Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Did I want to tell friends and a multitude of strangers what's on my mind every hour? To acquaint the world, electronically, with my every passing thought? Did I want to spend days thinking up brief, 140-character, smart remarks and posting them online? I didn't. But the Young Turks in Features talked me into it. Sign up here, they said, write a self-description, stick in a photo and send your first tweet – so I did.
I wrote something about a man I met at a speed-awareness course, who'd done 90mph on the M4 to get there on time. I waited for a reaction. There wasn't one, but suddenly, I had nine followers. Nine! Popularity! Emboldened, I tried another tweet, about a Johnny Depp movie I'd just seen. Suddenly I had 20 followers. They included Adnan from Dubai who has no followers of his own (and whose profile reads, "a smile is the universal welcome"); and the Priory Tavern pub in Kilburn. It's damned odd being followed by a pub. It makes you feel ... paranoid.
After three days I experienced a multi-reaction that's probably familiar to first-timers: 1) Why is nobody replying? I mean, they reply to emails. 2) How come, if I read a tweet that's replying to another, I can never track the conversation back to where it started? 3) If 50 per cent of tweets are recommendations of articles, YouTube moments or other tweets, when do tweeters get any work done?
But I got suckered in. Now, on the way to work, I smile to think I've three or four smartarse tweets to send. And I've found that, if you ask a question ("What's a technocrat?") you'll get a reply eventually – if only from Frozen Tundra, Alaska. So I'll stick with Twitter, despite feeling I'm eavesdropping on a million private chats, and worrying that my 32 "followers" are like 32 motorists pausing on a motorway to examine the crash victim...
Tweet John: twitter.com/johnhenrywalsh
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments