I found Scott Adam’s recent thesis that we’re entering a “golden age” to be interesting — it was the first time I had heard someone talk about events in the world the way he did. Adams’ tweet came up as a suggestion to look at because I’m a Chance The Rapper fan, and I was following the thread around Chance and Kanye. I found Adams’ thinking quite different than the norm, and thus I bookmarked it as interesting on Twitter with a retweet. Turns out that Adams had an unusual thesis because there was a subtext behind it that I wasn’t aware of.
About an hour later, I quickly learned that for me to retweet Mr. Adam’s post would signify something unintentional. A fellow alerted me passionately that I was doing a disservice by re-sharing that post. Huh? So I did a search on Adams because I only know him as the creator of Dilbert (which I love). I then learned more about Adams’ current reputation. I thought, “Woah — so that means … if I retweeted something by Adams, then everyone will think … hmmmm.” So I “un”-retweeted it because that it wasn’t my intention to make a political statement.
What did I learn?
I used to use Twitter as a way to keep a “bookmark” of things that I found different and interesting. I’ve also used it as a way to ensure that I’m always hearing things that I might not like to hear — that way I can stay outside of my own comfortable bubble. Back in the day, nobody really used Twitter — so I found it to be a useful bookmarking and research tool. But the tenor of Twitter has changed so much over these recent years — that said I’ve found it worthwhile as a way to scan a lot of folks’ “top-of-minds.” Though I’m feeling more and more that it’s time to use Twitter way differently than I have used it in the past.
I’m glad I’ve re-started blogging again … it’s a lot less easy to be interpreted out of context. That said, I’m always glad to get feedback as I can learn quickly — whether by Twitter or F2F or by any means. Thanks, Stephen! —JM
