Twitter, the micro-blogging platform is all the rage, and with Capital Hill getting in on the act, it was time for me to take the plunge.
I’ve been prepping for my foray into this relative unknown for months. Among the 100+ blogs that I subscribe to, I “starred” relevant Twitter articles in Google Reader for later perusal, a great number of excellent articles coming from Small Business Trends, including the latest recommended read, TweetChats – The Cool New Way to Network and Learn on Twitter.
Wallowing in information overload, I caught a glimpse of a still unread article in my Reader from the Law Librarian Blog simply titled, To Twitter or Not to Twitter which linked to The Pros and Cons of Twitter, a 38 minute podcast featuring Kevin O’Keefe, Robert Ambrogi, Scott H. Greenfield, and J. Craig Williams, pioneers in online legal social and communication tools.
Home Run!
I grabbed a pair of earphones laid back on the couch and absorbed a provocative, instructive discussion of Twitter and a glimpse into the personalities and passions of these luminaries in the industry.
I quickly created a Twitter account replete with picture, one-line bio, using 159 of my allotted 160 characters, location, URL, etc. and composed and sent my first tweet. I even created a Twitter application for CLE Post by clicking on the (You can also add Twitter to your site here) link under the setting tab and placed a gorgeous looking Twitter application in my sidebar.
I then went back and deleted a couple of old Twitter accounts which I had created months ago and immediately neglected.
Next, I have to “follow” a few folks. Think I’ll start with the podcast guys.
Oops, I mistakenly deleted the account I just created. Luckily, Twitter has a restore feature. Not so fast — I get the following message:
You can’t delete or restore your account
We’ve just disabled account deletion and account restoration. This is temporary; account deletion and restoration will resume once we’ve fixed some things.
I hopped on to the Twitter support page and although noted as a “known issue”, the restore feature is also noted as “fixed”. Well, it ain’t. 
After hours of googling this issue, pouring over forums and firing off a few emails to Twitter Support, I decided to cancel my restore request (takes an unbelievable 4-6 weeks!) and instead, request that my account be permanently deleted so that I can create a new account with the same username.
Two days later, and still no word. I’m eager to start tweeting!
Stay tuned.
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sweet post – I went through same thing in January and they took forever to get back to me so I just gave up & joined with a different username. Glad you’re calling them out.
Nice site, by the way. Eric S
Eric, thanks for your comments and compliment. Sorry to hear that you gave up on your initial username but do understand your frustration.
In just a few days, I’ve gained a great appreciation for Twitter. Joining this community and using the product is quite intuitive and smooth, except , that is, for the time it takes to receive support or acknowledgment of the issue, even for critical issues like the accidental deletion of an account!
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