Don't "Get" Twitter? Could be your own fault.

Several (actually more than several) people have said to me things along the lines of "I don't get Twitter - why do I want to know what people are doing all the time?" "Twitter is stupid, it's a waste of time." Ok - while I'll agree that Twitter can be a time-sucker, I absolutely don't think it is stupid, because MY Twitter isn't.

That's right MY Twitter. Lot's of folks don't understand that the beauty of your Twitter feed is that YOU build it yourself. You decide who to follow. You decide who you want to hear from. My Twitter is completely unique, to me. If I'm following someone who is uninteresting to me, or adding too much "noise" to my feed, I un-follow them. I'm sure plenty of people have un-followed me. No big deal, doesn't hurt my feelings. I don't see Twitter as a popularity contest.

How do I use Twitter? For me, I follow primarily 4 types of tweeters.

#1 People in my business - specifically in Internet marketing, search, social media. The links shared and questions answered are immensely valuable in keeping me on top of changes and new ways to be effective in the interactive space.

#2 Funny, witty or cool tweeters - My life requires comic relief - my tweet stream brings me some every day. I love @roland_hedley, the uber-correspondent from the Doonsbury cartoon. Cool - like @Astronautics - keeping up with what the astronauts are doing on the space station.

#3 Friends and inspirational folks - Inspiration and connection are also a requirement for life. (But even friends may get un-followed if their tweet streams become only noise for me.)

#4 News outlets - local news like @TVAmy , @wmbfnews, @gcemd (my county's emergency management division) national & world news @breakingnews etc. Also, since I live on the coast, weather feeds @HurricaneAlerts @usoceangov (NOAA's feed).

So, that's what Lauren Cobb's Twitter looks like. Tomorrow, I'll post about the best tools to use to sculpt your feed into something that is valuable for you.

By the way - if you want to follow me - I'm @llcobb. Go ahead, if you decide to unfollow me later, I understand. ;-)