Twitter and I

I noticed that less than 1% of my friends have a Twitter account. In April 2010, it was estimated that there were already about 930,000 Twitter users in Singapore, which is like 20% of the population. So, what the hell guys?



If you've not heard of Twitter, it is an online service which you can post short messages (tweets) and anyone can read them. On the flip side, you can read the tweets that anyone posts, and this is the most useful feature of Twitter.

I know you are probably thinking that you don't want a barrage of tweets banging down your broadband internet. This is why Twitter has the concept of "following". When you login to your Twitter account, what you see are only the tweets of users whom you are following. Conversely, your tweets will appear to users who are following you.

Indeed, anyone can still read your tweets when they access your Twitter page. Are you that concerned about privacy? Then don't post any tweets! But if you choose to eschew Twitter as a whole, then you are missing out on a whole Twitterverse of culture, current events, education, jokes, knowledge, lifehacks, technology, and updates. The best part is, by choosing whom to follow you can choose what kind of information you receive. The bestest bestest part is, sources of such information are more than the mainstream and official sources; you can get different perspectives by following different people involved in the same things. And even though each tweet can only be 140 characters long (circumventable by certain add-ons), most of them include links with their tweets to the full-length versions of the information.

I use Twitter mostly for keeping up to date with the latest goings-on around the world, though sometimes I use it to vent my frustrations, happiness, thoughts, and musings. This could explain the reduced frequency of postings on this blog, but I think the major excuse is that I've been really busy.

Included in the list of Tweeters I follow are: Wikileaks, SaveBradley, sgelection, Mr Brown, CNN, engadget, Peter Serafinowicz, Stephen Fry, Piers Morgan, Dalai Lama, Danny Simpson... I am currently following 137 users but I'm adding more at an exponential rate.

If you noticed, the Twitter accounts I mentioned are quite varied in terms of what the user is known for. These are pretty active tweeters in that they often post updates.

• Wikileaks keeps me up-to-date with the latest leaks they post onto the website. I'm not going to be drawn into the controversy of the site, but since the info is there, it will only serve me well to be in on it.


• As for SaveBradley, well I used to firmly believe that he should be released and be heralded as a hero. I still think that, but I refrain from yelling it out on rooftops because, well, what do I know?


• sgelection keeps me up-to-date with the latest political party news and PAP gaff (mostly PAP gaffs), though it seems that posts from sgelection does lean slightly for the opposition and against the incumbent. Again I mostly sit on the fence on this one since I can't vote anyway, but I do applaude some of the issues that the opposition parties have bravely raised, and I do deride some of the "low blows" that the incumbent make against the opposition. If I were to give an opinion, it is simply, everyone should really think deep what are the really troubling issues that need to be dealt with, what do we really want by living in Singapore (happiness?), and don't forget those less fortunate than you deserve equal happiness.


• Twitter accounts like CNN give me the latest world news.


• Engadget and other tech news publishers give me the low-down about the newest science and technology.


• Guys like Peter Serafinowicz bring laughter to many a lonely night. I especially like the occasional #PSQA sessions when he takes tough questions through Twitter and answers them through Twitter.


• Guys like Stephen Fry always have a wide variety of interesting and cool ideas and information to share.


• It always warms my cockles when I read the most recent way in which people like Piers Morgan strip the manhood of people like Alan Sugar, Rio Ferdinand, and Michael Owen (but they take it like men).


• His Holiness the Dalai Lama never fails to express his spiritual yet surprisingly-relevant-in-the-real-world wisdom.


• And my man, my bro Danny Simpson who plays for Newcastle United. His tweets after a football match is the closest I will ever come to taking part in a Premier League game. And you can just feel the disappointment in his tweets when they lose, or the sheer joy when they win. I just hope his Twitter account is really run by him.

In conclusion, I hope you've seen how Twitter has enriched my life and broadened my mind, and I hope you can see how it can do the same for you. I mean really, you're big boys now, you shouldn't need me to tell you this!

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Interesting Points of Interest - My Twitter account is pushypanda, follow me if you want!