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Q1 Real name / Twitter user name
Matt Lewis
Q2 Location
Alexandria, VA
Q3Website
I blog at AOL’s Political Machine and at Townhall.com. I also have a personal site, which is MattLewis.org.
Q4 Bio
Matt Lewis is a conservative writer and commentator based in Alexandria, VA. Matt is a frequent guest on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN, as well as various radio shows, including NPRs Talk of the Nation, The Hugh Hewitt Show, and The Mike Gallagher Show. He has been quoted by major publications such as, The Washington Post and The New York Times. He has also authored articles for publications such as, Townhall.com, Politico and Human Events Online.
Q5 When did you start using Twitter and how were you introduced to it?
I’ve been familiar with Twitter for years now, but have only recently begun using it. During the RNC convention this summer, I had conversations with New Media gurus such as Jon Henke, Bill Beutler, and Soren Dayton. Until that time, I had reservations as to whether or not this would be worth my time. They essentially talked me into it.
Q6 What are the main reasons you use Twitter (e.g. business, marketing, fun, community etc)?
Though I occasionally indulge in a Washington Redskins tweet, I try to focus on discussing politics. I’ve tried hard to avoid truly inane personal tweets, such as: “Just finished laundry. Good night Twitterworld!”
Q7 What aspects of Twitter do you love?…
It is not widely understood that networking is easier on Twitter than on other social networks. It is easy to casually engage people. For those who fear rejection, “friending” someone is a serious formal act, but “following” someone is less risky. And once you’re following someone, starting a conversation with them is as easy as reading their tweets and then responding with an @ symbol…
Q8 …and dislike (if any)?
I find the inane personal tweets annoying, but that’s my hang-up. After all, if I don’t like it, I can always stop following someone… Now that this thing has caught on, I also find it annoying when someone sort of famous finally gets on Twitter, and has thousands of followers over night. Again, probably my hang-up…
Q9 If you could make changes to Twitter what would they be?
Probably more apps on the homepage. There are a lot of things you can do with Twitter that the average user is unaware of.
Q10 What Twitter apps do you use to Tweet from? (e.g. main Twitter site/ Twitterriffic / Tweetdeck etc)
This probably sounds lame, but mainly the main site…for now.
Q11 What are your criteria for following someone?
I actually like to follow a lot of people. As a political blogger, this helps me get a feel for what is hot at any given moment. Typically, I try to follow as many conservatives as I can. I am more selective regarding which liberals I follow.
Q12 What type of behaviour would make you unfollow someone?
Not following back is a big one (though I am probably guilty of this, sometimes) as well. Otherwise, it would have to be inappropriate stuff, such as racial slurs, too many curse words, etc. Luckily, I have not encountered much of this.
Q13 What tips do you have for newbies?
Before following others, I recommend posting 5-10 tweets. I’d also recommend being careful to not enter their Twitter password into other sites…
I tend to find people that I know or admire, and look at who they are following — and who is following them. Luckily for me, there were already quite a few political bloggers on Twitter before I jumped in. They sort of did the hard work first.
Q15 Qwitter – do you use it? If someone unfollows you do you reciprocate?
I do not currently. For one thing, I don’t want to obsess too much about the number of followers I have. Secondly, though I do sometimes use Twitter as a focus group, I also don’t want to get into a situation where I am editing myself based on what is popular on Twitter. In other words, I wouldn’t want to know that my post on, say, Barack Obama, caused 20 people to unfollow me — because my natural instinct would be to avoid tweeting about Obama. This, of course, is a common problem that bloggers face. For this reason, some bloggers eschew reading comments…
Q16 If you agree that Twitter should be monetized do you have any suggestions how?
N/A
Q17 Who do you enjoy following the most?
Hmm. That’s a hard one. I think that people in an industry probably enjoy following people in another industry. For example, during football season, there are a couple of good Washington Redskin feeds to follow. In regards to people who do politics, there are so many good folks out there right now. I really do think Saul Anuzis (who is running for RNC chair) is interesting. There’s also a liberal-leaning Virginia blogger called Not Larry Sabato who is quite good.
Q18 How do you see the future of Twitter?
I’ll leave it to people smarter than me to discuss the long-run impact. In the short-term, I think it is obvious that this thing will keep growing and growing. If someone is on the fence about getting involved, I suggest they get on Twitter TODAY. Twitter is today what blogging was in ‘02 or ’03.
If you’d like to feature on Tweetabix or know someone you think would be interested in participating please contact Richard McKay on Twitter or email him at ballymascanlon@gmail.com
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Nice interview. Great answer on Q#7, Matt, but I’m fascinated by your answer to Q#15. Do bloggers really eschew reading comments on blogs because some readers dislike the topic? Do you do that?
I have always assumed that every blogger who skips the comment section do so because of the flamewars and trolls and mischaracterizations that so frequently come up. That’s one aspect of blogs I am really glad Twitter avoids.
(Maybe that’s what you are talking about, but the way you worded it sounds so benign, when it is so often very hostile.)