Finding Relevence in Twitter

I must have been one of the last holdouts in joining Twitter. I just didn’t see the point in following celebrity gossip, and I erroneously thought that was all there was to it. But after attending WordCamp Columbus, I had to reluctantly join in order to have access to the slide shares and links provided by the presenters. After searching for topics like #wccbus (WordCamp Columbus) and #wordpress, I was pleased to find an abundance of information that previously I  didn’t know was so readily available. Most important to me were the links to articles relating to the business of Internet Development. Finally, I have a reason to be on Twitter!

This reminded me of when I was a Systems Designer for Dowell Schlumberger.  At least once or twice a week, a tech magazine would circulate through the IT department with a post-it attached that included page numbers of an article and a list of names of the employees. We were expected to make time during the day to read the article, check our name off the list and pass the magazine on. The articles often had to do with industry news, current trends in programming, or best practices. Sometimes there would be a great article on how to code something in particular that would relate to a project I was working on. Yes, this was done on company time, because they valued staying current as a top priority.

So, I feel compelled now to stay current in my industry by taking advantage of the articles my fellow tweeters share. Of course, I have to weed through them to find which ones are relevant, but that is an easy task using Instapaper to save articles that I find interesting for later reading. I can then sit down with my morning coffee and catch up on WordPress news or read about upcoming news in web development on my NookColor while getting my oil changed.

Although I may be doing more reading that tweeting for a while, you can follow me @techbots.