‘You are such a Twitter junkie!’ A friend stated somewhat emphatically.

‘Who? Me?’ I asked looking back inadvertently, thinking that someone else was addressed.

‘Yes! You with your 4,500 tweets!’ Smiles poured and I blushed. I always blush when my obsessions are being noticed.

That is true, I am a Twitter addict. My day begins by logging into Twitter. I go through all the tweets and lists. For me it is like a cluster of news channels. All the important news and links to articles appear on my timeline that helps me pick and choose the item that I like to read. It saves time when I am in a hurry. I post my own tweets when I have something worth sharing. And that is my daily ritual. Now, the question is that what keeps me hooked to Twitter. Initially, like many other people I too couldn’t digest the idea of an SMS-based social network where one was bound to share messages in 140 or less characters. I would mock that why I was supposed to share as to what I was doing?  At that time Twitter used to ask ‘What are you doing?’ – A question I find quite intrusive – as compared to the current and more acceptable one ‘What’s Happening?’ I shunned Twitter within a week of joining due to gruesome boredom that existed there.

I came back to it a few months later when I realized that almost every newspaper, magazine and TV channel besides some prominent brands and names had Twitter accounts. So was I missing something? As I said earlier, Twitter is basically a very simple message based forum. But the user can make it useful and alive keeping his/her interests in view. So if you are a news junkie, want to publicize your creative work or a product, simply enjoy reading statements of notable authors, news anchors and celebrities or like to share your views then Twitter is the place for you.

Although sophisticated sites like Facebook and My Space changed the meaning of networking but in my view Twitter has an edge over them for a couple of reasons. First, I call Twitter a non-personal tool of sharing messages. One can share messages of general nature with the whole world without fear of compromising privacy. Second, the best thing about Twitter is that it doesn’t get on one’s nerves. You might have 100 followers but if you aren’t following them then your timeline wouldn’t be cluttered with unwanted tweets. So this means that you have full control as to what should appear in your homepage’s timeline. One can also skip replying to any tweet if it isn’t worth answering.

Unlike other social networking sites one doesn’t need to have ‘friends’ on Twitter. The followers can better be termed as readers who subscribe to one’s tweets only if they are interesting or informative. One of the reasons of its popularity is the availability of several Twitter applications. That allows users to update or check it on the move form one’s handset. Did I mention that I sign into Twitter mostly from my cell phone?

Through Twitter any news can spread in no time due to ‘retweet’ and the hash tag (#) features. It’s good in a way but on the flip side users often trigger false rumors. Like a few months back the rumor about American poet, Maya Angelou’s death originated from Twitter. Similarly, recently someone spread the false news about Johnny Depp’s death. It’s wise to confirm the news from two or three different sources before forwarding or ‘retweeting’ it.

Twitter is home to numerous Indian and Western celebrities. In the Indian movie industry Twitter seems to be the craze of season as in the last two months several popular actors like Shahrukh Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukon, Priety Zinta, Abhishek Bachchan and Shahid Kapoor joined the Twitter bandwagon. Twitter serves not only as their publicity tool but also provides them a direct contact with their fans and viewers and an instant access to public feedback. Besides, these actors can counter the rumors relating to them that the Indian tabloids frequently publish.

I am following almost forty Indian celebs. Do I need to get a life? Maybe not, because these actors don’t just blabber though I have to confess that most rubbish tweets are by Shahid Kapoor (shahidkapoor). His eloquence evaporates on Twitter due to a heavy use of internet (slang) language. The most entertaining tweets are by Preity Zinta (realpreityzinta). She is a truly vivacious person. Pooja Bhatt’s tweets are thought provoking (PoojaB1972). Shahrukh Khan (iamsrk) tweets like a morning bird and his tweets have the congeniality factor. Abhishek Bachchan (juniorbachchan) is spontaneous while the classiest tweets are by Rahul Khanna (R_Khanna).

Fatima Bhutto (fbhutto) is also on Twitter. Is she the ‘real’ one? Perhaps yes! But I am still in denial about her account being ‘real’ given her politically incorrect and eccentric tweets. Such as this one on the ban of minarets in Switzerland, ‘I feel so much safer now that minarets are banned in Switzerland. Architecture can be so terrorist-y. So dangerous, so Muslim.’ ‘Though if I was Swiss, I’d have totally banned algebra first.’

Twitter gathered the popularity momentum in 2009 and that mania will rule the lives of celebrities and common people alike for a long time. It would not be surprising if terms like ‘twitterverse’, ‘retweet’ and ‘tweeps’ etc. make their way to the English lexicon just as ‘unfriend’, a reference to an act of deleting someone from the list of friends on Facebook, was named the New Oxford American Dictionary’s ‘Word of the Year’.

Before I wrap up I have to make one last confession. The excessive use of Twitter is taking away my ability of explaining things as I had tweeted not long ago, ‘I can’t explain because I’m used to talking in 140 characters only’, but no worries ‘twitterature’, that is humorous reworking of the classic literature in twenty tweets or less, is getting famous. So this means I would still be able to tell stories. It should bring smile, yes, Twitter means sharing your witty, sarcastic, deep and instinctive quotes that are known as ‘twotes’ in the jargon of new media.

Author:Ayesha Umar