Re-structuring my Twitter use
My friend Steve Apple told me years ago that following my @YatPundit account on Twitter was a pain in the butt. Followcost confirms it, saying that @yatpundit is "nuclear." This data, along with the listing of my 108K+ tweets will scare some folks off.
I make no apologies for my prolific tweeting--it's fun! The reason my total Tweet count is so high is simple: When Hurricane Gustav hit New Orleans in 2007, I stayed home while many folks evacuated. I tweeted most of the time while riding out the storm, and that 48-hour period was pretty intense. I've repeated that pattern for other storms that threaten the city. Combine that with a wide variety of interests, and yes, @YatPundit became a "costly" follow.
To work this out for the benefit of friends who didn't want the @YatPundit volume blowing them away, I set up several accounts as alternates to the "costly" one. I've never really implemented the break-out as it should be done, but now I'm going to commit to splitting up the traffic by topic a bit.
Here's the plan:
@YatPundit - my main account. I average 24 tweets and 10 re-tweets per day. Topics run the gamut, with a lot of re-tweets related to Democratic/Liberal/Progressive politics, New Orleans tweets, and just me being myself. Blog posts from YatBazaar.com/YatPundit.com are announced here first.
@YatCuisine - Food, cooking, restaurants, techniques, restaurant and recipe re-tweets. Expect 4-5 original tweets and maybe 4-5 re-tweets a day here. The YatCuisine blog (http://food.yatpundit.com) posts are announced here.
@CanalStreetCar - New Orleans tweets, historic preservation, streetcars/trolleys/transit topics. Expect 2-3 original tweets and 5-6 re-tweets a day here. While I'll gladly re-tweet NOLA-related stuff here, I'm not going to re-tweet stuff on Da Saints or NOLA politics. The CanalStreetCar (dot com), CitiesOfTheDead (dot net), and New Orleans Street Railway Association blogs are announced here.
@EdwardBranley - My "business account." This one is tied to my LinkedIn profile. Many of my professional colleagues aren't interested in all the local and political stuff, just as many NOLA folks have no interest in Hitachi Data Systems, Storage Area Networking, Linux, Android, and other heavy-duty geekery. @EdwardBranley is where I put on my propeller beanie. Technical posts from my company website, seashell-software.com, are announced here.
@YatTravel - a new project to isolate travel discussions. I'm on the road 20-30 weeks a year, teaching computer classes. I have a bit to say on air travel, hotels, sightseeing, and other travel-related topics. They'll go here, as well as blog posts from my YatTravel blog (http://travel.yatpundit.com)
@YatSoccer - another new project! @YatSoccer is an attempt to start some buzz amongst fans of The Beautiful Game in New Orleans. Others are welcome as well. We're migrating the Jesters Banter site to soccer.yatpundit.com soon.
In addition to these twitter accounts, I have my hands in two other pies:
@YatMedia - this is an account I share with my business partner, Greta Perry (@kissmygumbo). Yatmedia.com posts are announced here.
@FreeTweetAdvice - Twitter advice with a healthy dose of snark. A growing following and a fun project!
If you have any thoughts on all this, feel free to comment or to tweet/DM me. No hard feelings if you un-follow one or more accounts to adjust how we communicate. It's all about the fun for me!
