---
title: "Twitter is like Calvinball"
date: 2009-03-16
author: "Courtney Robertson"
categories:
  - name: "Social Media"
    url: "/category/social.md"
---

# Twitter is like Calvinball

Ever notice how many people offer up their rendition of rules for Twitter?

- Follow everyone back
- Only follow selectively
- Reply to everyone
- Don’t self-promote
- Tell us when you make a new blog post
- Send a welcome messasge
- Don’t send an automatic welcome message
- Personally connect to each follower
- Follow as many people as you can

The list can go on an on. It reminds me of Calvin & Hobbes playing Calvinball. To outsiders may not quickly comprehend this game, but once you play you’re hooked.

![Calvin and Hobbes playing Calvinball](http://www.smomashup.com/images/calvinball.jpg "Calvinball")The [rules ](http://calvinball.wikidot.com/ "Calvin Ball")of Calvinball are pretty simple. You can make them up as you go, and are not required to inform other players that they even exist. All areas can be in bounds, and any gear is acceptable to use. The goal is entirely your choice, and scoring makes no sense that I can determine.

[![Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes comic strip](http://www.nomic.net/deadgames/imperial/28.2/calvin.gif "Calvin without rules") \[GIF\]](http://www.nomic.net/deadgames/imperial/28.2/calvin.gif)Two years ago when I [started ](http://myfirsttweet.com/1st/courtneyengle "My First Tweet")Twittering, there was no reply feature. Based upon our use, we created the reply. Then we created [hashtags ](http://hashtags.org "Hashtags")to track events and groups. We started to share links, and use other software to read our Tweets – even on our phones. ([Tweetdeck ](http://tweetdeck.com)& [Twittelator ](http://www.stone.com/Twittelator/ "Twittelator")are my faves) We’ve synced Twitter to [Facebook](http://apps.facebook.com/twitter "Facebook Twitter Sync") and repeated what each other has said for all to see (RT). We’ve changed the game as we go. We can now follow [public figures](http://twittter.com/BobBurg "Bob Burg"), [companies](http://twitter.com/zappos), [news agencies](http://twitter.com/Your4State "Your 4 State"), [friends](http://twitter.com/UKwealthcoach "Steve Williams"), and even [dogs](http://twitter.com/punkiedog "Punkie"). You can search for your products or brands. Each entity may have its own strategy for how to use Twitter. Your approach is uniquely your own. Are you joining the party to chat, promote, help others, network, or just lurk? Do you want to post things automatically now or on a schedule? Use Twitter how you want, and have fun changing how we use it. What would you like to see Twitter do next? Thanks to [WaywardMedic ](http://twitter.com/waywardmedic "Wayward Medic")for inspiring this post.

![calvinball](http://www.courtneyengle.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/calvinball.png "calvinball")