Continuing on from Sundays 100th Post I have another article from my writer friend Ciara, this isn’t our first collaboration and we’ve been online friends now since I first came online. Ciara takes a close look at Twitter: 
I used to hate social media. I mean really loathe it, with passion, and extra left over on the side. I’m still not a huge fan of Facebook, although you’ll find me there kind of because I have to be, and G+ I find no better (but harder to use).
In April 2011, I joined Facebook as my first step to entering the world of social media. Within 6 months, I was on Facebook, Twitter, G+, I had two blogs, my own website, and host of other related and connecting forms of social media.
Most of that generated off the back of Twitter, and it’s still the place I love most.
People who aren’t on Twitter (or who are kind of there to muck around without any real purpose) think it’s a bit weird. Twitter, for them, is about knowing what your favourite celebrity had for breakfast. Boooring. What they don’t realise, is that for those who have a particular community on Twitter, it is so much more.
The writing community on Twitter is huge, and another network I know of is knitting. I’m sure there are others, but writing is the one that led me there and keeps me there. I’ve seen a joke that says Twitter is 10% porn and 90% writers, and it’s funny because it’s not far wrong.
Twitter has connected me to people I never would have met without it, made me friends in places I’ve never been and may never go – or, if I do go, I will probably go because of Twitter and the friends I’ve made. I’ve made new friends in my own home town, and I’ve met people just like me on the other side of the globe.
18 months ago I had hardly anyone to talk to about writing, and now I talk about it on a daily basis. For someone engaged in an activity as solitary, as lonely, and as downright gruelling and depressing as writing can be, that’s huge. I’ve not only made friends, but I’ve joined a support network. I’ve got people I trust to read my work, and give me feedback, to teach me, and help me to grow. I’m collaborating now on a project I never would have even contemplated were it not for Twitter. I’ve got people to encourage me when the rejection letters are stacked too deep.
In short, without Twitter, I wouldn’t be writing as much, or as often, or as well, as I am now.
And I wouldn’t know the wonderful people I now consider my friends – even though we’ve never met.
Thank you Ciara. See you tomorrow for another great article!
I’m a big twitter fan, not FB – closed my account. I found it annoying.
I have FB because it’s the ‘done’ thing, and TBH I have found it great for getting to better know those writers I have met on Twitter who are part of my closest circle. honestly, I speak to my online friends, who I’ve never met in person, on FB more than my offline friends, and sometimes I wonder if they know more about what’s going on in my life – which is scary stuff! But Twitter is still where my heart is.
I know what you mean but I prefer G-chat. FB was simply too busy and ADD-ish for me.