Combining Twitter and Real Life

Have you ever tried to explain twitter to your real life friends and received a blank stare? Most of us have, and most of us wish we had a way to explain it more efficiently, and share our twitter life with our real life friends.

Mark Davidson gave a great way to explain Twitter to me yesterday while at the OC Tweetup: Twitter is like standing around in a convention. You are chatting with a bunch of people, and overhear someone ask a question that is your knowledge base. You respond, and possibly chat for a bit, then move on to another topic. It is a situation where it is okay to butt in and impart your knowledge, then move on to something else. People expect participation. People want participation. Without participation, twitter doesn’t exist.

I was intrigued by his answer, and figured I would see what the rest of my twitter friends did when confronted with explaining twitter to their friends.

• sherryboyer: I just tweet in front of them and they get the excitement by osmosis!
• RichardBPenn: it’s easy you explain to them that twitter is like facebook tag lines where you can change it as often as you want.
• cambie: I just don’t go there!
• jamespero: i explain it as two things, as a status update similar to that on facebook or myspace, and as a micro blog
• AlaskaArtist: Doesn’t do any good, they don’t get it. I pull out my laptop & let them try, then they get interested.
• TechTalkWRLR: Explaining twitter: Public IM. Occasionally I have to fill the gaps in for the ‘following’ concept.
• Michael_Keefe I just tell them to try it before they judge. Most find their own way to use and enjoy it!
• warplayer I sold it as a sort of “group text” where we can all communicate on our phones simultaneously. Ive got a small circle on here…(cont’d)… Some immediately went nuts over it… the rest were sold when they saw how much fun we were having and felt left out.
• andysowards I say it’s great for networking with business people and getting your name out there

As you can see, the answers were mixed, but the conclusion was pretty much the same: It is difficult, and sometimes not even worth it. I know that in my case, most of my friends still see Twitter, and those who tweet, as a strange group they could never be part of.

Which is why I decided to organize an event perfect for twitter and non-twitter alike. With some help from Jimmy Kawalek, I am happy to announce an April wine tasting event for everyone! The event is still finalizing registration details, but it’s one you wont want to miss, and so we wanted to give you a heads up to get it on your calendar. I will be collecting the list of everyone who emails me and will send an email as soon as the final details are made. This event will give you a chance to meet some of your twitter followers in person, as well as *hopefully* clarify ‘Twitter‘ to your real life friends. We hope to see you there!

Related posts:

1. Social media friends vs Real life friends
2. Work vs Sleep vs Real Life. What wins?
3. Combining twitter & postal mail…a good idea?