Contrary to what some people think, I don't hate social media. Just the opposite; I know that Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn are all great ways to communicate with friends and more importantly, get your company's name out there.
But if anyone wants to know what I'm doing on a daily basis, they're probably already reading the 830 articles and blogs I've published over the years on OnMilwaukee.com. For better or for worse, I'm an open book, and I'm pretty easy to keep tabs on.
So that's why I've avoided Facebook, and up until this weekend, Twitter. But after watching my colleague, Drew Olson, do some Tweeting from the Miller Park press box, I thought, hey, why not?
OnMilwaukee.com features some innovative Twitter integration, and I helped drive that train, but it took incessant nagging and ridicule to get me, personally, Tweeting. However, if you care that I ate a popsicle yesterday, or that I ran 3.1 miles, sweating the whole way, you can follow me at Twitter.com/AndyTarnoff. (By the way, Twitter's "find people" function sucks -- if you search for my name, you won't find it.)
But somehow, as of press time, I had eight followers, five of whom I know. I'm still unsure why people should care about my minute-by-minute moves, but at least for now, I plan on Tweeting primarily about work stuff, like when I post a new article or blog, or for industry thoughts that can be kept short and sweet.
I can't promise I'll keep up with this. Though I suppose if lots of people start following my micro-rants, I'll stay inspired to Tweet on.
And no, I have no plans to get a personal Facebook account. Between e-mail, text messaging, instant messenger and cell phone -- and now Twitter -- I feel plenty connected to the people I care about.
I reserve the right to become addicted to Twitter, but I don't see it happening, either. In the meantime, please use the Talkback feature (or Twitter, I suppose) to tell me why I should embrace this "new" technology. I'm not a curmudgeon, really, but does anyone really care about that popsicle I ate yesterday? I barely care about it, myself.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
