I really didn't pay much attention to Twitter until the Arab Spring broke out and forced me to take it seriously. Now I find it the most vital of all the social media services.
I signed up for Facebook MySpace and Twitter all on the same day at some time in the distance past because I had decided it was time to do the social media thing. I spent a lot of time customizing my MySpace page because it could do html and so could I, then I let it fall by the wayside.
Facebook became my social media center. In addition to my own wall, I built a Vietnam: American Holocaust movie page and eventually made over two thousand "friends."
For years, about the only thing I did with Twitter was to use the button that appeared above my posts here at the Daily Kos to tweet out each new diary to my 30 or so followers but in the course of following the quickly unfolding events in North Africa last year I found Twitter to be the most important source of information and the most vital form of communication.
I also found it to be a challenging format to write for. Just 140 characters, 20 less if you include a link and the challenge is to say something with meaning and elegance in that small space. I compose a tweet as though I am writing a 21th century haiku, and on this rainy Saturday in Venice Beach, I thought I'd share what I consider some of my best tweets from the last year with my readers here who are use to me going on ad nauseam about a subject. This is one I just send this morning:
#Assad's soldiers murder women & children in #Syria because for them its a case of kill or be killed <- from behind.
Find more beneath the fold.
1st they burnt the books, then they burnt the bodies. The US in #Afghanistan or ??
#Idlib, #Syria is what #Benghazi, #Libya would have been if the anti-interventionists could have ruled the day
According to #UN, #NATO killed 60 civilians in #Libya during the war, now #Assad kills that many in #Syria everyday. #BloodOnTheirHands
Yes, #KCAL News, 16 is "more than a dozen" but why the discount? Is it because the killer is a US soldier & the victims #Afghanistan?
if Kofi Annan saw a bear attacking a child he would say "You two stop fighting!" #Syria #BloodOnTheirHands
Are #Assad's soldiers killing with knives because he is afraid to give them ammunition? #Syria #BooldOnHisHands
Syrious BS: RT shows pix of passports of alleged foreign fighters in #Syria. Why no pictures? Why not open the passports and show who?
#Russia, If a bear attacks a kid, naturally the kid will fight back, but would you describe it as a fight between a bear and a kid? #Syria
#Assad will allow the Red Cross to enter #BabaAmr as soon as there are no civilians left there to help #BloodOnHisHands #Syria
When woman yells "No War on #Iran" #Obama responds "You're jumping the gun a little bit." Now what does that mean???
#SoCalledSocialists: You don't present the working class if you will suffer in silence any part of it murdered by its ruling class. #Syria
In #Santorum World: Church schools need no Earthquake retrofit if clergy says Lord is their Earthquake protection. #thisweek
"Pres has 12,000 US troops in Malta about to make their descent into #Libya." It's been over a month #CynthiaMcKinney What's up with that?
Whenever u find ppl fighting 4 freedom you'll find CIA&MI6 just like feas on lions but it's ridulous 2 credit the fleas 4 feats of the lion.
#Russian tanks, #Russian guns & #Russian shells, some most likely recently delivered are doing #Assad 's killing in #Homs #Syria
Artilley bombing of #Homs reportly resumes as #Assad applies #Russia tactics: Why send a solider where a shell could go? #BloodOnTheirHands
I feel a grt disturbance in the Force as if 1000s of voices cried out & were suddenly silenced. Something terrible is happening #Homs #Syria
#China doesn't want to see a repeat of #Libya in #Syria (were regime tanks were prevented from entering the city & killing house to house.)
#NATO lacks appetite for intervention in #Syria because they didn't get what they wanted from intervention in #Libya #Feb17
What the anti-interventionists wanted for Benghazi, #Libya, we are now seeing in Homs, #Syria #BloodOnTheirHands #BloodySunday
#Syria 150 ppl/day murdered by own govt while world sits on its hands. Shameful! Absolutely Shameful!
Anti-interventionists, remember when MLK Jr. et al cheered martial law in Montegomery? But you were opposed, weren't you?
#BlackBloc as a tactic is like a lap. Stand up, your lap disappears the way any "tactic" applied w/o regard to reality ceases to be a tactic
#Windows is an OS created by a corporation for profit. #Linux is an OS created by a community for service.
Shouldn't they be kettling the Tea Party and not the #Occupy movement?
The courage of the Syrian people is incredible. The silent support for #Assad from the US left is disgusting. #Syria
"What happened in #Tunisia most likely will stay in Tunisia" James Zogby 22/01/11 Oops!
Many species were lost forever because God ordered Noah to load only 2 of each aboard the ark and not all of God's creatures are fertile :-)
Supicious bombs explode in Damascus prove Assad's point as Arab League arrive in Syria. Like 911, AQ is blamed minutes later. Cui Bono
#VictoriaSecrets say child labor cotton is only used in a "small portion" of its clothing but VS only makes clothing in small portions
17/12/10 -17/9/11 #OWS was born precisely 9 months after Mohamed Bouazizi felt the fire while planting the seed. He is the father of #Occupy
We tried to do a GA in jail, but when we said we were going to breakout groups, they put us on lockdown. [joke] #OccupyLA #OccupyWallSt
When Lenin said "nobody can discredit the communists if they don't discredit themselves" was he talking about Stalin or Trotsky or both?
Marketing #OWS, Any day now I expect the 99cent only store to change its name to #99% only store, And start raising its prices #OccupyLA
Have solution to contenious General Assembly problem. Talked with Keeping it Real Party about setting up the Hard Block Cafe @ #OccupyLA
Some "leftists" use historic Libyan racism as a weapon against the revolution, I see the revolution as a weapon against racism #Libya #Feb17
#ANSWER says "oppose the demonization campaigns underway against #Syria" Does that mean they favor the shelling of civilians?
Jeff Goldblum to #FF "Be sure to scrape that 'War Is Not The Answer' sticker off the bumper before mounting the rockets in the bed"
ANSWER, CCDS and other anti-interventionists: Here is a complete list of anti-NATO protests in Arab or Muslim countries - "" #Feb17 #Libyan
Russia is now recognizing "armed gangs" as the legit representatives of the Libyan people. The times they are a'changing #Feb17 #Libya
#NATO u did a good thing. Don't blow it by sticking around and making mischief. Thank You. Good Bye. #feb17 #Libya
Now that there are no more dragons to slay, there is really nothing for NATO to do but fly off into the sunset.
I'm so sick of hearing about #Libya "stalemate." Have u noticed that this "stalemate" keeps inching closer to Tripoli all the time! #Feb17
They're a lot of chess metaphors in #Feb17 but 'stalemate' ain't one of them. Qaddafi thinks he's the king & treats ppl like pawns #Feb17
stalemate? #Gharyan check! #Tawargha check #Zawiya check! #Garyan check! stalemate? I don't see any stalemate #Libya #Feb17
#FF the word on the tweet is that #Qaddafi has a surprise waiting for you in #Tripoli tomorrow. Be aware #Feb17 #Libya
#Libya loses Younes, #Tahrir loses unity. Revolution is a messy business but reports of the death of the Arab Spring are premature
#Libya - Where some see naked imperialist aggression, I see a slick imperialist response to revolutionary upsurge #feb17
Does NATO want to force key members of old regime on the revolution? Is that what they mean by "negotiated settlement?" #Libya #feb17
#France's Catch 22: Civilians have a right to self-defence but once they are armed they cease to be civilians. #Libya #Feb17 #Nafusa
Is NATO using Qaddafi to discipline the freedom fighters because they will not be co-opted? Just a question #Libya #Feb17
#Japan fishrman, We've good news & bad news. Good news is ur boat survived the tsunami. Bad news is u can't use it cause we nuked the fish
They said my radiation exposure was less than a chest xray. I said "how so?" They said a chest xray cost $$$, the rads cost me nothing!
The keyboard is mightier than the Kalashnikov - update to an old truth #Libya #Egypt #Tunisia #feb17 #jan25 #Anonymous
US UK & EU are hoping Gaddfi will restore the status quo and the oil flow. That's why they take no action. Count on it! #Libya #feb17
Why did that Libyan pilot eject? Is Gaddfi making sure they don't have fuel for Malta now? #Libya #feb17
What is Obama waiting for? He's waiting for Gaddfi to succeed. If the flowing blood keeps the oil flowing, he's for it. #Libya #Feb17
"If it takes a bloodbath to silence the demonstrators, let's get it over with." Who said this? hint M. Gaddfi likes Reagan #Libya #Feb17
If all the UN is going to go is 'fact finding' They should wait till Gaddfi is done killing and avoid the need for a recount. #Libya #feb17
The longer they rule, the faster they fall. #Tunisia Ben Ali 23 yrs & 28 days, #Egypt Mubarak 30 yrs & 18 days, #Libya Gaddfi 42yrs & ? days
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