So I did it. I finally did it. I joined the Twitterverse. I’m not sure how or why, but I had the strange idea that Twitter was mainly for cell phones and seeing as though I don’t have a cell phone, I never joined. A few months ago, I decided that I might dip my toe in the water and I signed up for an account. I never used it, but it was there. Over the last couple of weeks, (off and on) I’ve done a bunch of reading about Twitter – what is its purpose, what it can be used for, how not to use it, how to use it, etc. What’s clear to me, there is an abundance of opinions about the “right” and wrong way to use Twitter.
Once I made the decision to join Twitter, I had to then decide who it was that I was going to follow. A good place for me to start was the list of “pages” I’ve liked on Facebook. Since I didn’t want my Twitter feed to just be about (information), I thought it would also be appropriate to add comedy as well as major sports teams that I’m fans of. Without further adieu, I give you, the list of people who I am following (at least after the first 24 hours of being on Twitter):
@maddow: Rachel Maddow is the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” weeknights at 9pm on MSNBC. I try to catch the show when it’s posted to the web a couple of hours after it’s over. Interesting tidbit: she earned her PhD in Politics at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship.
@Oprah: I’m not sure what I can say about Oprah that most people wouldn’t already know. I have a sneaky suspicion that now she’s not hosting her TV show every afternoon, she may use Twitter more often. Pure speculation.
@BarackObama: The current President of the United States. Say what you want about his policies, he is most definitely among the greatest orators of our time. His speeches are a treat to listen to. If you haven’t, I’d go back and watch this one and remember, at the time he gave it, he was a still a State Senator for Illinois. (An interesting tidbit: the reaction from the PBS commentators after the speech showed that some people, in 2004, were already calling Barack Obama the 1st black President of the United States.)
@toptweets: “Top Tweets algorithmically selects and retweets some of the most interesting tweets spreading across Twitter. Enjoy!” As a ‘lurker’ of Twitter, I often checked out the @toptweets feed to see what was being bandied about. Now that I’m on Twitter, of course I’d follow @toptweets.
@NaomiAKlein: I really like smart people. I think Naomi Klein is brilliant. She’s quite well-known as the author of two books: No Logo and The Shock Doctrine. I’ve only supplied links to the Wiki articles for both these books, which is a nice introduction into the book. I’d still advise spending some time reading the actual book.
@strombo: George Stroumboulopoulos is the host of a Canadian talk show that covers everything from politics to celebrities spliced with pop culture and news. I see it as a hybrid between The Colbert Report and The Rachel Maddow Show (without all of the analysis that Maddow and her team do).
@fivethirtyeight: Nate Silver and the FiveThirtyEight blog are the best place to get forecasts of presidential, Congressional, and gubernatorial elections in the United States. Not only does he forecast elections, but he also addresses things like March Madness and other questions of science.
@ezraklein: I was first introduced to Ezra Klein on an “episode” of The Rachel Maddow Show. Again, my affinity for smart people has me following Ezra Klein. On a side note, I was surprised to see someone (my age) on TV as a commentator. I’m sure most people at some point have that (s/he’s my age!) moment when watching TV — seeing Ezra Klein was that for me.
@OMGFacts: I like to learn and the tweets from this account are supposedly factual. Assuming that is in fact the case, most of what I’ve seen come from the feed so far has made me think, “well that’s interesting.”
@BlueJays: I’ve been a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays for as long as I can remember. This is a great way to stay up to date with Blue Jays information. In fact, since I follow the Blue Jays feed, I learned that they were demoting one of their young stars (temporarily, of course).
@MapleLeafs: Like the Blue Jays, I’ve been a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs for as long as I can remember. Just like with the Jays’ feed, I’m able to keep abreast of the latest Leafs’ information. For instance, today, I learned the Leafs’ signed one of their young stars to a 2-year contract.
@dallascowboys: As with the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs, I’ve been a fan of the Cowboys for quite some time, too. I don’t have any random signing or demotion to mention for the Cowboys, but I am hopeful that there will be a new deal between the players and the NFL.
@andersoncooper: When I was younger, I used to watch a lot of CNN and got used to seeing Anderson Cooper. I always liked how he seemed to ask some of the tougher questions of the people he interviewed. I don’t watch him very much anymore (only in the airports where there always seems to be a TV tuned to CNN), but I thought he might be an interesting person to follow.
@TheDailyShow: I really, really like Jon Stewart. I think he is a very smart. I’m a little sad that he doesn’t have his own Twitter account, so I thought I’d follow the next best thing: his TV show’s Twitter account.
@StephenAtHome: Like Jon Stewart, I think that Stephen Colbert is really smart. I think it takes a smart person to be able to satirize the news in the way that Colbert does. Most recently, I’ve enjoyed his take on the Citizens United case.
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I try to make a point of having posts no longer than 1000 words (or very near to that), so look for the rest of this list in tomorrow’s post.
Jeremiah Stanghini 
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