Just Twittering Around

Just in the last hour, these are some things I've learned/discovered/pondered/planned for:

• Ways I can volunteer at a local Ronald McDonald House (@rmhc)


• A relatively easy and tasty recipe for ginger and lime chicken (@kitchenmonki)


• The Antelope Valley Hospital here in SoCal desperately needs Type O blood donors (@LANow)


• Why my nose runs when it's cold (@whyzz)


• There's a vegan bake sale next weekend benefitting Doctors Without Borders serving Haiti earthquake victims (@flavorpill_la)


• Lake Tahoe has 70-90 inches of new snow (@squawcreek)


• The rains pummeling SoCal aren't bothering the black and white star of SeaWorld (@shamu)

Where, you might ask, would you have access to such a broad range of topics and tidbits, all in one place?

Twitter, of course.

Before you roll your eyes and start sputtering words like, "who has time for that?" hear me out. Sure, I dove in to this social networking, microblogging tool because L.A. Parent needed a presence out there, and I figured I could find some good material to share with others. But my Twitter feed – that glorious list of Tweets from people I am following – is my connection to an amazing array of topics and products and media and organizations that I'm interested in. That list above is merely the tip of my Twitter iceberg, which, if you don't carefully monitor yourself, could also become your Titanic.

So the busy mom might ask, "Why should I be Twittering? I hear it's a waste of time – and with Facebook and other online social networks, I can't keep up with it all."

Believe me, I understand the concept of "not having time for this." I'm not saying it's for everyone. And PLEASE don't start contributing to the Twitter useless blather streaming nonsense of informing the universe of what you had for breakfast and how you're tired of the rain. That's what Facebook is for. Twitter – at least in my internet universe – is somewhat akin to a universal "forward" button you might find in your email program but without the in-box pollution that comes with that. So if you're thinking about seeing what this Twittering is all about – or maybe have but not sure how to use it – I offer a few words of wisdom:

• DON'T fall prey to this horrible trend of adding "Tw" to every word relating to Twitter. Right now cross off words like "Twitterverse." It will be tough to resist, but be strong.


• DO Tweet interesting and cool things you find out there. That can include cool blog posts, live events you think people might want to know about, a tip you've discovered for getting your toddler out of bed, or neat things to check out.


• DON'T abuse hash tags (#). Those pound signs you see next to a word in a Tweet allows you to search all Tweets in the Twitterverse (oops) for that key word. For instance, #Haiti, #FollowFriday and #MothersDay are legimately trending topics you might want to search. Others like #letsbehonest or #becausechocolateisawesome might fall into that "time waster" category.


• DO reTweet (RT) if you see a Tweet you like and want to share. Twitterers appreciate that!


• DO set aside time for your Tweeting. If I didn't do that, my children would never see me.


• DON'T Tweet while you're having a baby. Or doing anything else that requires your full attention. Or that might make people wonder, "Why is she Tweeting right now?"


• DO follow your interests. I follow the local weather stations, my child's school (yes, they just joined Twitter!), craft sites, travel stuff, food writers, health organizations and parenting bloggers, among many others. If someone follows me, I generally follow them back unless it's X-rated, just trying to sell me something or just too far out.


• DON'T believe and/or reTweet as gospel everything you read on Twitter.


• DO use lists. Organize your Twitter feed so that you can see relevant posts easier.


• DON'T feel pressure to Tweet. You can be an observer if you want to. It's OK.


• DO follow cool people, like these two: @carolyngraham and @health_e.