Amy BoughnerI joined Twitter in 2008, followed the two people I knew there and tried to figure out what was going on. I don’t remember how long it took me to get going, but get going I did. By the time the 2008 election rolled around, I was using Twitter for work and it proved very useful.
I continued to make it useful for my work, and also started looking for other people to talk to, starting with knitters. I made some friends.
But really, it was when I was pregnant and then on maternity leave that Twitter became a major part of my personal life. Especially when I was on maternity leave. My baby was born in the winter, I had postpartum depression, but I had all of these women to talk to and commiserate with in my laptop. It was a lifeline.
These were women I started meeting in real life, my kid played with their kids, and I’m still friends with them today.
On the professional side, I became part of the mommy-blogger movement. I went to conferences and sold articles and got sponsored posts. It changed who I was as a person and gave me the opportunity to grow.
Years ago a friend I had met over Twitter looked at me and said ‘I’m not as confident as you are,’ and I nearly did a spit-take. I would never have called myself confident or brave, but on Twitter, and thereafter I have been both.
Now it is a place that is disappearing or changing drastically, unsustainably. There is a panic because there’s no place else like it. All the other places want images and videos, I’m most at ease in words.
The thought of losing access to all of these people whose stories I have heard. All of the people who have taught me about different experiences – racism, homophobia, bigotry, thinking about other sides of the argument.
I have had such interesting conversations, and meaningful exchanges on this platform. I have been a witness to historical events.
And I have laughed so much.
There’s been camaraderie. I found my people. It’s been my place for 14 years and someday soon it might just stop working.
