Twitter is widely used, and at times gets over loaded.
The icon for Twitter is a cute little blue bird. A message is called, a tweet. It is an easy to use program and you can follow others that share the same values and idesa that you do.
Friends, (or Twends) that you ADD onto your Twitter account is called FOLLOWING People befriending you are called FOLLOWERS
In Twitter, people add the prefix TW to everyday words to Twitterize them. In a nutshell, this is Twitter.
During the recent protests in Iran, when the government tried to close the lines of communication, protesters used Twitter to spread messages and get information out of Iran. The U.S. government even implored Twitter to not go offline for routine maintenance as not to close the Irain Protesters lines of communication.
Twits, (Twitterers, Twitter users) some changed their listed location as Iran during this time to hamper Iranians shut down efforts. Others changed their profile photos to green in a visual show of sollidarity with the Iranain protesers.
Today, if you watch television, you will find newscasters and TV shows giving out their Twitter ID so that you can follow them. My twitter ID is:
www.twitter.com/Trpster
I think I have explained twitter for those who have not used it or heard of it. It is VERY easy to use.
Now that I have explained the use of Twitter. It is another way of communicating. People today are able to access and post on Twitter not only from their computers, but also from their cellphones, and at least one online game community that I am aware of.
People even use Twitter to post photos for their Tweeps to see. Twitter is used so much that each day we are finding more applications written for the use of twitter users. People can access twitter not only from their home computer, but also from their cellphones using apps designed for this purpose.
The Iranian Protesters not only used www.flickr.com to upload and post photos of the event, they also posted them via twitter for the world to see.
People twitter for fun, for business, and TO PROTEST This is why I first experienced a phenomenon Twits are calling TWITMO, or Being in TWITMO.
Twitter IS screening and or censoring Twitter accounts by limiting them by "placing them in time-out"
While in "time-out" you lose your voice. You are unable to send out tweets. They are unclear as to how long your account has been silenced for, only saying that you have exceeded your "update limit" and to wait a few hours.
NOTE People twitter back and forth all day, holding conversations, posting opinions and such. Until this week I have never had this happen to me. It also happened to many of my friends and fellow protesters.
What is it that we are protesting you ask?
Many of us do not like it, do not want it, and WANT TO BE HEARD
How are we trying to get our voices heard? By calling our Senators and Congress, open protests in Washington DC, Tea Parties and by contacting our Senators and Congress via twitter. Along with the Tweets to Congress To coordinate our effort we added the hashtag #tweetcongress
(Hashtags are identifiers that enable a twitter user to locate twitter messages that contain a topic they may want to search.)
I was contacted (tweeted) by a friend,(follower) who told me that www.twitter.com was screening accounts and told how to check and see if my tweets were being screened, in essence, being blocked from the view of all save those following me.
I was told to send one out to @NancyPelosi. (Tweets are addressed in this fashion, the "at sign" and twitter account name. It's like sending a 140 character email really, except everyone can read it unless it is a Direst Message.)
So, I did this, I tweeted:
"Just Say NO to HR3962 Taxes on My Health Insurance http://bit.ly/2aE3lq
@NancyPelosi @boblatta @marybonomack #tweetcongress"
And then I searched the #hashtag. GUESS WHAT! I had been silenced The Powers That Be at www.twitter.com decided that I am not to be allowed the right of contacting my congressmen. I am unable to contact my Senator. (Unless, of course, they are following me. Like that is going to happen!)
I have been placed in TWITMO. Silenced for voicing my opinion. Unable to be heard via Twitter by none but my friend, those who choose to follow me, and unable to post an update on twitter for a cumulative time of over 7 hours.
In a world where OUR government, the U.S. Government, asked Twitter to fore go scheduled down time to enable the protesters in Iran the free use of twitter to
voice their opposition to their government, I, a natural born U.S. Citizen am being
disallowed this same basic freedom.
How am I feeling?
