I Tweet Because I Am

You may know that I not only blog, but use the social networking site Twitter. If you follow me already, that's great! If you don't, check me out sometime as @BarefootMichael.

This morning a fellow barefooter contacted me through a private message to inform me that I post so much that they cannot sort through it all. As a result, this person that I consider a barefoot "friend" unfollowed me, choosing not to get my posts as part of their feed. This was upsetting to me at first, hurting me personally. I was shocked that someone who also enjoys going unshod wouldn't support someone who shares the same thinking, no matter how much they have to say.

I polled my Twitter friends: Do I "tweet" too much? The responses were very supportive overall. Most said it's not a problem, and I even got one response that I need to tweet more -- however I'm not sure that one was totally serious.

A couple of followers did share that I tweet too much, one saying that I "push the limits of excessive tweets." Another shared that they'd have unfollowed me too, if I wasn't so "interesting." Very good feedback.

One message got me thinking, which sparked this blog post. They suggested that "the issue with your tweets might be related more with topics than frequency." That clarified things for me.

I may be "Barefoot" Michael on Twitter, but going barefoot is only how I keep my feet. As my bio on Twitter states:

"I'm a dad, husband, Christian, runner, Mac user and media pro who goes barefoot
whenever possible because I was born that way."

So I will not only tweet about barefoot topics, though that's certainly something that I like to talk about. I am also a dad, so I'm going to share things about my kids. I am a husband to a beautiful woman who also follows me on Twitter, so there's times that I post things that I know she'll find interesting. I am a Christian, so I will occasionally share about my faith. I am a runner, so I'm going to share about the challenges and accomplishments of those experiences. I am also a Mac user and media pro, so sometimes I'm going to share about techy things I find interesting or are related to my job. Finally, my location shows that I live in the Kansas City metro area, so there are times that I'm going to talk about local goings-on.

I don't have the time or interest to post to multiple Twitter accounts about each thing that I am. Doing so would always leave out a part of me, and that's not who I am. That said, I have things to say about a lot of topics, so I may post more than other people do. I apologize if that seems excessive.

I follow more than 350 users on Twitter and find myself ignoring a lot of what many of them tweet. In the end, however, I am also interested in a lot of what they ALL have to say. Likewise, I appreciate the more than 500 followers who keep up with my tweets.

If part of me is no interest to you, I hope that you'll find enough that is. Follow me if you'd like, but you're always going to see the big picture of who I am.