Tonight I reached a new plane of social media enlightenment. I have reached tweet number 2,000.
When I think back over the compilation of 2,000 thoughts characterized in 140 characters or less, a piece, I recall a lot of good times, funny videos, intriguing articles, and playful stabs at fellow tweeters. Ah, this presents a most satisfactory opportunity to tell the tale of my first tweet…
In February of 2009, I took my first trip to Washington D.C. as part of an American Law course. I had heard a slight buzz beginning to grow about this new social media insurgence called “Twitter”, but didn’t really give it a second thought. It wasn’t until I was walking the chilly streets of the nation’s capital with my mentor, Beth Morrow, that I began to give this whole tweeting thing the time of day. She had been tweeting from her blackberry, informing the world of all the shenanigans our group was getting into in Washington. I was intrigued. The idea that I could share any event of my trip to anyone who cared to peruse my thoughts (followers) really had my narcissistic gears turning.
One arctic morning as we prepared to pay a visit to George Stephanopoulos in the famed Newseum, I discovered Beth was getting updates from George himself to gauge his thoughts on his upcoming shoot. She was becoming more informed through the use of social media. At this point I began to see this new forum as not only entertaining, but useful.
After returning home, I hopped onto my macbook and @MrJakeMorgan was born. Since then I’ve really seen some beauty and creativity through the concise thoughts of my peers. I’ve also learned to follow my favorite news sources and sports teams to stay up to date on the matters that I find interesting. I’ve even launched several other Twitter accounts, one for a community organizing campaign with 2nd Harvest Food Bank, and another that I like to call the AMP Initiative (Aquatic Mammal Preservation) which I use to post interesting stories I find about aquatic life and people taking a stand to preserve wildlife. The possibilities are really only limited by the bounds of your creativity.
You may still be one of the skeptics who’s been holding out all this time, claiming that you’re better off without it, and perhaps you’re right. Just know that you’re missing out on a chance to stay up to date with the world we live in while giving your 140 characters (or less) on the matter.
Oh, and did I mention all unprivatized tweets are being stored in a database within the United State Library of Congress? My voice is being recorded so that in 100 years, society can look back and see what I was saying and what the world was talking about. With this 2,000th tweet, I’m making my mark on history. How about you?
