My twitter feeds as seen on a HootSuite browser.

Last fall, I wrote a post about the significant impact Facebook has had on my life and my network of friends. Most of the people that know me well personally, know that I actually spend more time on Twitter than on Facebook. Twitter plays a very different role in our lives than Facebook, in fact most people don’t realize that it is not even really a social network.

While Twitter can be used as a social network, it’s not dependent on “friendships.” One important benefit of Twitter is the constant flow of information. I often feel like a bear catching salmon swimming upstream. Everything from breaking news to Catholic updates. There’s plenty to choose from.

Outside of the news and information, Twitter has provided a platform for small networks of like-minded people from all over the world. There are many people I feel very close to because of Twitter. Some of them are close family and friends, but many of them are new friends. You could say we first “met” through Twitter. Unlike Facebook that shares all my information with them, they saw only my thoughts and select activities first. Then over time, many of us realized that we had many similar interests. After meeting them in person, they really feel like friends.

The video below is one of the original promotions of Twitter trying to convince you to use it. Admittedly, I was very skeptical of the importance of twitter with so many other social medias already in existence. After silently watching from the outside for months, I joined almost 2 years ago. Yes, I stay informed, win contests, learn random facts, and get to know people I find interesting, but the most important benefit has come from the genuine connections that it facilitated in real life.

Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.