the 20,000th tweet

getting to my 20,000th tweet is no large feat, by any means. no reward, no parade, no commendation from the mayor. just another number. but its worth noting how much has changed since i sent my first tweet back in 2007.

since then, we’ve seen the rise of the iPhone into prominence. we’ve moved cities, changed jobs. bought a house. started a business. had a baby. traveled to Boston, London, and Seattle. got a dog. elected the first black President. made new friends. lost a few along the way.

when i first began tweeting, it was like pulling teeth to get friends to hop on board. no one really saw it as a viable means of communication between people and space. now, my closest friends and family are tweeting on a daily basis, back & forth, posting pictures & videos of both the inane and significant. we all talk about the weather, sports, politics, music, lolcats… things we’d still talk about if we were all gathered together. “tweeting” has found its way into the lexicon of daily speech, inserted itself into the nightly news, raised millions for amazing and heartbreaking causes, shed awareness and light onto worldwide atrocities.

we know the Fail Whale, the trending topics, the fake celebs (incredibly hilarious), the real celebs (typically boring), and everything in between.

Twitter, for all the slagging and tags of uselessness and asinine, has revolutionized how we interact with one another. if ever i’ve encountered someone who refuses to pay attention, who doesn’t see the point, its likely because they refuse to move with the times and haven’t tried it out. once you’re in, you’re hooked. you can scream at the vastness and converse between friends. its better than Facebook and quicker than blogging. yes, its a dumb name, and it carries a weight of self-avowed embarrassment when “tweeting” is mentioned in public, but it is what it is, and its not going anywhere, anytime soon.

i like Twitter. and i’m glad that many of you reading this right now are my Twitter friends. onward!