Twitter Empathy

There’s an awful lot of talk going on about followers, following, and auto-following these days on the Twitter, that I wanted to share what I’ve been doing for kicks and giggles when I have a spare minute…

I call it: Twitter Empathy.

Twitter Empathy means A. following people who follow you back, and B. empathizing with tweets that are screaming for empathy.  What does such a tweet look like, you ask? The tweets I look for, when I’m playing this game, usually have something to do with either a personal triumph or a personal challenge.  Examples of each:

Personal Triumph

“Just rocked a presentation to a new client and got their business. Score!”

or

“Eating lunch in the park with my son on a beautiful afternoon.”

Personal Challenge

“In bed and can’t seem to get over this cold. Boo!”

or

“Lost my cellphone last night at a bar.”

Take Action

They’re both pretty easy to identify when you know what you’re looking for…  The question I have for you is, what do you do when you come across these types of tweets.  Do you let off a pretentious sigh because that individual cluttered up your stream? Or do you engage by offering either encouragement or understanding?

I try to do the latter when I have the chance and here’s why: It’s a great icebreaker, which lends itself to striking up a conversation with someone I may not know. I also happen to think that the world would be more of an awesome place if we all had our own personal empathy sections. Kind of like when Jim Carrey’s character, Chip Douglas, in The Cable Guy talks about real life sucking because there’s no background music…

How much cooler would your life be if you knew that five people, who you may or may not have ever met before, had you back on twitter? Would it make you engage with the tool more? Would it make you reach out to new people more?  Would it help connect everyone to everyone?

Your Turn

Does Twitter Empathy have a place in your personal stream? Are you willing to give and receive it and meet new people as a byproduct of this life decision? Please let me know in the comments below.