Let’s meet on Twitter

Over the past several months I’ve been embracing the social networks and taking a lot more interest in them. We’ve all heard names like Facebook and Twitter and MySpace and FriendFeed and others, but often times we don’t take the time to explore some or all of these services. I’ve learned that each of these services has a little something to offer and they can be a fun addition to your online experience. I am a professional blogger and web designer, so I use those services and more on a daily basis. This has given me a lot of experience with the social networks and I’ve come to realize that it’s worthwhile to build a community of friends at such sites. So yes I am linking to these services for business, but along the way I’ve made online friends and I’ve seen that a fair amount of people are truly just being social when using a site like Twitter or FriendFeed. I thought maybe I’d take a look at just one of the more popular sites-of-the-moment: Twitter…and see if I can’t entice you to join me there.

Use the arrows to see more ads!

Why Twitter?

I heard a pretty good summation of what Twitter is about the other day, and it’s pretty true: Twitter is like a big party. It’s the online equivalent of standing in a room full of people, walking around and joining in or listening to the conversations of different people. It really does seem this way. With Twitter, you simply sign on and give a quick couple sentences about anything you want to: what you are doing at the moment, what you are learning, what you are reading, how something turned out, what’s coming up with you, questions for others about something pertaining to them, etc. etc. Sometimes I have whole conversations with people on Twitter, back and forth, 140 characters at a time.

Truth be told, Twitter isn’t for extensive dialogue. That’s why we have the phone or email. It’s just for short little “blurbs” pertaining to whatever you want to announce or ask about. Got a gig coming up? Let your Twitter followers know. Heard a new song you like? Let your Twitter followers know. Have a question for one of your followers? Post it on Twitter. Need to send a short private message to one of your followers? You can do that too.

Not as many banjo players on Twitter

I’ve been with Twitter a few months, and I’ve noticed that the banjo playing community as a rule isn’t really represented there. The reason I know this is because I can do searches for topics or keywords; when I do this, I’m shown a list of all the people currently “Tweeting” about that topic or keyword. (Yes, your conversations are public, unless you break away and send a private message.) In contrast, the Banjo Hangout has a HUGE list of members…thousands! Now, I have connected with banjo pickers on Twitter, but only a fraction of a percentage of the number of pickers out there. I thought it might be fun to change that with a little grass-roots effort of my own.

Let’s build a Twitter banjo community

My wild and crazy idea is to try and entice all of you “banjer pickers” to consider setting up a profile on Twitter. (It’s free!) Once you do this, simply sign on to my profile (I have a link on the home page of this blog, on the home page of my main website, and at the bottom of this article) and choose “follow”. Then, you will receive my list of updates and conversations that I put on the public timeline into your Twitter feed. In return I’ll click to follow you; I’ll then receive your comments and questions into my Twitter feed. With Twitter, you put general announcements or questions out there, and all of your followers can see them. We can all answer each other back and forth by putting up return comments; everyone who’s following you will see the comments and different Twitter postings that you make.

My aim has always been to have an interactive experience with my blog readers and site visitors; it’s no secret that I sell some products and earn a living with my sites, but I aso enjoy engaging in good conversations with my site visitors and passing along tips and pointers to try and help you be a better banjo picker. Plus, I really do enjoy getting to know each of you and to learn things about you. If we have a community of pickers that can rally around each other and share our banjo experiences, that might be rewarding and fun for all of us. Got some new pics on Facebook or your personal website? Put out a Tweet about it and our little banjo community, no matter how many members, will see it and can then go and view them. Got a technique question? Ask it as a Tweet and the community of pickers following you will all see it, which will allow many Twitterers to respond. Got a gig coming up? Tweet it and let us know! Have a baby? Tweet it! Got a new banjo? Tweet it!! Have a good day/bad day/need to vent? Tweet it!! Ummm….you get the idea.

Join the Twitter banjo community!

Let me know what you think. You can simply leave your comments or questions as a reply to this blog post below, and I’ll respond with additional comments or questions. You can also contact me via email or phone (that info is listed on the contact page of this blog and also the contact page of my main website: www.banjosrule.com). I’m eager to know if you like my idea, and I’m excited to see how many people I get to connect with on Twitter! Hope to see you there.

Banjo Paul
“Wunse, I coodn’t even spel bango pikker…now I are one!”
Twitter: www.twitter.com/banjopaul67
www.banjosrule.com (main site)
www.mybanjolife.com (blog)