A dear friend Zara shared a thought on her Twitter account questioning whether Twitter posts were noise or information. This sparked my thinking in terms of what brought me to sign up for a Twitter account only a few weeks ago.
I steered clear of Twitter for years until another friend Ian and I had a deep conversation about if Twitter was useless (my opinion at the time) or useful (his strong opinion then and now). The paradigm shift happened for me when I stated that the endless babble on Twitter is useless and takes me out of a state of balanced mind. He challenged that Twitter then become a tool for developing equipoise of mind and a true master of mind needs to be balanced in all situations, Twitter included. He also said that a few people were engaging in consciousness shifting sharing and that the ultimate level of Twitter use is in sparking new ideas that lead to new ways of thinking. Not sharing about what one ate for breakfast or to go grab a beer after work.
Then, I received an email from Chris Andersen of the TED conference acclaim on changing the line “What are you doing?” to something like: “What can you share that might interest others?”
I’d like to take this a layer deeper:
“What can you share that would deeply enhance the well-being of others?”
So here it goes – the Twitter Manifesto
- I will thoughtfully compose all posts in a state of awareness and genuine goodwill for all beings.
- I will only post thoughts to Twitter that have the potential to deeply enhance the well-being of others either by laughter, thoughtfulness or sparking of new and valuable ideas.
- I will abstain from idle-chatter and meaningless posts that do not add value to the lives of others.
- I will abstain from gossip, back-biting, rumor spreading and any posts that does not bring more love to the world.
- I will always tell the truth to the best of my abilities on Twitter. Neither hiding nor embellishing anything.
- I will not feel compelled to post, just to post. Periods of silence on Twitter are beautiful – enjoy them until the next idea organically surfaces.
I invite you to add your comments and generally add or improve on this manifesto to make Twitter a more thoughtful space to share ideas. I’ll post a follow up with the enhanced version with input shared.
May all be happy and peaceful.
On Twitter: @integritiveJM
A great post… I feel the same way about silence for a long time. Thanks for putting it in such clear words. I appreciate it… Have you seen Google+ yet? I have and I am not sure!
[...] Thoughtful Twitter Use Manifesto [...]
And if we are clever enough, useful ‘info’ can be gleaned from general ‘noise’!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8413128.stm
“What can you share that might interest others?”
Hits the nail right on the head. This is not just applicable to twitter it works with all forms of social media including blogs.
Thanks for a great post.
Cheers Adam Bean
I aspire to get the reader of my tweet(s) to spew whatever they’re drinking out of their nose… if that isn’t “higher tweeting” then I don’t know what is.
I love it
Glad to have sparked the inspiration!
On a slight sidenote, in a bookstore a yesterday I discovered a pile of recently released “Twitterature” in glorious display on the counter. Flipping through I was horrified to discover once beautiful prose now dismembered into stodgy chunks of 140 character info-packets. There is apparently humour & cleverness in it all… I promise I will read it with an open mind (once my stomach stops churning in response to what I took to be massacre). Call me old-school, passe and slow to get with the times… I just can’t decide if it’s oh-so-wonderful that the ‘classics’ (well, what’s left of it!) can now be brought to a greater mass of people… or bawl that such measures are what it takes to attract and encourage reading. What happened to pure enjoyment of a good story, beautifully written and told?! I’m still wondering if this will have any bearing on the course of language (and thinking) and quality of written word over the longer term…
More on Twitterature here:
http://janeausteninvermont.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/tweeting-the-classics-austen-in-20-tweets/
Follow the aftermath here:
http://twitter.com/AcimanandRensin
Apparently twitter can also be used quite creatively for things like notifying plant owners that their plants need water etc. No doubt as we progress there will be other such useful (or less useful) apps being developed.
So, to come back to the point, how’s this for another addition to the manifesto…
- I will consider responsibly and ethically how my twitter ventures affect, contribute to and shape the lives of others, both immediately and in generations to come.
[...] Shared Thoughtful Twitter Use Manifesto « Too Much White Space. [...]
Thanks. I refer to your philosophy as “tweeting on purpose.” @TweetRightBrain
I love your manifesto, and it is the way I’ve always used Twitter.
Tara and Cath,
Excellent! Thanks for sharing your insight.
[...] This post was Twitted by eric_andersen [...]
Mmm, Shirdi Sai Baba said it first:
Before you [tweet], ask yourself:
“Is it kind?
Is it true?
Does it improve the silence?”
John, what an insightful and timely post for you to write. I’ve been spending the last week questioning my use of Twitter and how it affected my mind. I have a great love for it’s ability to connect people but I do find that the bubble you create there can be unbalancing to the mind. But what you have written, this Twitter manifesto, is brilliant reflection of how I would like to use and approach the tool so that I feel at peace with my Self using it. May I republish it on my blog with full credit to you?
The response to this post as been mostly positive. A few people pointed out that a section of this might be considered preachy or self-righteous. After closer examination I decided it was extraneous and could be taken out without greatly altering the intent or message. Enjoy.
[...] This post was Twitted by oenggun [...]
[...] This post was Twitted by peterdcowan [...]
Just retweeted your excellent post along with another one that goes along the same philosophy:
RT @baekdal: Social media insecurity: “Look at me!!” – Social media maturity: “Look at you!!”
I like it – propose the Slogan:
“Aspire to Tweet Higher”
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