Does anyone still chat on Twitter?

So Monika, do you know Monika? @Mumonthebrink, she is lovely, chatty, very friendly. Anyhow, last week I noticed her tweet:

Does anyone still chat on Twitter?

— Monika MumontheBrink (@mumonthebrink) March 16, 2015

Which struck a chord, I rarely chat on twitter these days. I didn’t reply, I simply favourite-ed her tweet. Acknowledgement with the interaction. Twitter used to consume hours of my time. On discovering twitter, I forgot the people I already knew on Facebook and started communicating with people I didn’t know on Twitter. I made actual friends, it inspired me to start my blog. It was chatty and vibrant. Slowly, my usage has waned. Twitter introductions became Facebook friends and I found that increasingly, I turned back to Facebook to communicate with other bloggers.

Twitter is undeniably a great platform for promoting posts and I do. Because I follow lots of bloggers, of course, my timeline is primarily about the posts other people are sharing. The thing is, increasingly using Twitter feels like standing at the side of the motorway watching a lot of whizz traffic go by; silver car, van, blue car, white car, lorry. Very occasionally, something interesting happens on the central reservation and we all rubber neck to look. Twitter isn’t all dull and people do slow down, they wave, a tweet passes by that is just lovely, the equivalent of seeing a pink bubble car.

Twitter is/was micro-blogging, thus people share snippets of their life. It reflects the complexities of humans, from tediously dull, to desperately sad. From horrifically abusive to the best of Twitter; clever, witty and the downright hilarious – in a mere 140 characters, no mean feat. Monika’s tweet made me appreciate that these days I rarely, tweet an actual (possibly fascinating, probably dull) update on my day. Occasionally, I tweet my insightful views of The Archers and I enjoy connecting with other Archers fans, where else could I do that? Those are the sort of connections that make Twitter great.

Every couple of days, I nip to Twitter and RT something useful and interesting that someone else is sharing. It isn’t conversation, I just add to the stuff whizzing by. I just don’t seem to want to give Twitter the time and when I do it is as if I am shouting into a void, little comes back. For the purposes of this post I tweeted a “hello”, one (lovely) person replied, it didn’t develop into a conversation. When I looked at my timeline there wasn’t much to join in with or reply to.

Instead, I am mostly on Instagram, Helloitsgemma; come, say hello. I love the visual window. There are snap shots of ordinary lives, alongside and the creation of some beautiful imagery. Instagram inspires me. I am enjoying the increasing number of collective hashtags and gatherings they create. I love that I can *like* and move on. If I have something to say, I have lots of space to say to it. Spring has sprung and my Instagram feed is full of daffodils and blossom, blue skies and mini eggs. What could be nicer?

Do you still chat on Twitter? Or are you spending time elsewhere?

About Gemma M

Gemma blogs at Helloitsgemma, see link below She is an older not wiser, mother of one small boy. Gemma always has painted toe nails and enjoys cake.

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