So, I have admitted it finally. I hereby certify myself to been addicted to Twitter. The reasons of course wil be expounded, but that comes later (in a separate post!).
When I joined Twitter back in July 2008, it was just because my colleague @shadez was there. The interesting thing about me was that, I have always been a techie (oh yeah!) but the Twitter bug never really hit me until then. In fact, I hadn't even heard of Twitter till last year. It's kinda strange but true. One of those things.. you know?
I was more busy with "traditional" geek stuff like being member of tech forums and other such communities. For example, I was quite active on Esato Forums where I was amongst the top 5 posters. In fact, I can honestly say I was addicted to Esato, prior to Twitter. Posting day in and day out since 2004. I was a lurker there long before I finally "jumped in"
Now, let's get back to Twitter. After joining in July, I was limited to a few tweets per day and followed some new people whom I personally knew. There came a time when I used to simply gawk at @shadez who was actively involved and went to tweetups, met people and stuff. It was then that it dawned on me that, this thing actually isn't as pointless as I thought it was. That was it, I started actively following interesting folks.
The moment of truth came when the unfortunate Terror attacks in Mumbai were unfolding, I watched Twitter grow from being this "tweet and meet" thing to something very serious. Infact, during the attcks I was continuously tweeting information and helpful bits of information to folks who were in Mumbai. It was also then I realised how quickly Twitter could mobilise people. Within hours of the attacks there was a centralised blog that provided updated information, all kinds of them to folks who were looking for the near and dear ones. From blood-bank addresses , blood group equirements everything was in order.
During the same time, I personally was going through a lot of stress (mushy stuff) and now I have to admit, it was some of my Twitter buddies, who have been instrumental in getting me back on track! The fun part is that most of em don't even know they have helped me out. I won't reveal their names, but you know what? There are some really nice, special peope out there.
Yes, some may argue about its pointlessness, but the beauty of Twitter is seen when you are actively involved in it. For those who came just to check out the sevice, it will obviously remain pointless. No! Seriously! Who in the right frame of mind would want to tell the world, what they're doing now? @twitter, you need to change that slogan, I say!
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