Tweets for the Sweet

So, I caved.

I'm doing the Twitter thing.

I know, I know -- all of you out there are either scoffing that I'm late to the game or stubbornly reaffirming in your heads that you are NOT going to do it.

That always seems to be my place in the pack. I'm never the first kid on the block to have the new thing. But neither am I the one who holds out forever.

I'm a third wave kind of gal, apparently.

So far it's pretty fun, now that I'm getting the rhythm of it. It's a bit lonelier than Facebook, because people don't seem to respond as much. My tweets go out into the world, often to vaporize to indifference. Or passing interest. Hard to tell which.

And this could be just be me. After all, I'm not that fascinating.

I did get a bit of response to my tweeted pic above. (So pleased I figured out how to do it!) But as mediocre as my camera photos are, my Blackberry camera ones are apparently worse. I kept this one small, to minimize the fuzziness. Are there workshops on taking good camera phone pics??

At any rate, this was part of my Connecticut series of tweets. I'm thinking of them like paintings. Or a serial story. On the way in I tweeted about the really need video-poster ads that scatter like rose petals when you wave your hands at it, then coalesce again. On my return flight, however, I was on a different airline, American, which is apparently low dog enough to be relegated to the "B" terminal in Hartford. As in "B" movie.

All the shops and restaurants outside of security were closed, temporarily or permanently -- and this at 4:30 in the afternoon. Security was a wasteland, with this very odd Gorey-style guy who held out his hand for my boarding pass at the magnetic arch, never looked at it, but gave me the hairy eyeball and didn't step back for me to pass. I half expected him to grope me as I sidled past him.

The above pic shows my one option for sustenance. Not pretty. The couple of people who replied to my tweet enthusiastically endorsed sticking to a wine-only meal.

It was fun to have the conversation about it. Which is what this is all about: exchange. Even if it's about airport trauma.

However, many people, I've noticed, are more interested in sending than receiving. Another symptom of our culture, that people seem to want to talk more than they want to listen.

I have one writer-friend who started Twitter quite a while ago. And started a blog, to build an audience for her new book. I supported her by "following" her blog. And by commenting on her tweets that went to Facebook.

I can't help but notice that she hasn't returned the favor.

I try not to let it bother me, but I do notice. And I really notice which authors respond to my responses to their tweets. Who is interested in engaging with me and who, it feels like, holds me as beneath their notice.

It colors how I feel. One author who replies to me? I just bought five of her books to catch up on the series. Another who has never once acknowledged me? I'm losing enthusiasm.

A professor from college once told me that I was an unusual student because I took information and gave back interesting things from it. I was surprised that he told me a lot of students don't do this. To me, it's a crucial part of engaging with the world.

No one can read everything that's out there. Respond to everything. I firmly believe in the meritocracy of all these forms of communication: say interesting things and you'll be deserving of listeners.

But do be sure to let people know that you're listening.