered like ‘2/20.’ This helps readers follow along and even join in the conversation.

Or BRILLIANT. Or both. (PS This one’s all over the interwebs, can’t find the source to credit.)

Back to Basics

It’s a gift, a happy side effect of the limitations of Twitter’s 140 – this more involved thread. The one’s I’ve enjoyed aren’t programmed, hashtag stuffed or full of self-promoting links; they tend to be real, human, social.

The threads I’ve followed all read and feel like real-time, genuine social interaction. This is part of what I used to like about Twitter, and what I filter my stream to be – conversation, discussion.

And then what?

I’m typing this before I even search for some ‘how to use tweet thread’ links. Not sure how to make this about business communications, PR and HR, or even Twitter and social media.

Search one, learned to delete my handle when I @ reply so that it is more a thread, less talking at myself. Next bit of reading I see Twitter threads have been around longer than I thought; and tweetstorm may become a word. Interesting.

I’ve never been a fan of retweeting yourself, but maybe talking to yourself isn’t such a bad thing. Time will tell.

You: do you thread long thoughts on Twitter? How’s that working for you?

 

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