I must admit that I don't Tweet near as much as I should. Probably because it really turns out to be me just talking to myself. Twitter isn't as interactive as The Book is. However, I can speak more freely out there because my friends list is much more exclusive.
What I primarily use Twitter for is an information source. I can't count how many times I've learned of important news items due to timely updates on my Twitter feed. When it's not doing that, it's an excellent source of entertainment. You just have to make sure you're following the right folks to have your timeline be efficient. I would like to think I have achieved that balance.
I widdled my list of folks I follow down to only 117. That may sound like a lot, but I would estimate that only 1/3 of that list actually uses Twitter actively. Of those that do, I have fashioned my own list of my personal favorite Top 10 Twitter IDs:
10. @CiciLaw
I just realized that she was officially my very first client for XL-Images. Technically anyway. She was the first to ask for a shoot but we could never get our schedules to mesh. By the time we did she ended up being my third client. Anyway, her Tweets tend to be short and to the point while being a mixture of informative and funny.
9. @jpkmensah
This is my frat brother Josh who also hails from the Mighty Omicron Pi (Iowa State, for those who still don't know). I can't lie...he'll sometimes get a little techie with his tweets so I tune some of those out. However, most of the time he's on some relevant news and/or pop culture reference with his own insight that is often quite clever
8. @walkerdl
Another frat brother that I met thru a mutual acquaintance on Twitter. I can't even remember who now, but glad I did. His updates are commonly news items and/or links to recent breaking stories. Sometimes they are things I may have already known, but they will occasionally be tidbits that I wasn't aware of. He seems to get his sources from all over. It's like he's got about a dozen different news sites pulled up at once.
7. @rolandsmartin
I didn't start following him until the exact same time that the Teena Marie story broke. I don't know what took me so long because Roland is not only Frat but one of my favorite journalists. It's also helpful that he doesn't just provide generic Tweets. His are impersonal to make him more down-to-earth.
6. @darthvader
Yes....THE Darth Vader. Okay...I'm sure it's not actually David Prowse or even James Earl Jones behind the ID. Whoever it is always on point with their Star Wars relevant tweets. I will admit there are some that reach a little sometimes, but that doesn't happen often. His is a must-follow for any Star Wars fan.
5. @SLAMonline
You have to first get past the fact that when they Tweet they usually do two or three in rapid fire succession. Still not sure why they do that. However, I quickly learned that when I pay attention to those, there's really little need to have their magazine. You're not going to get full-length articles from the links they provide, but you can still get some very useful hoop nuggets. If you're an NBA fan then you should definitely be following this ID.
4. @shitmydadsays
You'll have to forgive my French but that is the exact name of the Twitter ID. It has gotten more notoriety lately because there is now a tv show by the same name. This is where it started though. Some loser twentysomething (or maybe thirtysomething?) who lives at home with his dad and tweets the random things his dad says. Some of the funniest things you've ever read. The tv show really doesn't do it justice. I'm sure the book would which is why I need to pick that up.
3. @headgeek666
Don't let the ID fool you. It has nothing to do with anything satanic. This is actually the first time I just now noticed that there were three 6s at the end. Anyway, dude is the head honcho at Ain't It Cool News. When I don't feel like going out to the site to get the latest movie news I can just check his feed to get more timely information. Just have to be careful because he may give away some spoilers every now and then. The best part about his Twitter feed is being reminded when he posts his weekly dvd column. That's how I get alerted to flicks that I would have otherwise not known at all
2. @BreakingNews
The name is just what it sounds like. This ID constantly delivers the latest news updates from around the world. It's like CNN on speed. Sometimes it's even better than CNN. There have been a couple of instances when the news story they tweet about hasn't yet hit CNN. Now that I think about it, maybe it is CNN's Twitter ID? Anyway, for every international story they tweet about that doesn't interest me, there's at least two national ones that do. If you add Twitter, this should be one of the first IDs you add without question.
1. @BlackMediaSCOOP
The best thing about this Twitter ID is how they combine their types of news. They will hit pop culture, gossip, real news, sports. They don't discriminate. If it's news about our people that they think will be even the least bit interesting, they'll scoop about it. So it's like TMZ, CNN and ESPN all rolled into one. The only thing I don't like about it is they will repeat the same stories a couple of times during the course of one day. I suppose it's okay for those folks that might missed the first one, but I'm a little more attentive than that. I'm dying to know who's really behind that Beyonce profile pic that they've been using for the longest.
