What Twitter Means to Me
When I was in high school in a small town in upstate New York, I didn’t really have anyone around to help develop or even share my interest in technology with. Twitter was my connection to the world I wanted to live in. Although I’d been a member of several forums in the past, I liked Twitter more than any forum because there was no pretense of being limited to any particular topic. In 2008, Twitter was accessible on my iPod touch in a way that other communities weren’t. From that iPod, I followed people who talked about Mac software, making web pages, podcasting, and politics, and that stream of information helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my future.
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What started as a way for me to fill a void in the types of people I knew in “real life” changed as I left that small town. Today, Twitter is how I get my news.
Previously: Anil Dash’s Advice for Twitter.
Update (2017-03-20): See also: Stephen Hackett.
1 Comment RSS · Twitter
As someone who works alone, I always tell people Twitter is my "Water cooler". It's where I say and hear the kinds of things you would talk about at the water cooler with your colleagues. Where I rant about the injustices of the world or commiserate with others doing the same, or ask for advice on whatever random topic is at the top of my mind at the time (and generally get about as good advice as you'd expect from such a venue ;-). For me, I find it very effective at staving off the loneliness that otherwise would be a bigger issue when working alone.
