Twitter is the public’s preferred periodical of late. Yes, periodical—if Tom Wolfe championed a New Journalism of the ‘60s, then Twitter is our Newest Journalism.
Ex Libris, Twitter
Author’s Note:
It dawned on me only last summer that I needed to create a Twitter account. Not for social upkeep, no. No less for the memes, although those are wonderful. I needed Twitter— as many journalists need Twitter— simply for the health of my aspiring career.
I realized this necessity, ever begrudgingly, when I struggled to find opportunities as a young arts and culture writer elsewhere: career center listings were outdated, editors were unreachable, and sharing one’s work on other social media felt like a misplaced PR stunt (I’m sorry to say, my Abuela on Facebook doesn’t care to see my latest musings on downtown theater.) And so, I downloaded Twitter. I sighed. I settled in for the worst.
But Twitter surprised me. It invigorated me, it teased me, it filled me with the boundless hope that journalism is not dead yet. It gave this book-loving, occasional-luddite millennial writer a new home among the web. Ex Libris, Twitter is a piece that looks at this recent love affair, and points toward Twitter’s possibilities for the state of journalism today.
You can check out the entire piece directly on Twitter by clicking here, or view the embedded timeline below. This piece reads chronologically; on Twitter, simply scroll to continue. However, if you view here on Confluence, please be sure to click the ‘Load more Tweets’ option when you reach the end of each section to continue viewing the piece in its entirety.