Twitter tips: What happens when you forget how to do it?

This time last month, I was obsessed with my Klout, tweeting more and more often and watching the @ replies and retweets roll in. I don’t have as many followers as some people of course, but I was actively trying to engage with my followers, join in conversations, laugh and possibly wear my fingertips out touch typing.

And then, I went to Blogopolis and spent more time talking with real people than tweeting. I took notes with a pen and paper instead of twittering and I talked and engaged offline.

But hey! That’s great, you might be saying. Connecting offline is important!

Well, yes. And connecting offline was so much fun, that when it came time to go home and I sat in front of twitter, slightly depressed and more than a little tired, I didn’t know what to say.

So I clicked away and didn’t tweet. What use were mundane updates like “just ate eggs. yay me” and “can someone PLEASE stop my children screaming” when it was so much easier to talk to people instead of tweeting at them?

Once I’d been neglecting twitter for a week, it became even harder to get back into the habit of sharing snippets. Twitter is like a secret language that you have to speak every day, otherwise you forget how to do it.

I was logging on and noticing that my stream was less random snippets and updates and more back and forwards conversations. It can be daunting, if you’ve not been involved in any of the conversations for a while, to break back into them.

Before this, I had heard people complaining about twitter and the “noise”, or saying that after taking a break, they just didn’t see the point of it anymore. I didn’t understand how they could feel that way because DUDE, It’s TWITTER and twitter is AWESOME and EASY and JUST TALK ALREADY.

But once I’d taken a break too, I understood how they felt. Once you’re out of the habit, it can be hard to just dive back into sharing.

Has this happened to you?

I found some things helped me, as I slowly crept back into the shallow end of the twitter pool and sat there for a while.

Just read what people are saying.

Add to the conversation if you like, but it’s okay to just “tweavesdrop”. If people didn’t want you reading, they would go private, or move to DMs and emails. It’s fine to just watch.

Slowly tweet some stuff that makes you smile, or makes you happy.

It doesn’t have to be about how many @ replies you get, or if people are retweeting you. Maybe just aim to amuse yourself for a bit.

Tweet links to other people’s blog posts.

Everyone loves a sharer and I found tweeting links to other posts, an easy way to join back in with the community.

Remember, it’s okay to take a break and come back later.

It’s all feeling a bit much? Go away for a bit. Ignore it. The world won’t end if your klout score drops a little, or if you don’t speak to some people for a couple of days. I promise the Internet will get along just fine without you and if you’re feeling like it’s all too much, maybe a break is what you need.

How about you? Has this happened to you, with any of your social media platforms? How did you overcome it?