Clickety-clack went the keyboard early one morning. My laptop didn’t want to keep up with my mind and I was frustrated. Ever feel that way? Despite all the discussion around how techno we all are and how impatient this technology has made us; I resist the group-think. Gently nodding to the concept yet not totally subscribing to it. Yep, it was a prime example of having to eat my words…in this case, my non-words…because I learned an interesting lesson.
As I waited for the key strokes to process, my finger tapping quickly changed to a slow, low, cave-echoing nooooooooo. I just deleted an entire column of filtered contacts in TweetDeck.
This was disturbing to me. Over the last two years of building my Twitter-verse my filter of local Londoners was gone. It was gone from my TweetDeck, not from the list I created on the web application so I still had that to gauge from. In TweetDeck, it’s a manual process of adding individuals to a group. Enter the lesson in social media.
As I rebuilt my group three things became apparent.
- I rely on avatars to remember people.
- The regulars (those who participate) are easy to pick out of the crowd. There are a bunch who fell off the wagon and probably use other forums now. I don’t need to worry about them.
- It’s good to blow out the cobwebs in social media circles too.
Initially, as anyone using TweetDeck Groups knows, I only had names/handles to go by (out of a list of 1800+ names). Those who participate regularly jumped out without any issues giving me a group of about 60. Not bad from memory eh? The next step was a visual one where I pulled avatars I recognized from the full “all followers” stream. This was a little tricky since a few like to play avatar-roulette. Regardless, bouncing between the web Londoner’s list I created and Tweetdeck, I was able to bring things back up to a comfortable flow.
I even asked/tweeted a request from London followers to tweet me they’re from London, hoping this might help me be more efficient in building my group again. Alas, it just wasn’t important to them (like, no kidding) so I got very little response and that’s just fine with me too. I’d rather interact on more important issues anyway.
So, I cleared out my London Group and rebuilt a more current, and active one for TweetDeck. And isn’t that what I love about Twitter anyway? You bet.
Nimbly,
JCM
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
A little slow chiming in here – but I definitely agree that looking at the set up and who is is the *star* columns should be considered regularly. I find there are people I don’t read, ones I want to see more clearly…. and just like you, I realized that I visually identify with my list. When someone changes an avatar, it’s really apparent!
Thanks Wendy! It sure is tricky when pics change. Having to re-do the re-do with a new laptop was not something I was looking forward to this week. However Tweetdeck now allows users to create groups based on the web lists which was a beautiful thing to discover a couple of days ago! Having said that I’ve changed my avatar. I was testing the new webcam and liked what came out so I decided to use it. I try not to change too often though because I know how I feel in response to a new one.