Is criticism over a Tweet I made even worth answering? Hells Yeah!

Yesterday, I received a missive from someone I hadn’t conversed with in nearly a year. He’d been compelled to criticize me about a Tweet I’d composed a few days prior! The offending Tweet: “So, who’s giving up Twitter for Lent?”

Among other things, the man wrote: “Steff- Who really gives a shit about what others are giving up for Lent? 

Too many posts, dude. You’re starting to get the reputation as a maker of white noise. 
Might want to be a bit more selective on what and where you post. Right message, right audience, right time, right place, etc.”

Wow. With friends like that…

I remained calm. First, I told him I don’t often use Linkedin but that my Twitter feed is linked to it. (I realize Linkedin is a professional network. To his point, personal Tweets might be out of place there.) However, I also referred him to my 1,870 followers who seem to get a kick out of my tweets. And I out of theirs. Then I mentioned my blog and its growing readership. Not monster numbers but pretty good for “white noise.” Thank you, by the way.

In conclusion I told my critical friend that I get a lot of satisfaction and pleasure out of social networking. Some pain too. But that first and foremost I believe social media should be FUN. That’s why it was created. The feverish networking and self-promotion came later.

In my view, the Lent Tweet was a fun, mildly provocative question relating to addiction and social networks. Twitter is addictive. For many of us Twitter would be the perfect thing to give up for Lent! I first saw the question asked by another person I follow. I re-tweeted it. Later I composed my own version. In turn, that was re-tweeted. My point to him: others appreciated the Tweet. It was not “white noise.”

And so what if it was? I’ve gotten way more flack pimping my novels via Twitter than from random, silly Tweets. We live and we learn and we Tweet about it all. That is the peeve and promise of social networks. Perhaps my friend would prefer more links to innocuous case studies. Frankly, I prefer white noise to white papers.

Needless to say, I did not put that last paragraph in my reply. Why? Because offering unsolicited criticism via email or social networks is almost never taken as intended. I learned that the hard way. Hopefully, now he has too.