A Twitter Pill to Swallow

On Twitter, I've just written my 2000th tweet.

I'm not Jewish and never had a Bar Mitzvah, so this milestone means TODAY I AM A MAN.

2000 tweets. I've really grown up.

I remember when I was a child, my grandfather would tell me about all the tweets he'd written, and it seemed inconceivable.

In Victorian England, you weren't legally allowed to be married before your 3000th tweet. The rule was put in place to keep the Empire great.

It's been over a year since I joined Twitter. At the time, I was a bit sceptical of it, and didn't understand how it worked. But I've grown to really appreciate it.

Not many of my friends use it, and I think (like I did) people wonder what it's for.

Well, the answer is: it's for whatever you want.

People think it's just lots of celebrities saying what they had for breakfast, but it's more than that. (It's sometimes that.)

It's like being part of a community. You get to choose who you follow, and so you build up a network of interesting, funny, informed people. It's a great place to find up-to-date news (particularly from outside the mainstream media), keep up on current affairs, share jokes, links to articles, collaborate on jokes, and meet new people from all over the world.

It also sometimes feels like something bigger. Watching the leaders' debate last night, thousands of people were commenting and sharing their thoughts and stupid observations, and I felt really engaged with society. It's weird that there's a common belief that technology alienates people, when I've found it to be the opposite.

In other cases, like the Trafigura scandal a while back, Twitter felt like it was actively involved in changing things. The same can be said for petitions which are circulated, the spreading of information regarding the Iranian protests, and other things that are important in the real world!

I'm sure that the influence of Twitter is overstated in some cases, but it has definitely helped me feel more engaged with what's going on in the world.

The good thing about choosing who you follow is that you can avoid the fanatical psychopaths and obnoxious idiots that are everywhere else on the internet (you might see them leaving comments on Youtube or online newspaper articles). It's a pleasant place to be. And it's largely a positive one. The mainstream media often leaves me feeling jaded or depressed, but Twitter seems like an optimistic place.

I mostly enjoy writing stupid jokes on it, of course. I get to share them with other people, and I get to read theirs.

This has probably all sounded a bit earnest. Sorry.

My point is this: give it a try!

It's easy to sign up. You don't even need to write anything yourself. But you might just enjoy it. It's good to feel like you're a part of something. Even if that part involves writing puns.


***

Hmm. I just re-read that. It wasn't very well written, had nothing new to say, and wasn't funny.

I'll leave it up, though. It's only right to leave the odd non-cynical post up every now and then. Just to prove I'm human.

If you need further proof, I'm happy to post some physical evidence of my humanity to you. I'll be giving away fingers and toes on a first-come, first-served basis. After that, postage costs may escalate.