Valentines day

Birdsong is a beautiful sound that I have noticed loud and clear these last few mornings, despite the very wintry weather. The birds are heralding the arrival of Spring and it is a welcome and inspiring sound. They are calling out to potential and existing loved ones, and alerting others of their kind to food sources, predators, travels, nest sites and communal gatherings. Just the basic essentials of surviving life really.

I am sure that users of Twitter justify their involvement in it and the existence of it through believing that by contributing to it they are disseminating essential information, just the same as a bird in its song, but on a human level. I have always been of the cynical opinion that Twitter is of little long term or profound purpose. I guess that a very high number of tweets are banal, reactionary, egotistical and self publicising. However, that said, there are skills required to use Twitter - dedication, an opinion, making time to respond to others, stating your thoughts and feelings, 'following' others and finally, being yourself.

While drawing this, I imagined two people falling in love just by following each other on Twitter, entranced and captivated by the mundane nature of each others 'tweets'. This got me thinking. Maybe I could put my opinions of Twitter to one side and just for a Valentines Day moment, think of Twitter and other social networking tools differently. After all, we all know that surviving a relationship involves tolerating an awful lot of everyday boring stuff and not always with the soundtrack of beautiful birdsong. Just like reading Twitter. So, are the skills required to use and enjoy Twitter really just the ones that anyone in a relationship needs to survive beyond Valentines Day. Now, what about blogs…?