Decade Blogs - Nike Olatunji-Akioye - Twittersphere

Decade Blogs

As I was trying to drum up support for my #YourBlogOnMyBlog Series commemorating my Decade of Blogging in the early days when I was waiting for blogs to arrive for posting Nike contacted me and asked if I would be willing to have her write for my blog.

Blog - To Celebrate My Decade of Blogging

I was pleased that she offered to write and going through the list of amazing people who contributed to the #YourBlogOnMyBlog Series, I had seven such submissions, going by what we have now, that is a week of blogs.

Whilst she might suggest she is not a writer, our veterinary doctor and I mean doctor with philosophy is quite accomplished, and there are too many examples of the fact that she is much more than she suggests she is, self-effacing humility is something she possesses.

Nike Olatunji-Akioye blogs at http://randomthoughts-n.blogspot.com/ and uses the Twitter handle @imagervet

She writes about that vibrant other world of Twitter where empires and power plays reign, where the good, the bad and the ugly of our humanity interacts in the marketplace of agreement, disagreement, humour, seriousness and the essential abuse. We have a roll call of Twitter handles I would think any reader of this blog would find as good suggestions as any to follow.

Twittersphere

I joined Twitter in 2010 and did not really begin to use it seriously till 2011. I was in a serious relationship with Facebook is the reason why. Well, I was, till my wall became a hunting ground for some jobless people (read men) who made it their life’s work to update the significant other (who wanted no part of social media) on every word and nuance of my status updates and I suspect, the hidden meanings of every other word, like they knew what my intent was. Long story short, I packed up my dodgy English and moved on, while singing, ‘to the left, to the left….’ a la Beyonce.

So, I arrived Twitter and was determined to do a better job than I had done with Facebook and so spent quite a bit learning and ‘ghost-mode-ing’, all to the end that I would provide less fodder for the jobless ones who contract-stalk me for relevance to Le hubby.

I found that the same issues as with any (public) gathering of people exists on Twitter as with all human gatherings. Leaders emerged, whether naturally or the thrust of greatness (and sometimes something else) upon such people (or shall we say, in light of recent happenings) handles. Some appropriated leadership by notoriety and as with all human associations, cliques and groups formed and sociology determined the rest.

It has been amusing, to say the least, to watch the whole of Twittersphere evolve (or should that be devolve?). Though some imagine their reasons for being on there are different than most others, I am happy to tell you, you differ not at all. Most all of those who use Twitter are exhibitionist, opinionated, educated, drama queens (gender be damned!). We like others to hear us, and we need an outlet for the words that we are unsure how those who are around us will handle them, and so we find the set stage of Twitter the perfect backdrop for our ... whatever.

A big reason Twitter appealed to me was the ease with which links were tweeted and the access I got to blogs that I do not even follow. I have read some offerings from such a huge range of writers that it is even difficult to follow any blogs nowadays. I find it far easier to just click on those links that I wish to read. My morning ritual includes opening up the links to articles from blogs that look appealing for me to read when I have a minute during my day.

I remember reading the series from @toyinfab every Wednesday morning before she got married and marital bliss took her off. I remember finding some of the articles from @Anabagail's 38 series interesting also. I remember an epic article on education reforms by @ikhide whom I think should move to Nigeria to help whip the tertiary education into shape.

It’s been very gratifying to have me inspire @JustJoxy to write cos I think she is good at it when she is not busy cooking up a storm. I have learnt more than I care for about mobiles from reading @Mister_Mobility who really is great at what he does. @famuyideolawale is someone who writes from the heart, and I think is a great reader and encourager also, many links, he pointed me to.

Some of the biggest issues in Twittersphere are what status a person has and while I am unaware of the Council that determines these things, I have found it very amusing to see tweeps appropriate status to themselves that is slightly different from what really is true. Some think people follow them for varied reasons and even begin to guess at the reasons during some of their really (my guess) difficult days. If anyone on Twitter is anything like me, reasons for following could range from amusement all the way through derision and sometimes, (like in my case) too many boring meetings to get through *dodges shoe*

Interactions between tweeps sometimes read nice and are great fodder for an imaginative junkie like myself. Sadly, they are sometimes less than savoury and being objective may be difficult when all of the information is not available to one. For me, being slightly younger in my mind than people my age (not on the level of Ikhide who is always 32 or thereabout), I find that speaking right may sometimes cause a re-think and an adjustment but when such an opportunity presents itself and is allowed to slip away, it saddens me greatly.

Some of my favorite tweeps include but are not limited to @Nusaybah09, @sagaysagay, @KwamiAdadevoh and his twit-wife, @dupekilla who sometimes provide almost ‘Fuji House of Commotion’-esque amusement with their very naughty ‘children’. @aeolofintuade, @ShecrownLita, @Rockabam and @PearlOsibu provide deep reason for joy at being female.

There’s that old man @akinsoke who together with @forakin and @thewordsmythe scare the bejesus out of my English-challenged mind. [Note from Akin: Don’t know what she is talking about, surely we are not sesquipedalians.] I always have Google open when chatting with them; a dependable friend and help out of every comprehension bottle-neck.

Those who read me, know, I started blogging only a little over a year ago and that I am ‘artistic’ (LWKMD!) enough that I can sometimes go several days (read weeks) without writing anything. So imagine my consternation at learning that @forakin has been doing this for ten years. TEN YEARS?!!! And then, imagine how excited I was to have him ask me to do a post?

I just felt very honoured and very ‘artistic’ (I am actually feeling like a writer right now!). I had read of his health challenges and felt such kinship with him not because I had had the same health issues but because human health issues scare me. I am grateful he’s bested that monster and here’s to multiples more of ‘ten years of blogging’ and do forgive any conjugatory or less than stellar English in this and any other interactions we have, as you probably well know, ayam (I am) not English, nor can write it but I sure do enjoy reading when you write it!