I have recently really let my Twitter participation fall by the waste side. This has left me feeling left out and somewhat out of touch. I really enjoyed Twitter because it was almost real time, and talking to other engineers as opposed to just reading white papers has been highly motivating. I would like to hear back from people to see if I’m totally off base or really justified.

  1. I can’t keep up. I follow a little over 100 people and find it almost impossible, even when I give Twitter my full attention, to keep up with the really interesting conversations. I try to follow those who follow me, but I feel like it’s getting out of hand. If I do decide to stay on Twitter I will have to do some serious pruning of e people I follow.

  2. It is harder to stay connected at my new job. I started a new job this January that has a very high awareness of security. I’m unable to install unapproved software on my work desktop, and Twitter online is difficult to manage for serious twitter users. That leaves my cell phone for access, and trying to keep an eye on interesting tweets when I can only view 4 at a time is even more difficult. Which leads me to my next point…

  3. Twitter really is a distraction. As much as I do see a benefit in Twitter I have noticed an increase in productivity at work since my above point has forced me to limit my use. I’m not going to say Twitter use is a negative but I have seen how it’s not quite a productivity multiplier.

  4. I also feel like I am now more motivated to use other forms of communication such as email, forums, and my blog. Keeping in mind my point number 3, I still need to be careful as forums and blogs can be just as distracting as my Twitter stream. I feel like I need to fill that social void that Twitter has left with other forms of communication. I have really been working on some new articles I hope to publish soon.

So I’m considering either doing some serious trimming of who I follow, or just doing away with Twitter altogether. I am leaning toward the side of just calling it quits so I don’t feel any temptation to dive head first back into my Twitter stream.

Thoughts, or good riddance?

Created on my iPad.