Tweeting like a bird

Didyou ever see a celebrity in the street and felt tempted to dash over and say ‘Hello’ like to a good friend? I almost bumped into John Lithgow at aLondon tube station, whom I had watched in 3^rd Rock from the Sun  and had this split second of imbecility when I wanted to shake his hand and give him a hug.

What on earth would want me to do that?

On the other hand people are sending birthday gifts to Miss Piggy – my word, this women even has a page on Wikipedia .

And now there is another phenomenon thriving since about three years now: Twitter. And this little Internet gadget is splitting the world’s population into three. Either one is ignorant and hasn’t come across it yet – what might have hardly happened since almost every idiot is on twitter, while the rest is talking of it - or one despises it as communicational diarrhoea, or one loves it as a brilliant communication tool. Guess where I belong to!

The second group cannot comprehend what the information value of ‘I had a great dinner, now off to bed’ might be, and how it could be of benefit for loads of people – the ones that follow you and listen to your tweets.

While the third group… Hmm, hard to explain, and maybe too big words: But I claim that it is about the feeling of building and maintaining relationships respectively friendships.

Oh no! Don’t beat me up for using the word 'friendship'! I know that friendships are supposed to be deep and meaningful and at their best – forever! But are we really sure what that means?

The deepest friendships will always be the ones formed at a young age. We exchange information innocently and fearlessly, getting a bit disappointed when occasionally used against us, but all in all that crystallises into a small group of friends we are ‘Best Friends’ with. We can call them after 10 years and we will instantly click and things are like in the early days.

And still, there are a few best friends who we lose over the years, and I believe it’s only the ones with a very similar lifestyle to our own, who independently develop into the same direction as us, who are the ones that stay.

What about anybody else? Is any relationship that is not founded in these early secret baring years less than a friendship? And how are friendships maintained? Who are the people we feel close to?

It’s those of whom we think we know! And how do we know? By the little things.

The likes and dislikes, the daily routines and worries, and what they are up to. Social status like house, car, job, family, holidays, hobbies makes us acquainted  - as soon as I know if somebody like gherkins but hates sweet corn, gets up early, and had a crappy or happy day I’m starting to feel close.

That’s why people we know from the telly like Miss Piggy feel real and I had the urge to shake hands with a stranger. And that is why people love Twitter. I feel close to my mum knowing that she is about to get her hubby for a bit of housework sharing, I am happy to know that my friend is baking muffins – again - so I don’t have to feel guilty featuring love handles when showing up at our training session, although I had promised to be a good girl.

To create friendship it needs a trust building phase of frequent contact until one might want to pursue to a deeper conversation revealing the real self. I quite see the dangers if that happens in the internet, However I found a few people who I now consider well acquainted and actually would like to meet to take it further - well, and they are living in nice parts of the world...

And in order to maintain a friendship the depth of a communication doesn't seem to be all important; it’s the frequency that makes a difference.

So yes, I am a fan of Twitter!

Follow me!

Tweet, tweet,… tweet,….