I joined Twitter when I was in middle school and now I am currently a sophomore in college… and I don’t think I will ever delete that light blue app from my phone. Not just because of the fact that it provides funny videos and memes or allows people from all over the world to connect, but because of the fact that I receive most of my news from there.
My parents always encourage me to watch an actual news channel, but when I’m on the move and need to do a quick check on what’s trending, Twitter has always been there for me. Every morning I wake up and check the Discover page. Much of it is a mix of entertainment and news which keeps me interested. I’ve read about the “Dear David” ghost story, how Flint hasn’t had clean water since 2014, and how Kylie Jenner has copied other people. Thousands of comments pour in into every topic and it’s an easy way to understand people’s opinions of a current event.
Photo by Pixabay.
However, it’s also how I found out about Kenekka Jenkins. A teenage girl that was raped and murdered by the assistance of her ‘friends.’ When I saw her name trending and showing up on my newsfeed, I quickly clicked on it and went down the tweets to fully understand the story. Everyone was outraged and the tweets were pouring in hot. Once I was done reading up on it, I clicked on Instagram and Facebook and not even a mention of her name appeared.
Call me a typical millennial with the basic social media apps on her phone, but without them I don’t think I would be aware of most of the things happening in the world. Everything that isn’t on the popular news channels circulates through Twitter. It allows a voice for the people whose stories don’t get told or spread. The news is going to cover the hurricanes and big incidents but not about the teenager who just got arrested selling lemonade.