Cliché Central

It’s the new sensation sweeping across the nation: Twitter. The sensation that most people I talk to scoff at, citing the stupidity of tweeting your boring daily activities that no one cares about. I say Twitter is the most misunderstood social networking site out there today. Everyone has a Facebook but no one will even consider getting a Twitter. And it’s not like I was originally so stoked about Twitter. At first it was just an assignment for my J1 class, so I got mine in November 2009. I tweeted once. And I never tweeted again until May 2010, when I rediscovered my old Twitter. Something just clicked at that time. I was bored one day so I actually spent some time on it and found some people I knew that use Twitter, so I followed them, namely my friend Katelyn. As soon as I followed Katelyn I saw just how much she tweeted, sometimes up to 6 times in a day! And I started to realize just how fun it is to just get little updates into someone else’s life, however creepy that sounds. With my Twitter, I never just give basic details, like what I’m eating, or where I’m at, unless it’s out of the norm. Mostly my Twitter updates will consist of (what I consider) witty advice and interesting things I’ve done. The fun really comes in when you start to get a few followers. Once you get followers in the double digits, you start to see how addictive it can really be. I know a lot of people are big celebrity followers, but I don’t really see the point in that. I follow one celebrity I like (okay…Demi Lovato) and that’s it. I guess I’m just not one of those people who love to read the tabloids and whatnot. To new Twitter people, I would suggest following TheOnion and owlcity. Those two will not follow you back, but their updates are always hilarious, especially TheOnion, because I go to their site even without Twitter, and they update frequently.

I guess one of the reasons I am fond of Twitter is because I am a journalist. Twitter can provide a broad range of journalistic updates, especially if you follow news sites like kansasdotcom (The Wichita Eagle). The Eagle gives very nice Twitter updates and I’m glad I started following them. It gives breaking news as soon as it happens! I guess also if you were involved in a breaking news story, you could Direct Message it at the Eagle and possibly be in a story about it! And there’s even a possibility of being an interview subject for a newspaper story, as I’ve seen them request people for interviews before (not my demographic, unfortunately). I would also recommend, if you’re a Wichita person, to follow nakedcity and verbICT, two high quality independent Wichita entertainment sites that I frequent. I also enjoy reading the Twitter updates from my j camp advisers, who started following me after j camp. They make me feel like I actually have some connections in the journalism world and it’s always interesting to hear what they have to say.

So I think I’m done ranting. It’s just really fun and I’m disappointed that most people won’t even give it a try! Eventually they’ll all come around though, once Twitter hits the big time!

Follow me (mattvat) on Twitter today! ;)