Why Twitter Trumps Facebook

I don't have a smart phone. Expression of regret. This significantly limits my social media time to about five minutes a day, but even with only that, I now prefer to spend them on Twitter. Here's why.

Facebook (which I joined while in grad school) is primarily a keeping-tabs-on-people device. I loved how many people I was able to reconnect with, and I still appreciate the connectedness that Facebook provides. It's there that I post a few pictures after returning from a trip so my friends and relatives can see what I've been up to, and I likewise enjoy scanning my feed for the pics my friends have posted. Otherwise I would probably have no idea who of them are getting married, having new babies, or vacationing in the same places I am. (I recently saw on FB that my aunt and uncle in Oregon were going to be in DC the same time I was, so we met up.)

Twitter is likewise a connection vehicle, but it has the added benefit of actually being useful; of actually making you better and leaving you more informed on subjects you find interesting. Granted, I'm a new user who has admitted to only spending a few moments logged in each day, but I am constantly amazed at both how valuable and useful I find the content that the people I follow post. These people are agents, authors, publishers, readers. Most of their very livelihoods center around books and writing, and even down to the writerly humor, I eat it all up and then want more. I only hope that one day I can be as helpful to followers. I also hope one day to actually have followers. Maybe it takes more than five minutes a day. And maybe I need a smart phone.