One of the things I like about TweetDeck is the way it lines up my Twitter stream and conversations in neat little columns across my computer screen. Last night, as I made my way down the list of updates from the people I follow, I realized how much inspiration and encouragement was coming my way, either directly or through inspiring quotes, blog posts and even photos. I follow people who are positive about Detroit, about Michigan. Heck, they're pretty much high on life.Sure, there's the occasional bad day. I've probably gotten more information about where people are and what they're doing at any given moment than I ever wanted to know. But I follow some pretty cool folks who are about the business of putting Michigan back on its feet.
That's my choice. At some point last year, I realized it's just not smart to follow everyone who follows me. The information I care about falls into two categories: Michigan and women. In fact, that's more than information I care about. That's my brand, my market, my audience. Why on earth would I follow some guy from India who tweets about technology?
I've said it to people over and over again: Don't get into Twitter until you know why you need to be there. Give it lots of thought. Go in with a plan, and then work that plan.
One of my goals this year is to prune my "following" list, so that I'm not drowning in information. (Although quite a few of the people I'm following don't update their statuses more than once or twice a year.) And I'm also going to make sure the information I share sticks fairly close to the reason I'm here: to share stories by, for and about Michigan women.
Physician, heal thyself, right?
--JH-G
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