Spring is here and the birds have started up, so this seems the right time for me to begin tweeting.
I experimented with Twitter some time back and now I’m starting to use it. Proper business people would probably call this delay an ‘extended evaluation period’, but the truth is that I just couldn’t make up my mind.
For one thing I have been struck by the mind-numbing banality of so much that I read on Twitter. Are people really interested that Stephen Fry is about to take a shower, or that Lindsay Lohan wants to know the symptoms of swine flu!? (OK, so I read them, but that was research).
Like many writers I probably over-estimate my talent, but I doubted that, even stripped of that self-delusion, I could consistently attain the level of mediocrity that marked much of what was being bandied about on Twitter.
Then there is output. I already write daily, usually working on several projects at once, and have trouble keeping my newsletter up to date. Did I really want to have to write yet more by adding Twitter to the list? Particularly since the whole idea seems to be to tweet regularly, even several times a day.
So I kept a watching brief, read a bit and spoke to people who use it. After a period of incubation I began to hatch a plan. Finally, I had a conversation with web guru Mark Vaesen, of Blue Planet Internet Solutions, who started down this route himself some way ahead of me. His advice has always been good, and balanced, and he has an overview which is helpful.

What I now know is that Twitter will help me fill a vital gap. I often have links to articles, video and other useful and relevant information that I’d like to circulate. At the moment I rarely do this because I do not always have the time or opportunity to write a post for the blog or an item for my newsletter, or because, even though they might be interesting, they are simply not newsworthy enough.

But I can now do it by tweeting, so watch this space. Better still, follow me on Twitter.

I’m a psychologist, coach, and therapist. All my work is aimed at enabling people to improve personal aspects of their lives and work.

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