Tweet! Tweet! ReTweet!: The Human Side of Twitter by Neil Sandow PharmD

Hello, everyone and happy Monday to you all! I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. We managed to dodge the first Tropical Storm of the season (Well hello, Claudette...sorry, couldn't help the Anthony Hopkins movie reference. You know which one...chianti and beans ring a bell?). She came through with a little rain, a little wind, but nothing detrmental. Okay, so we had a power outage but it happened right before the storm....crazy, huh? Anywho, let's get down to business. While I have several books on my plate, the one I am serving up today is....

The Human Side of Twitter

by

Neil Sandow, Pharm. D.

You know you do it. I've seen you. Your friends have seen you. You've seen them do it too. At dinner. In the car. During class. There's no use in denying it. You're even doing it right now, aren't you? Admit it! You just tweeted!

This book is a collection of several hundred (or more! I wasn't counting....) tweets straight from the site! Minus the user names (kind of them, especially in many cases!), it provides an irreverant look into the world of tweets and just what people are willing to broadcast to everyone and anyone! Be amazed at just how funny, serious, and downright strange people can be when limited to 140 characters per post. So many leave way too much room for interpretation!

Ahhh, the misunderstood, yet highly addictive social and business network that is Twitter. I must admit, I didn't see the draw initially. Why did you possibly want to know something as mundane as "I walked down the hallway" from a complete stranger somewhere out in cyberspace? That, my friends, is just one person's post though. Once you start to dig into the network itself...build your profile...find your friends...follow favorite celebrities....follow news sites....connect with business prospects....share your thoughts on things throughout the day....shall I continue?


Twitter is one of those things you either love or hate. There really is no in-between. You've heard about it on the news, listened to passing conversations about a "retweet", seen it advertised on your favorite websites (including mine!) asking you to "follow"....and then you've also read about those that condemn the site (I chalk them up to the "unwilling-to-research-new-things" group).

Let's face it, if you tweet than you know what I mean. I love getting an email from Twitter saying that "So&So is now following you". Grant it, in the beginning it sounds CREEPY! (can we say stalker syndrome?) But just because someone is following you doesn't mean you have to follow them! I admit it, I am slightly picky on who I actually follow. I mean, I have enough electronic interferences in my day without having to read through several thousand more lines of tweets that I am not interested in. (Sorry, but it's the truth!) That said, I am also selective about those I block. I have no problem with people following my tweets that I don't follow (I'm flattered I am seen as that interesting!), but if their page comes up as something truly offensive, I definitely block them...it's only a matter of time before Twitter does it anyway!

In conclusion of my rambling post (sorry!), I definitely would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick laugh, a little glimpse behind the scenes of this social network, or even those seeking a little inspiration for their next post. Never has 140 characters been such an inviting challenge to the masses...what will you say?

Feel free to leave your comments and feedback!
Until next time....happy reading!