Who knew that Twitter could be used for something more than college freshman complaining about dining hall food?!
The proposition to participate in a blog for class-- a blog that contains real information, as opposed to the typical fluff on most blogs I follow-- has brought about a grand realization. It appears that we can use social media for something of substance. In my research for my country brief on Algeria, I came across blogs like themoornextdoor.wordpress.com and thewasat.wordpress.com. I would highly recommend these blogs to other students whose country is in the North Africa region. From reading these blogs, I gained the audacity to use my twitter for something academic. A novel idea for an 18 year old. First I followed themoornextdoor and then Andrew Lebovich (aka thewasat). I saw they were retweeting various academics and journalists living in Syria and other parts of MENA, and as one may guess- I started following them all on Twitter.
For the first time in my life, I kind of know whats going on in the world and I am constantly updated on what is happening. In a few weeks, I may feel comfortable enough and educated enough to have an opinion! I don't want to come out and make an overly exaggerated statement about how this class is going to light a fire under my butt, but I am definitely getting excited about everything to come.
To bring things back to Twitter-- I reached out to themoornextdoor and asked if he would be up for emailing with a few students on Algeria and a few other countries. He responded with a most definite Yes. Whether he is a reliable academic source or not, I look forward to gaining a better general understanding of how things work in Algeria through Q&A with him.
So get on the Twitter train with me!
I recommend these twitter handles:
@themoornextdoor -themoornextdoor.wordpress.com
@tweetsintheME -thewasat.wordpress.com
@Raniaab -Journalist in Syria
@USEmbAlgiers -US Embassy in Algeria
@AJEnglish -Al Jazeera
Please comment any Twitter handles or Blogs you would recommend for me!
To wrap things up- This is what I have learned:
Email, Tweet, Inbox, do anything you can to get in contact with people.
They are out there and they are willing to answer your questions.
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