To anyone who knows me at all, knows that I am constantly on Twitter. I used to hate Twitter, despise it actually. I got on my Freshmen year of college because my freshmen roommate had it. It looked cool but when I got my own account, I realized that it just wasn't for me...or so I thought? I deleted my account and went on with my life. I used Facebook and Skype to contact with people from back home and left Twitter in the dust. As sophomore year started I decided to give Twitter another try. It became huge over the Summer, and lots of my friends were joining. On September 20th, 2011 I jumped back on Twitter and decided to give it another try. I became obsessed. I started following celebrities, athletes, and friends. I tweeted whatever came to my mind and it was nice that I could even learn about things around the CSBSJU community, through Twitter. My favorite part about Twitter is that everyone can use it how they want. Some people follow 0 accounts and just tweet. Others follow a handful of accounts and only have a handful of followers. Others follow like 1200 accounts so their timeline is always full of information.
For me? I follow around 600 accounts and have about 400 followers. I follow mostly celebrities, athletes in MN Sports, and friends. I also follow beat writers and other journalists of sports teams and national media. It is a blast. The other great thing about Twitter is starting to know people based on what they tweet AND meeting some people that I never would have met if it wasn't for Twitter.
Two great examples of this are as follows: The first one is Dan Long (@DanLong1298). Anyone who follows me, knows who this name because I RT (Retweet) him all the time. His tweets are majority of sports and most of them are hilarious. So how do I know Dan? The answer is that I know him best through Twitter. I have hung out with him a handful of times but the majority of our interaction and friendship comes through Twitter. We agree and disagree about various sport topics but I honestly would know nothing about him if it wasn't for Twitter and now I am going to his wedding this summer when he marries his beautiful new wife, Katelyn.
The other example stems from a unique friendship. His name is @Kotasek and chances are that if you follow me, you know this name as well. We like to make fun of Andrew and talk about sports. DK loves golf and other sports as well. He has a fascination about Nebraska football and North Carolina basketball (gross). So how do I know Kotasek? The answer is that I don't. I have never met DK in my life even though we share a passion for golf and both of us attend Canterbury Park for the races over the Summer. Mr. Kotasek is my roommates high school Golf Coach. Think about that. I know my roommates golf coach and talk to him routinely (okay daily) through Twitter. We also share a passion for teaching, which is a huge reason why he and Dan are my two favorite people to follow.
There are many other examples of people on Twitter who I talk to and interact with on Twitter and no where else but there are occasions where Twitter interactions lead to hanging out outside of the cyber world. Last year I had a beer with someone I had never met, and went golf with someone I hadn't talked to since High School.
So why am I telling you this? Who cares about my experience with Twitter?
I am writing this blog because a couple days ago, my Twitter account was suspended. Why you might ask? I honestly have no idea. I don't abuse people on there and I don't know what other reason they might have to suspend me, but regardless that is what has happened. Now you are probably all thinking the same thing; This kid is so lost without Twitter that he is out it without 2 days and he is going crazy.
You are absolutely RIGHT. When I have a thought in my head I tweet it. When I need to know something quickly, I search for it, When I need to know who is winning the game, I jump on my Timeline and there it is. Taking away Twitter is like taking away my newspaper not allowing me to know what others are thinking. For someone who uses it as much as I do (28,000 Tweets and counting), it sucks not being able to continue to use it. I can't tweet things that I have been writing down, just to get them out of my mind. Twitter is like my journal that I allow everyone to read. Here is a few examples of tweets from the past two days that I couldn't tweet but would have liked to.
1) OVERTIME! Gosh Ohio State is TERRIBLE lol
2) Oh, and Wisco lost, these MN Wins are becoming less and less meaningful every day.
3) I just drove on 94 for 15 miles without seeing another car.. #Weird
4) I don't know where I was studying in middle school but I know it wasn't caribou. Just saw 10 middle school kids in there with coffee (or maybe hot chocolate) #dedicated
5) Pinterest literally has everything, like no matter what you want, you can find it.
6) Teacher just bought me coffee again. She gives me dark roast and is slowly becoming my new favorite.
7) Crossword Puzzles are the absolute worst. Once you start you can't stop because or else you feel like an idiot.
8) New Mexico basketball is just fun to watch. Totally dominating this Utah squad.
9) Peyton wins the SuperBowl and people are going to call him the greatest of all time? Brady has 3 rings and 5 SB appearances. #GOAT
10) My Mom just started my car for me because I am her favorite :)
There are just 10 of probably 100 tweets that I would have tweeted in the past two days if Twitter would allow me back on. Until they do I guess I will have to communicate with all of you this way. If you haven't gotten a Twitter account yet, do yourself a favor and try it out. If you have any questions, ask me. It is honestly the best Social Media site and I don't even think it is close.
Thanks for letting me vent, while also telling some of my Twitter stories. I hope that you all have a wonderful Thursday!
-J-
ADDED: As of January 30th @ 3:03 I am back and not suspended anymore! You could say I am pretty happy! Let the SuperBowl tweets begin!
