Exploring Twitter

Prior to "The Connected Journey," I had never used Twitter; in fact, I had never even seen a Twitter page or a Tweet.  Being an avid Facebook user, I assumed everything I wanted to gain from social media could be attained from a scroll through my newsfeed.  I also assumed that Twitter was mostly for celebrities and teenagers.  In truth, being someone who updates my status on Facebook about twice a week, I thought posting play-by-play updates of my rather routine daily life to be completely unnecessary and narcissistic.  However, my opinion about Twitter and what it has to offer has recently changed.

My best anecdote that demonstrates one of Twitter’s greatest perks occurred recently and involved a tragedy that, as a runner, really shook me.  Having created a Twitter account and compiled a list of other Twitter users/organizations I follow, many of which are related to running, I used Twitter to get the most recent, up-to-date information about the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15^th.  With a colleague and two of my favorite professional female athletes running, I wanted to be able to follow race updates throughout the day.  By a brief scroll through my Twitter feed, I was able to read a variety of perspectives on the unfolding events of race day and feel the buzz of the country’s most prestigious race.  NPR, Runner’s World, and Kara Goucher’s Tweets kept me connected.  The school day ended, and around three o’clock, I got in my car to head home, noticing text messages from my mom and my best friend: “Did you hear there was a bombing at the Boston marathon?” I immediately turned my car radio to NPR and opened the Twitter app on my phone.  I was surprised to realize that Twitter was providing a more up-to-date and varied picture of the tragedy that was transpiring.  When I arrived home, although I was glued to CNN for some time, I continuously refreshed my Twitter feed and found it to offer as much information as one of the country’s biggest television news networks.  This occurrence radically altered my views about the purpose and power of Twitter.

Twitter has been useful for a variety of other purposes as well: discovering a new recipe or workout, reading interesting articles or interviews, keeping up with current events, seeing what friends are doing, or even getting a good laugh. Although most of the people or organizations I followed at first were related to my personal interests, I have discovered some great educational sources to follow, such as Edutopia or National Council of Teachers of English.  The list feature is my favorite tool on Twitter so far because I don’t care for how much information appears in my Twitter feed and how much of it is Retweets that don’t interest me.  For example, the day of the Boston Marathon tragedy (and the days that followed), I only viewed my “Running” list or my “News” list to get the most pertinent information without all the needless “noise.”  Because I have a variety of interests, some that intersect and some that do not, the list feature allows me to organize the massive amounts of communication/information my Twitter feed offers without feeling overwhelmed or disinterested.  I’m not ready to create a Twitter account for the courses I teach and tweet the daily homework assignments yet, but maybe after Twitter and I have been together for a longer period of time and after we get to know each other better, I’ll consider it!