This post is by Sherree Worrell. Sherree writes from her point of view on Social Media and tidbits on life Thoughts from the farm. With twenty (20) years’ experience in Office & Business Management, Sherree is preparing to launch her own business to help small business owners with their administrative, business management and social media needs. She can be found on Twitter as @Sherree_W.
Have you noticed a change in your Twitter stream lately? Have you noticed a change in your followers, or tweetchats you might participate in? Have people whom you respect changed?
Does it make you think you might want to change who you’re following and who’s following you? Is it enough to make you think about leaving Twitter altogether?
There are four traits I’m noticing more and more, traits that almost convinced me I should leave Twitter altogether.
1. The Secret Language Phenomenon: This apparently is a by-product of attending a conference. Before the conference, everyone is pleasant, conversations flow easily, there is no pretense and people are genuine.
After the conference, these same people seem like someone else. They talk in a “secret” language, make jokes in that language, and change how they talk with others. It’s almost like they have a “secret handshake” and you’re not invited into their new “club.” Some even stoop to playing people against each other. Really? I’m pretty sure organizers of conferences prefer different take-aways.
Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to share what they learned at that conference so everyone could learn something new? At a minimum, it would help us understand abrupt personality changes.
2. Criticism that’s far from constructive: This is disturbing and it’s happening with alarming frequency. There are people that are so critical of others’ opinions that it has stopped me in my tracks. If a discussion (tweet chat) is open for opinions and the ground rules of the discussion/chat are to encourage healthy debate or input without being hurtful, why do some people insist on being a bully anyway? If I’m expressing my opinion, it is your right not to agree with it, it is not your right to demean me or anyone else …in public. Participating in these discussions is not worth the effort anymore, it’s exhausting. Interestingly, no one will call out the bully – so it continues on.
3. The Soap Box Crowd: These folks feel the need to “soap box” a particular topic to death. They choose to hammer a point over and over because they think they are influential or an authority on that topic. If you look deeper or even challenge them, you find they are not. They love to hear themselves talk and will do anything to be heard, even when it angers people. If you choose to disagree, they keep on it. They want you to change your mind to their way of thinking because they feel they are right. They are entitled to their opinion always; they are not entitled to be a bully. They are arrogant to think they are that influential.
4. The “fame at any price” crowd: Finally, there are the folks who find it necessary to “step on or over” folks in order to be the “big man or woman on campus.” If folks are so insecure they have to steal someone else’s idea, contribution, or even thunder, so they can feel like an “influential” person, do you really want them as a friend? Stepping on/over a person after they have contributed something (such as a product or a recommendation) to claim as their own is underhanded. It’s particularly galling when they do this when a conversation didn’t include them in the first place and they keep doing it – all to look good. Really, it’s no worse than claiming someone’s blog post as your own. If they didn’t come up with the idea or contribution, they shouldn’t take credit for it. If they were honest about where they came upon a product or recommendation, wouldn’t you have more respect for them?
Have you noticed any of these folks in your Twitter stream lately? Have you changed your Twitter habits because of them? Will you?
Awesome post sweetheart 🙂 I have to agree with some of your points. While I still adore Twitter, and all my wonderful tweeps, I am seeing an alarming increase in personality clashes and conflicts out on the web these days. The best thing about Twitter, I’ve always thought, is that if you DO have a conflict you aren’t stuck in the same room with them. You can walk away. Get a grip. Grab a beer. Come back when you’re calm and able to deal with the issue.
Thank you so much Renee.
I agree, walking away to take a breather helps. Something I found that also helped me, is that I’m making new connections and having new conversations. The world (my timeline anyway) just got a bit more interesting and I like that.
Sherree
HEY! I KNOW YOU! ;D
In answer to your questions, yes, I have seen pretty much every one of the traits you have listed. Some bother me more than others, the least of which being the ‘codespeak’ you listed. The little secret handshakers will continue to stay in their little group and leave me a wide swath to walk past them, up, up, and beyond. No worries.
The thing that concerns me is that these people would cause YOU to veer off your course at all! Case in point, I have been doing a lot of work with/for P&G and Wal-Mart lately. Do I believe in their products? Absolutely, or I would be writing for or about them. So why would I stop doing it based on some of the people that shop there? See where I’m going with this?
Keep up the awesome work, Sherree! Glad to see you working your way up the ranks! Great to see you here with Margie also!
Hey Brandon – yes, you do know me! I appreciate your words of encouragement.
I know I can’t help what others do. It’s hard to watch though.
Isn’t Margie grand? I feel very fortunate to count Margie as a friend.
Sherree
(p.s. ahem…and how’s your writing coming along?)
I think this has happened always on every platform not only twitter. It bothered me until I simply started filtering my followers and un-following people I saw brought no value to my daily life.
I think the soap box one is the one that bothers me the most especially when they try to attack a subject which they are not too familiar with.
Raul,
You’re probably correct. It has happened on every platform, but for some reason some of the connections we make on Twitter seem to make it more personal. As I mentioned to Renee, I am enjoying new conversations and that has made a huge difference to me. It’s a breath of fresh air! The other stuff will continue on regardless if I participate or not.
I am glad you stopped by and jumped into the conversation. I appreciate it.
Sherree
Sherree
Hey Sherree,
nice to see you here. I have noticed some of the things you mentioned. In addition I have also noticed the absence of a lot of once familiar faces perhaps it could be due to the things you mentioned here.
Chats and IRL connections have really helped energize and create value for my personal twitter experience.
BTW this is also a great reminder for me to take a look at my own behavior to ensure I am not guilty of one or all of these things.
Best
Joe
@SMSJOE
Joe,
Never in a million years would I ever connect you to any of the above traits.
I hate to think the things above have actually driven people completely away. I’m hoping “real” life is going so well, they just don’t have time!
Thank you so much for jumping in with your thoughts, I really appreciate it.
Sherree
Margie,
The same thoughts over here too, sometimes. I always try to avoid those private conversations and I always count to 10 before I comment on anyone else’s tweets. Portuguese people like to talk a lot on twitter but there are indeed some popular “private groups” in which I don’t participate. I don’t use Twitter or Facebook for personal conversations but to conversations to/with persons.
As to leaving Twitter, no I won’t do that because of that kind of persons, since I use this platform with a purpose that has a much more extent than conversations. There were times over the last year where I was just reading, not writing or replying or participating whatsoever. That’s also one of the reasons why I love using Twitter .
Regards
Linda
I’m glad to say that I haven’t seen an increase of these behaviors… but then again, I might be blissfully skipping along and just oblivious. Or maybe I’M guilty of this behavior (hit me with a 2×4 if so!).
If the conference/special language thing happens, I could understand it, though – in light of studies on group preference – that people favor their group even if arbitrarily formed – and that patois or slang helps reinforce groups.
Ric, you are not included in the above either.
I understand that conferences bring people together and that the content stays with them long after they have returned home.
What I don’t understand is the literal personality change that has some people totally turning their back on folks they talked to right before leaving, without explanation. IMO, the variable in this scenario is the “content” of the conference and the take-aways of that content.
Of course, I could be way off base. Wouldn’t be the first time.
Sherree
I have yet to notice these at Twitter, but then again I have not been there long yet. One thing I can tell you is that in the face to face world these things happen frequently. Very well written and informative. Thank you.