Twitter Is The New Black
by Alisha May

   Ever wondered what your favorite celebrity, organization, friend, family member, magazine company, television station, or enemy were doing?  Well, if they have a Twitter you’re in luck! Twitter.com is the hottest thing out right now! I have one and I really enjoy it – so much that I downloaded the mobile application to my phone. Although I decided to manage my posting via mobile phone, Twitter is traditionally managed using a computer.

   I discovered the website from a friend of mine. One day, we were riding together and he told me about a “tweet” of Diddy’s that he had read.  I was like, “What the heck is twitter?” His response was simply a laugh followed by, “You have to see for yourself.”

   That night, when I was able to get to my computer, I went to the website. I thought to myself, “Wow this looks very boring!”  It was a very simple website.  Nothing about the homepage was eye catching in the least.  All things considered, I figured that an account can easily be deleted. With that in mind ,I went for it and clicked on the “Create Account” link.  A few standard fields later, I was on my way!

   Once registered, Twitter gave me a few people to follow. I obliged, and quickly made my way to the search feature to find Diddy.  I still remember his page like it was yesterday.  Diddy’s page loaded – he had a background picture of Muhammad Ali.  His default picture was his high school senior photo.  Funny thing was, he was following about 200 people… but more than 1 MILLION people were following him! I clicked the “Follow” button and took the plunge as follower #1,000,001.

   After that experience, it was easy to get the hang of Twitter.  I felt like one of the “A-Lister’s” myself.  I was in the company of Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, Lauren London, Shaq, Ryan Seacrest, and John Legend for God’s sake!  Even corporations had Twitter pages set up. The big network, CNN has one; the local news station here has one as well.

   Twitter has even crossed into live television.  BET’s popular video countdown show, 106 & Park asks their viewers a “Twitter question of the day.” Twitter users can answer the questions via 106 & Park’s Twitter page and randomly have their answers read out loud on national TV by the hosts. Anyone & everyone in the world are able “twitt.”  I’m not just into following celebs… I also follow people I know in real life.

   One thing that I love about Twitter is that you can only use 140 characters per “tweet.” That makes the blurbs to-the-point and easy to read. This is an important quality for people who access Twitter from their small mobile phone screens.  I also like the fact that you can easily “re-tweet” or re-post “tweets” that you like. This makes it easy for me to share them with the people who are following me.

   Posting random thoughts and events have become a norm for me.  I am constantly “twitting” things like “stuck in traffic on I-95” or “sitting in the movie theater about to watch Transformers 2, hope it’s a good one”.

   Twitter has engrained itself into pop culture… and looks like it is here to stay for now.  This is evident by the exposure it is receiving.  I have seen a few people on TV with their Twitter username printed on their shirt, encouraging people to “follow” them. Users also use Twitter to promote upcoming events.

   Other features of the site include trending topics, a twic-tionary, and verified celebrity accounts. The extremely popular “Follow Friday” encourages you to recommend other users for your friends to follow.   Twitter is like coral toe nail polish in the summer – a must have! Log on to the site now & check it out.  What’s the worst that can happen?

~Alisha May
alisha@bedynamik.com

Related Articles

• MS. SHAN RANTS: Where’d The Good Men Go?