Picking up from yesterday –
Addressing one of the only other problems I could imagine people having with twitter:
Like anything on social media, there will always be haters out there. That’s not really twitter’s fault, though. That’s just kind of an internet thing (also, perhaps the fault of all of us by how we raise kids, also how we conduct ourselves and treat each other).
I don’t have all that many followers (though as of this writing I have crossed the 200 mark! :)). So, I don’t get a whole lot of yell-y or hate-y tweets. Sometimes if I say something about gun control or marriage equality and it gets retweeted or mentioned somewhere else, I’ll get a tweet or two. But even those usually aren’t attacking me personally.
But, I have heard complaints that twitter can get kind of spammy or mean. (Though I have not experienced it myself, I have seen a ton of mean tweets to celebrities. Even if you don’t like their work, you do know they’re people, right?… And that you’re allowed to not like someone’s work without personally slamming them to their face (computer screen)?)
So, the first solution to that is a tough-y. ‘Cause whenever not great things happen on the internet, people say to ignore other people. Sort of good mantra about ignoring what other people think – especially internet people (but this is twitter, not YouTube, so they’re obviously far more civilized).
But, the thing is, if you ignore people on twitter, that starts to defeat the purpose of twitter – connecting and all that jazz. But, if you’re wildly famous and getting tons of mean tweets, it might not be so bad to ignore the noise every once in a while.
Or, if you’re wildly famous with lots of people tweeting not great things about you, you could be like – yes, you guessed it, I’m gonna say it – Cory Booker. He actively responds to people who say mean things to him.
I believe this actually adds to his lovability/credibility, because he always treats every person with respect. He’ll often apologize for falling short of someone’s expectations or wish them a lovely day even if they same something awful.
And he has so many supporters that I think anyone who says something nasty to him and gets retweeted immediately regrets it, because they get pounced on by hundreds (if not thousands) of admirers very quickly.
Also, what’s great about twitter, is people have found a way to take nasty comments (which are so awful) and turn them into a hilarious sketch (which is so wonderful).
The one thing I don’t recommend is to teat twitter like Donald Trump does – constantly saying negative things about people, and actively arguing with someone who says bad things to him. Cory Booker’s way makes me want to stand behind him. Donald Trump’s way makes me want to run away from that mess.
And, if you’re getting hated on, on twitter, and all else fails (even though it contradicts the importance of community feeling/purpose I do believe in and was talking about earlier), just remember this. (And yes, that is a link to an amazing twitter feed. Because where do you find the answers to small problems twitter maybe might possibly have? On twitter, of course.)