In my last column, I said some unflattering things about all the dumb stuff I see on Twitter.
I'm not backpedaling. There certainly is some dumb stuff on there. But what I neglected to say is that I actually love Twitter, in spite of all that.
Twitter's not like Facebook, where you are friends mainly with people you know personally.
On Twitter, I get to find and follow people who I don't know, people who share my interest in restoring urban communities, mentoring, fatherhood. There are lots of us. I had no idea until I went there.
I'll follow anyone whose Tweets sound solution-oriented, from award-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) of the New York Times (who once live-tweeted a brothel raid in Cambodia) to speaker/author/poet Basheer Jones, a product of Cleveland schools who is probably the most inspirational Tweeter I've found so far.
Known on Twitter as @basheerj, he's always at it, reacting, thinking, sharing, prodding. You can tell when he visits a school, because inevitably there's a flurry of youngsters using Twitter to thank him, even crying out to him for attention and advice.
Twitter is where immediacy meets connectivity. Here, information leaps from person to person, and you can sometimes see tiny movements spring to life. After the Haiti earthquake, cries for help via Twitter prompted rescues and donations, according to Claire Diaz-Ortiz's book, "Twitter for Good." It can instantly link needy people with those who can help them.
On Wednesday, you needed only type in #Hadiya – the name of the Chicago 15-year-old shot dead a week after performing in the president's inauguration parade – to see the outrage. Hundreds of teens across the country were expressing sorrow, and the truly miraculous thing about Twitter is that connecting with them was as easy as hitting "reply".
To me, this is the golden opportunity that hasn't been used yet. Anti-violence leaders ought to be reaching out to these emotional youngsters on the Twitter pipeline and fanning a movement. Chicago, I know you're hurting, but you should be strategizing. Twitter could be a dynamic tool.
Twitter's a good place to be if you're trying to brainstorm ways to break out of deep-seated patterns. Creative minds are present here, and I sometimes think it's a good thing that the thoughts have to be condensed down to 140 characters.
Last year at an education conference hosted by Hathaway Brown School, I heard a New Jersey educator say much the same thing. Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal) said he appreciates Twitter because it introduced him to a passionate cohort of educators. His newfound community of Tweeters shares tips with each other, publicly compliments staff and students when it's deserved, and keep each other encouraged.
You can talk to amazing people on Twitter and sometimes they even answer you back.
This summer, when I read "The Warmth of Other Suns," 543 riveting pages of true-life stories about African-Americans who fled the South during the Great Migration, I couldn't stop raving about it, mainly to people who hadn't yet read it.
Through Twitter, I could contact author Isabel Wilkerson directly and tell her just how much I admired it.
She retweeted me, the highest form of Twitter flattery!
Anyone can reach for the stars on Twitter, although there's no guarantee they'll respond.
Last month at a Kwanzaa celebration, I tapped out a couple Tweets about a performance by the Distinguished Gentlemen of Spoken Word, a local youth group that recites elegant poetry and historic speeches in unison. I've been an unabashed groupie for these tuxedo-clad guys ever since I wrote a feature on them years ago.
With their usual passion and precision, they belted out my favorite piece, Marianne Williamson's poem: "Our deepest fear is that not we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
They had me Tweeting through tears.
As she walked me out, the group's founder Honey Bell-Bey mentioned to me their greatest wish is to perform at the White House.
You guessed it. I sat in the car and whipped off a Tweet to the president, asking him to make their dream come true.
He hasn't answered. Yet. But I'm keeping the faith.
If you're a Tweeter, feel free to help me bombard him. You can find me at @margbern