I’ve written too much this week, but I couldn’t let Burns Night go by without saying something to celebrate the day. Surely I could think of something short, memorable, to the point… oh… 140 characters long maybe… Perfect. So here we go, a few short ‘tweets’ (with apologies to the Bard) on:
7 reasons we’d be following @RobbieBurns on Twitter
- Everyone’s equal – one voice, no matter who you are, 140 characters at a time
- It’s funny – don’t know quite how, but it encourages you to lighten up, be witty, have fun
- It hones your writing skills – so they’re short, sharp, sweet… to the point
- It’s an opportunity to promote your work – point to a new piece of writing, a poem, a song
- It’s all there: politics, poetry, passion, love, humour, sorrow, rabble, nonsense
- A line of a poem can stop readers in their tracks
- You can make connections – bringing voices together, the world o’er
Not convinced? Here are some famous lines in 140 characters or less:
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an ‘men Gang aft agley…
O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that, It’s coming yet for a’ that, That Man to Man, the world o’er, Shall brothers be for a’ that.
Or try this lovely recording of a A Red, Red Rose, found on Twitter (thanks to Amy, from Lives Less Ordinary)
Enjoy a great Burns Night everyone.
If you’re not on Twitter, I’m sorry, I realise you’ll probably think that I’m crazy. On the other hand, if you are – I hope it made you smile.
Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh, I so enjoyed that post, Joanna! Also, thank you for the link – I’m glad you liked the voice thread. It’s such a fun tool to play with.
Well Amy thanks for giving me the inspiration to write this – doing it twitter style made it a heck of a lot easier to write!
I did like voice thread – the first time I’ve seen it – I’m definitely going to be giving it a go
Joanna
Well Joanna – I’ve been hearing a lot about twitter. And I think you’ve convinced me to learn with those 7 points. But, just how complicated is it?
Hi Catherine, I wouldn’t say it was complicated, though it does take a little while to get into the feel of the place and how other people use it – although there aren’t any ‘rules’ and different people use it in different ways (including extra applications that people are devising and using to suit their purposes)
To get started… just log on, then start looking for people you know. I began by finding a few blogging friends, and from there connected to lots of other bloggers that I ‘knew’ (however you interpret that term!) The social dimension comes in because you can see who each person is following, including a pic, and you’ll likely find people you recognise, and ‘know’ and can start following them.
That way you can start to ‘tune in’ to some of the conversations and watch how people use it – to chat, to talk about what they’re doing, to link to a post (but you can’t overdo that), to keep in touch with people, to be witty and interesting… it’s all there.
If you’re interested you’re welcome to start by following me – though bear in mind I’m still a learner driver!
http://twitter.com/joannayoung
Joanna
burns is on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ayrshirebard
Craig, what a good idea. I’m following along.
Joanna, that Burns feed is also being used as a fundraiser over Burns weekend – see the Tweets for more details!
Craig, great idea to combine Twitter, poetry and a major birthday! thanks for letting us know.