Twitter: why I care what you had for lunch

Twitter has a reputation… one for being a place that people talk about the details of their lives… to excess.

“Why would I care what anyone had for lunch? I don’t have time for that!?”

My argument is “I totally care” and here’s why:

Local

The Internet is huge but the majority of the people I tweet with are in the same city, or at least province as me. If they have lunch at a great restaurant and they tweet it, I now know about that great restaurant. It’s nice to know.

Health

There are an enormous amount of us, at all times, Internet or not, who are trying to be healthier. Tweet out a healthy lunch, share your ideas, trade recipe ideas. So many of us are always struggling without our meal plans, it’s useful to know.

Community

Sharing details of your life make you seem like a real person. You may talk about social media, photography, law or anything else most of the time, but telling me that you never expected to love pickled eggplants on your pastrami sandwich just made you a real person to me. Being a real person makes you someone I won’t feel intimidated responding to. Being comfortable responding to you makes you more likely to become part of my online community. Online community is gold.

Don’t think I’m advocating incessant tweeting about every last detail of your life, but next time someone says “Nobody cares what I had for lunch” or “nothing I would have to say would be of value” maybe this will make you realize that just isn’t true!

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