I was thinking tonight about how many times I see something from my RSS feeds retweeted (and retweeted, and retweeted) on twitter these days. A few months ago I would have told anyone that I’d take twitter over my RSS reader because I felt that if something was important, the people I’m following on twitter would definitely be talking about it and so I’d be ok with not seeing it in RSS.

I have started to feel differently about this.

Twitter is absolutely still a place where I get a lot of information and I do still consider it to be a huge source of personal professional development. That being said, the conversation is the important part to me – not the retweeting of information that I can get in my RSS reader. If I’m following you on twitter, it’s because I like you. I like learning about you, I like seeing those personal insights. I love knowing the little, mundane things about you. It’s a personal connection and it’s what puts the ’social’ in social media.

It seems to me (and granted, this might just be the people I’m following) that more and more people on twitter spend more time now just retweeting things from Wired or Mashable or whateverothertechblog here and not actually creating conversation or sharing anything personal. Keep in mind that if I’m following people on twitter that are working with social media, I’m likely already subscribed to blogs like Mashable, Wired, TechCrunch, etc. A few months or a year ago, I would have just set up an RSS twitter feed for someone that constantly posted links because although they didn’t use twitter to converse, I still wanted to get the information but now, I’m already *getting* the information that they’re putting out there.

I think that most of us have a lot going on in our lives and more and more to keep up with every day. If someone or something isn’t making my life easier or my job easier, then it’s really worth considering if I need that thing at all. Right now, I don’t need an echo of information or more noise in my stream so I’m rethinking connections.

(originally posted on my posterous site, which just happens to be located here)

There’s been a real trend lately of companies promising to give away some product if you retweet (read spam) your message all over twitter.  Most giveaways seem to be an iPhone, computer, or related accessory.  Now, keep in mind that rarely are these companies giving away hundreds of these prizes, so the likelihood of winning is pretty small. I can ALMOST understand taking part in these shenanigans for a really expensive item. Almost.  But honestly, when we’re talking about a giveaway that’s worth a whopping $30, is it REALLY worth spamming all your followers to win that?

Sifting and sorting through twitter to find people worth following, and worth my time is challenging enough, but when even THOSE people start spamming my twitter stream and making it even MORE difficult to see the stuff I really want to see? Well, then I get cranky and end up writing posts like this.

The thing that frustrates me most, I think, is that in these instances all I can do is try to ignore that spammy tweet (which is difficult when a bunch of the people you’re following jump on the OMG FREE STUFF bandwagon)… or… I can unfollow that person.  I’d rather not unfollow because I actually find the things they normally say interesting and worth spending some of my time reading, but I have to tell you – it’s getting close for me.

If you’re one of the people taking part in all the retweeting, then God bless you – you do what you need to do. If I snap, however, and start unfollowing because I can’t take it anymore… then I’m just doing what I need to do.