olivia, age 15; 29.k tweets

Social media is one of the most important things in my life, as it helps me keep up with my interests (music, TV, fashion, etc.) and connect with other people who share those interests. These websites, especially Twitter, have improved my life immensely, but not without negatives. When I joined Twitter, I found huge groups of people with the same interests as me, which helped me a lot to grow as a person. I talked to these people and they helped me understand where I fit in. Having friends that I could talk to about my interests and them understanding where I was coming from was great for me and ended up improving my social skills a lot. When you’re talking to people online, especially with the Twitter character limit, you learn quickly how to use your words powerfully and effectively. Those skills have helped me with everything from casual conversation to public speaking to essay writing. When the only way to represent yourself on the internet is through a picture, a 160 character bio, and some short text posts, you also find the importance in presenting yourself to others. I found that to help me socially in “real life” as well because I could place myself in a group of people and know how I wanted to present myself to them and let them know who I was. With some exceptions, social media could be one of the most genuine ways of forming relationships because it’s more acceptable to be you on the Internet. People can be selective with the information that they share but once they share it, it’s out for the world to see. On sites like Twitter and Tumblr, people share their innermost feelings to hundreds, sometimes thousands of followers. It’s possible to get a good sense of someone’s personality before you’re close with them and, if you like it, the websites supply the tools to have the conversations and get to know them better.
I’ve made some of my closest friends on Twitter, had great conversations with people on my Tumblr, and met countless of them in person. Every one that I’ve met, usually after months of talking online, has been just as interesting and genuine as they were on the Internet. There are definitely some weird people on social networking sites but experience and common sense is all that’s needed to avoid them. A lot of social networking also takes up huge amounts of time. There’s always new information pouring in from every direction and keeping up with all of it, though impossible, is never-ending. It’s easy to forget about real-life responsibilities with deadlines and consequences while drowning in the flood of new info and knowledge. But, like everything, it’s alright in moderation. Doing online work is one of the hardest self-control tests because of the incredibly easy access to endless people who you could have amazing conversations with. That’s usually an issue but this one negative is outweighed by the many amazing things that social networking has fabricated for me and so many other people. Because of it, I’ve talked to some of my favorite musicians, gotten free tickets to concerts, changed my way of thinking, and met some of my best friends. I definitely have a huge emotional investment in these people and ideas and this is just the abbreviated version. I feel so strongly about the things I’ve experienced just from being involved in these websites that I could go on about them forever, but I believe that they’ve changed my life for the best and I wouldn’t trade anything for it.