Admittedly, I used to think that Twitter was silly. I joined the site to take it for a test ride; to see how handled. Would it feel like I was was driving around in a clown car, looking absurd, not fitting in, adults feeling annoyed by my childish antics? Or would it feel like I was behind the wheel of an ice cream truck, with people running to greet me, handing me money, and, generally, going crazy when they heard my tweet, er, bell. Turns out, it feels like neither. Twitter is akin to driving a scooter: people may think you are a poseur (with your absurd goggles, scarf tied around your neck, and cat in the front basket), but you don't really care because tweeting around town feels great, and, much like a scooter, it can be practical. Like you could start a revolution.
Or you could use Twitter for something simpler. Take this as an example: I was headed to Chicago, and as I sat waiting for the plane to take off, I sent a little tweet to my tweeps asking for Chi-town food recommendations. By the time I landed, approximately one hour and forty minutes later, @honybee shared her love for Jerry's Sandwiches, which serendipitously was only a few blocks from my sister's apartment, a place she frequents weekly, and probably never would have thought to bring me because, mostly, it's a sandwich joint. And what a sandwich joint it was!
Jerry's offers, at a minimum, 100 sandwich choices, all with high quality ingredients. My steak and shiitake sandwich was large, and hard to handle, but, when I managed to take a bite, I could taste every ingredient from the sea salt on the ciabatta bread all the way through to the creamy aioli and earthy mushrooms. Jerry's offers a great beer list, and nothing could be more relaxing than lingering over a few Belgians while people-watching from Jerry's sidewalk terrace.
I guess this is a long way to say that you should join twitter. And, if you are in Chicago, RUN to Jerry's sandwiches.
Follow the arugula files on twitter. Oh, and leave your twitter handle in the comments.
