I started my Twitter account in December 2012. I didn’t really have any expectations about what Twitter would do for me at that time; I was simply curious about what all the fuss was about and I stuck my toe in cautiously to give it a try. Some of my colleagues ask me about the utility of Twitter and I think that most academics come at it from the angle of “What can Twitter do for me?” I think that each person’s experience of Twitter is different and that’s pretty valuable.
Surprisingly in the past two and a half years Twitter has taught me a lot. I think that biggest impact is that Twitter has exposed me to voices that I didn’t hear before and a lot of this has to do with my privilege as a cis, heterosexual, white woman. It has been very eye opening to hear and learn about the experiences of people who self-identify or have been classified by people as “other” on Twitter. At the same time, Twitter has allowed me to be a part of communities of women academics and academics with disabilities which has been immensely helpful to my personal and professional growth. The impact of words, links, images, and videos in 140 character snippets has been impressive.
Twitter has made me aware of my own profound ignorance on a wide variety of socially important topics. In my opinion, that benefit has made my investment in Twitter well worth my time.
