The pull of community

Why do we tweet? Simple question....but I don't think a simple answer. I've discussed this with a few people recently, some who are twitter fans, some who just don't get it, and some who are wary of it but really want to give it a go.

I personally don't see the point in being on twitter purely to follow celebrities....their life's have no relevance to mine, and although I love a good bit of gossip I really don't give two hoots if Brittany has just seen some AWESOME shoes, or if Katie Price is just being a prized wally again!!

I was lucky that I stumbled across an amazing community of people, who are like minded and all work within a similar field to me. This was helped by the almighty force that is TheHRD, and the wonder of the ConnectingHR group but I hope I sustained my place by being honest, and exchanging the odd witticisms or two.

But I am not a naturally outgoing person, and definitely not one for large groups. Sometimes I sit watching the twitter feed and it reminds me of parties I used to go to where I would just sit in the corner and stare at everyone; wishing I could be like them....and just strike up conversations with strangers. But I've found that it's ok to be like that....and so I feel able to carry on tweeting my inane takes on life, and dip in to others conversations whenever I feel comfortable to.

And that's what I've come to really love and appreciate about Twitter. It builds communities of people that might not have ever met, and we all fall into our roles within the group, and it just works.

I have no powerful insight to share; just that Twitter is just a collection of life forces...who if thrown together in real life would probably act the same. But because we all live such 'busy' life's we sometimes forget we can be part of communities if we wish to, we can interact with strangers and make great connections if we wish to. Twitter just enables that in a very easy and safe way.