Milestone - What i've learnt in 6000 tweets

What I’ve learnt in 6000 tweets – By Abigail Panks, aged 34.5 years old

Ok, I’ll hold my hands up, I was one of those people who used to say– urg, Twitter, a load of people talking about what they had for breakfast, no, not for me thanks.

On the 24th August 2009, I finally caved in, I threw down my preconceptions, signed up and tweeted for the first time – I cannot remember what I said BUT, I do know that basically I was hooked from the word go...Twitter satisfied me in the respect that I could not only vocalise exactly what was on my mind instantly, I liked (and continue to) that no matter what drivel I wrote no-one judged my eccentric ways, it also satisfied the voyeur in me...lets face it, is there anyone in the twitterverse who doesn't want to know what the likes of Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross are up to?

To those people who don’t use twitter it’s hard to explain the draw, but, it’s kind of like being in a room full of people that you can leave and rejoin, picking up the conversation at anytime, i often find myself drifting from group to group, talking about everything and anything from politics, to pirates (which I do, frequently), toilet humour to techy thoughts.

My non Twitter friends often ask why I do it, what do I get from it, isn’t it a bit weird? In short, No, it isn’t weird and in terms of gain well, during these 6000 tweets I have vocalised, commented, quoted and on occasion ranted, it’s been the source of much much laughter, one cause of tears, its brought me friends (yes real ones that i have gone on to meet in the real world), its strengthened existing friendships, enhanced business networks and its even landed me work.

So, in short, I can confidently say that Twitter has enhanced my life, yes, that may sound incredibly dramatic and sentimental but it has...Yes, there are times when it causes problems with the OH, for example when I am tweeting constantly during dinner, or the time I was caught tweeting during our Nieces christening (terrible I know) but it is now very much a part of who i am.

So In conclusion 6000 tweets has taught me this: Twitter – I Love you, and for the record, no one has ever told me what they had for breakfast!