I never imagined myself having a Twitter account. I adamantly told my friends that it would never happen, even going to the extent of calling Twitter a "Facebook status on steroids." I wondered why anyone in his or her right mind would want to read about people’s problems or what they were doing at that exact moment. A while ago, it seemed rather pointless; I already had one social network account on Facebook, so why did I need another one? My friends eventually convinced me otherwise however, and I have to sheepishly admit that I am now pro-Twitter.

Before I get into the whole Twitter debate, I probably should explain how Twitter works. In the world of Twitter, people "follow" one another. When I say follow, though, I do not mean stalk. Following someone on Twitter is the equivalent of being friends with that person on Facebook. Whenever he or she tweets, the tweet will show up on one’s timeline. The timeline, again compared to Facebook, is like the news feed. Every tweet from an account one follows will appear on the timeline.

　 Tweeting is a whole different matter in and of itself. There are three items in a tweet that I want to point out. First, one can mention any account he or she follows in a tweet. Next, if one wants to add emphasis to some particular word, phrase or the tweet in general, he or she uses a hashtag, which is the pound key. Third, one can "retweet" another account’s tweet. The prefix "re" means again, so basically one is tweeting it back again. If one particularly likes a tweet, he or she presses a button to retweet it so that everyone else following one can read that person’s tweet as well. That might all seem confusing, but like everything, it gets easier over time.

With that said, what many do not understand is that people really do not tweet about what they are doing every second of the day. A lot of people I follow tweet quotes or interesting events that have happened to them. I also follow accounts that millions of other people follow, like one that tweets Disney quotes and another that tells unjust facts about the world. Twitter is not just about listening to a friend’s problems or whereabouts; it allows a user to read relatable quotes or cool statistics.

Now, there are many advantages of having a Twitter account that people may not realize. One of the main reasons I joined Twitter is because I only have a close circle of peers whom I follow and who follow me back. Instead of hundreds of Facebook friends, I only have maybe 30 or 35 people I actually know whom I follow. To me, that makes it more personal and lets me talk with my friends without hundreds of people seeing it.

Another cool aspect of Twitter is that one can follow celebrities. From teenage pop star Justin Bieber to the ex-Cavalier LeBron James, a lot of celebrities have invested in this booming social network because it is easy to connect with their fans. Sure, they get bombarded with people mentioning them in tweets, but almost all of them retweet or reply back to some of the tweets they receive from fans. I think that is really quite nifty that anyone can talk with or be recognized by celebrities with just the click of a button. And that is all thanks to Twitter.

Obviously I cannot sway everyone’s mind. People are going to think what they want to think about Twitter. If they want to believe it is a waste of time and find it annoying, then who am I to say they are wrong? I want to reiterate, however, that I used to be totally against Twitter. I thought it was a useless social networking site and that the world could do without it. After using my account for a while, I completely changed my stance. All I want to say is do not hate Twitter before giving it a chance.

So to all my Twitter users out there, tweet away.