This Precious Life

I’ve had a Twitter account for the longest time but in the beginning, twittering turned me off. I couldn’t fathom what I was doing there.

When I followed a Peter Parker, I had thought I would hear about Peter Parker and his wife and kids, but it turned out that all Peter talks about is his Magic Brand Tomato Sauce.

“Tomato sauce on sale for $2.50,” “Tomato sauce repackaged in a new bottle,” “New tomato sauce recipe,” “Free spaghetti when you buy tomato sauce.”

All of these had me scratching my head.

I realize that the problem with the way I twitter is that I follow almost anyone who follows me, not realizing that many of those who follow me are the online version of door-to-door salesmen. The moment I follow back, they’ve got their foot in the door and it’s too late to hide behind the couch to pretend that nobody’s home.

After I’ve quietly un-followed a few, twittering became a more manageable activity. Yesterday, I checked to see if there is anyone who’s been following me whom I should follow back. I clicked on a name. Seconds later, I received a Direct Message.

“Thanks for following! Will do our best to send you coupons, deals, and promos for your YesStyle.com shopping needs!”

I was so thankful for that! The twitterer instantly set the context for the relationship by disclosing what kind of messages she will be sending. If I am not interested in coupons, deals, and promos for my YesStyle.com shopping needs, I can unfollow and no one would be the least bit perturbed.

I get it that when I follow BBC.com, I will receive messages about news of the world and when I follow Samsonite, I will receive messages about luggage bags. It’s the twitterers who give themselves human names and human profile pictures who only ever talks about the brands they represent who irks, really irks, my twittering activity. Worst are the ones who represent a myriad of brands.

“Not interested in pots and pans? I’ve got vacuum cleaners too.”

Gosh.