My Twitter Empire

So on March 7, I said that I would try a 30-day Twitter experiment. I don't think I've posted anything on the blog since. I think most of the stuff I posted was drafted before March 7 and just scheduled to post (except for the April Fool's post -- that was sheer genius inspired by the moment). So what have I been doing with the time I might have otherwise spent blogging?

Well, first of all, you can't just have the one Twitter account, in my opinion. Although I live life pretty openly on the web (as my Facebook peeps can attest since my Tuesday weight-loss saga started six weeks ago), I'm still persnickety about who knows what aspects of my "bidness." So I started with a personal account (tmcgaugh) and a professional/blogger account (millennialprof). After all, people who might be interested in what's going on personally may have no interest whatsoever in my various thoughts about generational/education stuff -- and vice versa, most likely. But I've also been doing a stint in the Dean of Students office and thought it would be cool to offer a Twitter feed of useful Office of Student Services info (registration updates, upcoming programs, the latest in the perpetual smackdown with CSO, etc.). Obviously, some of the generational stuff can be a little caustic for an official Student Services feed, and obviously my personal Twitter feed is no place for registration updates. So I created one for Student Services (TouroLaw_OSS). I linked that one to the Student Services blog so it was pretty self updating.

So then I clearly needed something to help me manage these three Twitter feeds and to help me learn who else was tweeting about things that pertained to these three different areas of my life (my tweeple -- or tweeps, for short). So first I tried twhirl. I liked twhirl for a variety of reasons: the swirly logo, the fact that it could handle multiple accounts, and the fact that it was something new to divert me from doing work that made any kind of contribution to the world. But twhirl was just a little too high maintenance for three Twitter accounts. So then I added Tweetdeck. Mostly because everyone else's Tweets seemed to come from Tweetdeck.

I LOVED TWEETDECK. It was a deck. For tweets. And all that that implies. I had one column for what I was tweeting, one column for direct messages (DM's) to me, one column for public replies (@) to me, and four different standing columns representing searches that were important ("important" being a relative term when we're talking about Twitter) to me. But Tweetdeck didn't quite fill my every need. It was more cohesive than twhirl, but it still wouldn't handle multiple accounts. So alas, my wondering heart set out to find another to love.

NOW I LOVE SEESMIC. Seesmic is a deck. For tweets. And multiple accounts. But it's not my first love, so I have a more practical relationship with Seesmic. I no longer believe in true love. I no longer believe in love at first sight. I know now that all relationships are a compromise, that you give to get. So while Seesmic handles my multiple Twitter accounts (and my Facebook friend feed, THANK HEAVENS), it doesn't show me those nice rows of search terms. Maybe it *can*, but I haven't even asked, so sure am I that no Twitter app can satisfy me completely. But it handles those multiple accounts so beautifully that I set about making sure that I was only following law schools with my millennialprof and TouroLaw_OSS accounts and that I was only following friends with my personal account. That took a little bit of doing, and the wrinkles aren't completely out. I'm following a couple of Tweeple with one account even though I don't want to be, and even though I've tried to un-follow them (because on the Internet, all you have to do to make the opposite of a word is add "un" to it!) and block them and whatever else I can do, I'm still seeing their feeds. Whatever. Into every life a little rain must fall.

And since Seesmic is so great with those multiple accounts, I decided to do something with that "legalwriting" account I signed up for AGES ago. Why? Well, Twitter is kind of like the Internet in the early days when every domain name was still available and all you had to do was snap it up. I couldn't stand the thought of a charlatan snapping up "legalwriting" and using it for (gasp) commercial purposes. So I snapped it up, and now I post oh-so-infrequent tidbits about legal writing. At some point, I guess I give it to someone who wants to use it for the Legal Writing Institute? I don't know.

And then I started another personal account for an even more specific slice of my life. That one I'm not revealing because even I am entitled to some privacy. On the Internet. Where the whole world is watching. I don't know.

The real problem is the need to have a different e-mail address for each Twitter username. The first three weren't that hard; I actually had three different e-mail addresses I could use. But then I had to come up with two new e-mail addresses. So I got those on Gmail. So now my main Gmail account pulls in e-mail from five different e-mail addresses.

I know this sounds like sheer insanity. And I *am* appropriately embarrassed about the amount of time and effort that's gone into my Twitter Empire (I even spent half a day shooting video and sending it to Ashton Kutcher for some project he's working on . . . I know, I know . . .). Needless to say that the frenzy has died down somewhat and I'm finding some equilibrium. Sort of. I'm going to turn the TouroLaw_OSS name over officially to the Office of Student Services so I can free up my school e-mail address for . . . you guessed it, yet another Twitter username to use with my students this coming fall. Hey, I'm just riding the wave. I'm letting this thing take me where it wants to go. As a writer and a teacher of writing, I am transfixed by anything that requires all users to concisely state their case.

So what's next on the 30-day experiment deck? 30 days without television. I'm not kidding. Some of my friends are appalled that I have cable, let my children watch it, and even feel the need to cut television out (since it clearly shouldn't be an intruder in my life at all). Others are appalled that I'm cutting it out, so unnecessary a sacrifice is this. But I saw a bunch of people do it on Oprah. So off I go.