The backstory:  an aspiring politico buddy wanted to know why she should be on Twitter. She is, she says, already on Facebook, texts via her blackberry and has two email accounts. What does Twitter give me, she wants to know, that those things do not?

So, I asked.    And I started thinking: Why do I think it’s so important for my pal to tweet?  Is it just because I like Twitter and I want her to like it too?  Is it because I like anything new and shiny?  Am I seduced by the stories of social change via twitter?

@maryvale‘s answer pushed my own thinking farther.  She said, “Twitter’s openness distinguishes it from the others you mentioned. She can connect with thousands at a time, and it’s easy to engage.”

Twitter is more open.  Sure, as my pal pointed out, it’s self-referential and insular. Really, what social network isn’t?  But email, Facebook, and text messaging all depend on people knowing each other.  They create, to borrow from Clay Shirky, bonding capital.  They are tools to help you get to know the same people at a deeper level.  Twitter helps you create bonding capital, sure.  But even more it is about bridging capital. It is a way to get to know other people — people you didn’t go to college with, don’t work with.  People who don’t share the same taste in music or have kids in the same play group.  And that, combined with the easy casual connections, are big part of what is attractive to me.  That is, in fact, why I love Twitter.

Of course, that very thing, the press of people and tweets, that makes my friend, and others, so skeptical.  Okay, she tells me. I’ll try it. As an experiment.  But I can ignore people right?  I don’t want the yadda, yadda, yadda.

Now here’s the big thing about Twitter: You don’t actually have to pay attention.  At least, you don’t have to pay the attention to everyone, not all the time.  As Dave Winer writes, “Park yourself on the riverbank and watch the news flow by. If you miss something, not to worry, if it’s important some new story will refer to it.”

I think it more like wading into a river. You get in. You stretch your arms out.  You know a lot about the river. You know how fast the water is moving. What temperature it is.  You know all of that, even though you don’t feel every molecule.  You know it just because you are in the river and you are letting it flow by.

But, probably, that isn’t practical enough.  More practically, a politician can subscribe to some others doing work in the same area.  Politicians like @gavinnewsom, @barbaraboxer, @askgeorge, and @schwarzenegger. Find more in Politicians who get Twitter…and some who don’t.

So, sign up for those people.  And then spend some time on the Twitter home page using the search box.  Put in things related to interests — political or not and save them.  Come back and check on them. But don’t worry about reading it all. It’s a river.

And then engage.  A bit at a time.  This will provide the basics to get your started.

To the skeptic part?  Don’t expect it to be all meaningful and directed.  Spammers will friend you. Block them. Ignore them. Whatever you want to do.  Don’t think that you will get thousands of followers in a few days.  And don’t think that it is going to make a change today. But know that it is a good way to meet new people, participate in a variety of conversations, and bring those new people into your network.

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