I've been preaching to anyone who would listen for years, it seems, about Twitter. I send out periodic invitations to people I know, and except for a few folks who've started using it, my pleas fall upon deaf ears. People just don't get how amazing it really is to have some way to record and archive the little things you're doing or thinking at any given moment.
By including Lori's tweets in the sidebar here at Littlebots, I've finally convinced her to start Twittering, and it's gotten me thinking. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, but I tell you that a single (not every, but some) tweet is better than 1,000 photos. We have thousands of photos of Veronica, and I'm sure we'll have as many of Warren, but a photo can't record a thought. It's nearly impossible to always capture those incredible firsts in an image, and even more so to get them on video. But with Twitter, you can record them, as they happen, and they're there for you to look through (for as long as the service exists). For instance, ten years from now, would I remember this goofy thing Veronica did tonight?
Veronica's trying to pull her shirt up in the middle of Wal-Mart so she can feed a doll like Mommy feeds the baby. (about 4 hours ago)
Or would I remember her amazing technological prowess?
Veronica just navigated from the SMS app to the home screen, to iPod, to Videos, and then started a cartoon on the iPhone. And she's two. (5:42 PM March 19, 2008)
Or would I remember her first steps towards geekdom?
Veronica wanted to sing "Robots in disguise" tonight at bedtime. My work here is done. (8:55 PM March 08, 2008)
Probably not. But now there's a record of those things that aren't quite significant enough to blog about, or to put in a baby book, or that I missed taking a picture of. And in addition to their value to me, it helps people I know get to know me and my family a little bit, even though we don't see each other as much as we'd like. And I've had many people tell me how much they enjoyed watching Warren's birth run through the Twitter.
So I'm a sentimental geek. But you can't tell me that I won't want to look back on this one, that I twittered almost a year ago, right after Veronica gets married:
Veronica (for the 1st time) yelled "Daddy!" and ran to me when I got home! (4:36 PM April 17, 2007)
AnnaMarie | April 2, 2008 6:28 PM
that post almost - ALMOST - convinced me.
but not quite.