Good thoughts here. I tweet for a couple reasons. First, it helps my blog. Second, it connects me to people I like.

I like to write so I do. I want my writing to encourage others. I use Twitter for this reason primarily.

Not every connection we have has to be deep and meaningful. I too have a witness, in fact I have several because I choose depth and relationship in my life. But I also have many connections across the country and world that matter. They are not the person I run too to give me counsel but they matter to me none the less.

My tweets are almost all about thoughts not activities. This is different than most tweeters that I know...

Ironically the first thing I wanted to do was post your last paragraph on facebook (which goes to by Twitter feed too).

Is it wrong that I found this article through a tweet?

I agree. Too many words cheapens the words that we do say. Our culture is drowning in talking and "communicating" without saying much at all.
Let my words be few . . .

Love this. These are some of the same reasons that I have chosen not to tweet. I am also guilty of "Terminal Uniqueness" as you put it. And I especially agree with your perspective on looking for a witness. I see this all the time with friends who post on facebook and talk about how many responses they got to a status update.

Great post, and good reasons not to tweet.

I'm not particularly fond of the medium, but I've found it to be helpful in directing readers to my blog and for promoting my upcoming book release. The conventional wisdom is that writers MUST use social networking to build a platform. Honestly, I'm not completely convinced that this is true, but we starving artists will do just about anything to make our careers sustainable!

Skye,

Twitter is a communication tool. It is what you do with it. Sure, it has limitations and abuses. But so does speaking, listening, writing, blogging, magazines & so on.

Many are using Twitter with great benefit, including me. It's sparked new friendships & networks. The most recent conference I attended was free because they saw my blog and twitter accounts are resources for others. What a blessing. My ride from the airport, from hotel to conference, to meals, and back to the airport was a friend I met through Twitter. He also bought me a meal. :)

I've found many great resources for life & ministry. Every single day something solid comes up: articles, websites, videos, conferences, books, etc. I found your "The Nines" talk because of Twitter. I think I even told my Twitter followers that yours was a favorite. Many who read this post will have found it because I shared it on Twitter a little while ago. As of the time of this comment 41 people have clicked my link to it.

Twitter has exploded the opportunity for and immediacy of prayer for those who need it. This includes people praying for my wife before/during/after brain surgery and us praying for others like Matt Chandler and Michael Spencer. I've recently had people praying for evangelistic opportunities I've had that wouldn't have known about it without Twitter.

Twitter's a communication tool. Use it well and you will benefit. And maybe the best encouragement is that you can use Twitter for the benefit of others. What are you reading? What website has blessed you recently? How are you dealing with depression, or frustration, or apathy? Where are you speaking next? Maybe I'll be there.

Hope you will take another look at Twitter. If you do, I'll be one of the first to follow.

As did Jason I found this via a tweet and passed it on to my readers the same way. Great points though.

Is this a psychological cry out that you really do want to tweet, but are afraid to join in the crowd?

And isn't blogging simply a longer form of twittering that you already do?

Please, tweet Skye. We want you to!

This excuse is made every decade or so when a new form of communication comes out. I don't email because I have a desk full of stamps. Who needs a phone when we have a courier and a horse. Who needs a cell phone when I can find a phone booth.

I get Ur updates, sermon releases, new books, conference schedules, and much more on twitter. It actually is all very interesting.

The world is stampeding past you.

You are just a sad person with such a sad life, I will pray for you.

Syke, I don't always agree with you, but I'm like several others who are on the same page - so to speak - with you.

Thank you for posting my most favorite passage of scripture, Psalm 139. It keeps me reminded of how loving my heavenly Father is and how much I need to watch my tongue. Knowing He already knows is quite sobering.

Yah, go ahead and say that now -- I have heard it from many others before you.. The are all on twitter now. The fact that you are are resisting is a good sign that you are about to join.

"Resistance is Futile. You will be Assimilated"

The Ashton Kutcher is the most valid reason you have here. ;-)

In all honesty, I look at Twitter like I would look at most anything else - books, blogs, magazines, websites, social networking - it has a purpose and can be used effectively and it presents dangers as well.

That you have thought through this stuff enough to be able to critique it so well is one reason, in my opinion, that you NEED to be on Twitter. The rest of us interesting, phantom, word-mutilating, Ashton Kutcher lovers (or haters) need you!

Skye, I am glad you said it. I have been ruminating for the last month about these same thoughts with facebook. Unfortunately, because of you I cannot write a commentary about it now! LOL

Much of what you said is how I am beginning to feel about facebook. Its easy to feel like you dont have friends when no one replies to your thoughtful status updates but as soon as you say 'I squirted ketchup in my crotch', you get numerous comments.

I also suffer from terminal uniqueness (I never knew there was a word for it). I just called myself a contrarian. This is how I felt with Avatar when everyone wanted me to see it. I havent seen it yet but I became skeptical when friends were offering to childsit for me and my wife to go see it. My question is, why cant they childsit for us anyway? LOL

Good word skye.

I would say twitter is beginning to remind me of a mindfart.

By the way, Twitter can make us more creatively productive.

One question: Do you not think that the Chamber of Commerce or other such organizations are useful?

Twitter simply is an extension of this. The only difference is that it is broader. I have connected with many who don't know Christ through Twitter and have developed fruitful relationships with them. It seems to methat if we are going to be contextualizing missionaries in this culture we need to find where people who are from God are and go there. Twitter is one of the easy places to do so.

I have to take issue with #5. Concise communication at its best shows much more respect for the written word than wordier forms.Some may mutilate the written word using twitter, but that's no fault of the limits.I started a twitter to practice using less to say more, or at least to share laughs. It's a good exercise.

dude, ashton kutcher is on twitter?!? i'm getting an account today. thanks for that advice...

Loved all your reasons, but was blown away at #10. Tweeting is shallow and as you pointed out words are too important.
You hit the nail on the head when you said we need a wittness to our lives.
Too many people today are not close to The Lord and find this closeness on the internet. It is a shame that this is so. It seems people are too busy on the internet to study The Scriptures or even care.
A Great article!

twitter is spiritual noise.

silence is better.

we don't need anymore information/communication in this day.

I too am resisting personally (in fact, I'd have to say I'm very uninterested in it for personal use), but have "reserved" a name for our church. It's a great way to communicate quickly with folks who are interested.

I loved your thoughts, although I would have to say there is something to "saying more with less" so long as it's not shallow noise.

Lastly, this Scripture came to mind from James 1:19-20 as I read:

"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."

I've not seen much Twaffic (coined it!) that meets this standard...of course, neither does many of our comments on Out of Ur.

Someone needs to stop the negativity and learn to be more positive about things. America is a rags to riches country that also happens to breed folks who want to tear down anything that is successful. A pity.

I agree with Skye. I believe Twitter and Facebook consume too much time. In fact, I recently deactivated my social networks. My real friends have my number and know how to call me. What ever happened to people talking on the phone or meeting for lunch? Now everything is on a computer screen...and Skye is right. We can slip into seeking validation through social networks before we know it.

Amen, Skye. :)

The way I see it, there's enough of people staring at screens these days. Let's get out there and live REAL life. Ever see Disney/Pixar's Wall-E? And no, I'm not saying that because I'm computer illiterate or anything. I'm a college graduate in her mid-twenties who's had ENOUGH of seeing people walking around outside on a beautiful day STARING AT THE ITTY-BITTY SCREEN ON THEIR CELL PHONES OR BLACKBERRIES OR WHATEVER. Let's enjoy the world God made, people! :)

Dale, your definition of "negativity" is criticizing anything that makes money? "Successful" (in God's eyes, too) means it makes money? Where is your value system coming from? I have a feeling that such things as the health care crisis and continuing economic collapse in this nation will be snapping a lot of us out of this infatuation with positivity and helping us to appreciate the fullness of truth. Jesus had no problems giving His audiences us a clear picture of the down side of sin along with His promises of the Kingdom. Yesterday's reading in my Orthodox Scripture lectionary was the account of Jesus cursing of the fig tree after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I'd say you can't get much more pointed than that in terms of negative criticism!

Well said, Skye. "I don't like the taste of my own foot." Now, that made me chuckle!

I agree with you about tweeting, but for a different reason. I worked in the corporate world for 25 years and then felt called into the ministry. I have been a pastor for 4 years now and I have to say that church attendees that work hard and long hours each day, struggling to get time with their families, having difficulty finding time to change the oil in the cars and work in a dentist or doctor appointment, many of them view pastors that tweet as having to much free time. Sorry to say that most pastors I come accross have little understanding of the life their congregation goes through. I much prefer to connecet by email, but mostly one on one with those that need guidance at their schedule.

I completely agree, and I know there are people who would love for me to be on Twitter. Like you, I have a phantom address but never go on. I just don't want to be that ... available.

Me too!

I agree with you completely. Thanks for writing my thoughts. So many are complaining about busy they are. If only people would stop and connect with God and those around them on a deeper level I believe we all would appreciate life more and be well rested!

To tweet or not to tweet...I choose to tweet. It's not about me. It's about a contribution to a community. Twitter has enabled me to learn from others and to hopefully, encourage and contribute to others who learn from the community. For the organization I work for, we have hired capable staff from tweetups, have had news outlets pick up stories from tweets that teased to our blog and we have been able to communicate a message to our followers in a medium that print or others would not have reached. It's a new medium and an efficient way to communicate. And, I'm pretty sure Jesus loves Ashton Kutcher and all of his followers as much as He does you Skye.

Great column. I don't Tweet either. It tends to be too much useless (for me, anyway) info. And at some point, I really do want to disconnect ... not that I don't love people, but I do have to have some time away. Also, your column brought to mind a hilarious YouTube video by the David Crowder Band. If you haven't seen it, do a search on YouTube for David Crowder Band Twitter ...

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

"If there has been a first man he must have been born without father or mother - which is repugnant to nature. For there could not have been a first egg to give a beginning to birds, or there should have been a first bird which gave a beginning to eggs; for a bird comes from an egg." - Aristotle

"...the problem about the egg and the hen, which of them came first, was dragged into our talk, a difficult problem which gives investigators much trouble. And Sulla my comrade said that with a small problem, as with a tool, we were rocking loose a great and heavy one, that of the creation of the world." - Plutarch

"You jest about what you suppose to be a triviality, in asking whether the hen came first from an egg or the egg from a hen, but the point should be regarded as one of importance, one worthy of discussion, and careful discussion at that." - Macrobius

This is a classic example of a paradox. How about you? What do you think?

M. Scott Peck, M.D., author of "The Road Less Traveled" wrote:

"One of the mysterious and paradoxical realities is that in addition to the pain that life brings, living can be accompanied by an unfathomed joy once we get past the pain. To understand paradox ultimately means being able to grasp two contradictory concepts in one's mind without going crazy...

"Almost all of us have the capacity to think paradoxically. The extent to which we neglect or use this capability varies greatly. It is not so much determined by our IQs as by the depth of practice we put into thinking. To become keen in paradoxical reasoning, you must, as the saying goes, use it or lose it."

Is your perennial twittering egging you on in losing your paradoxical reasoning?

Don't listen to the maddening crowd that, after this great article, are begging you to tweet. Your insightfulness is powerful, don't blow it on a tweet. HA!, I'm even funny in person sometimes too. Blessing on you...

Interesting, but there's a concern in that the same 10 principles (applied consistently) would prevent you from writing this article ;)

Foot-in-mouths, re-quoting, phantom lives, added commitment, are core to writing.

The internet is also endorsed by marketers, and is also (sadly) a place where Ashton gets more google searches than Skye.

As for having a witness, God knew every word of your article before you even booted up the computer. And "Terminal Uniqueness"?? You're a ministry person looking down on a modern communication trend. Can i suggest your uniqueness is already terminal?

If you don't want to use twitter - fine. But I hope these are not the true reasons, because then you would also have to give up writing internet articles, and (ordinarily) they are quite good - and i would miss your material.

david
(hoping God delivers a vision of technology being lowered down on a sheet)

Thanks for the clear and helpful thinking, Skye. I especially loved #10. #1 is my second favorite. Maybe I will twitter someday, but I am resistant for now and do not want to be asimilated. :)

Praise God after all these years you have diagnose me. I have TU. It may be fatal, but I'll last till Jesus comes or calls.

I use it to find out about others, not so much to share my goings-on.

Do you really put your wife before God?

Personal observations that concern me:
1. Seldom does time spent on facebook or twitter diminish.
2. There is no end to the games, clubs and causes to draw one in, compromising already limited face-time with those who need us most.
3. Social networking can become addictive. Take a week off from facebook or tweeting...how'd you do? Did you find yourself fighting the urge to connect? Did you have extra time on your hands? Was it extra time at work...at home before the kids are in bed or when it's just you and the spouse? Is that time you need to redeem in order to be the best employee, spouse, parent you can be?

These are personal observations and reasons I'm not an avid "social networker" of the electronic realm.

Love it! And I Tweet :-)

Thanks. I have an account and I don't use it because like you I have enough to keep up with and my life is even more mundane than yours.

Huh? What's a tweet? And who's this Ashton Kutcher character. And why am I posting on a blog, of all things?

Loved the article. Excellent points. It's reassuring to know that there are other people out there that feel the same way as I do. I'm not "uncool" because I don't tweet. There are some very reasonable and valid reasons not to. And besides, who is so arrogant to think that what they are doing/thinking 24/7 is so important to others?

Thank you for the clarity of mind. It is interesting to see the venom that came from some because you used the liberty to express yourself. When Satan's minions toss rude, ugly and judgmental comments one can immediately see the efficacy of your comments. CHOICE, God gives us CHOICE. When one makes effective use or exercises CHOICE with technology, and tries to choose a more godly way of dealing with the excesses of technology, the rabble gets mean. Always. Tweeting and other 21 Century nonsensical excesses ought be used with careful thought IF AT ALL. Some tweets are so boring & worse from people we'd thought so much of. At the end of the day, little has been gained for Christ. Little that we Tweet glorifies God. Be mindful of Skye's 10, they are good boundaries for careful, thoughtful and measures tweeting. Minions repent and stop the hatefulness I pray in the Name of Jesus.

See? Case in point on the 3rd read one finds errors. Please note a correction:
Be mindful of Skye's 10, they are good boundaries for careful, thoughtful, measured tweeting