Washington Irving Society

BY TRACY HOFFMAN

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Back before I had an Iphone, certainly before we had apps, I tested Twitter with my classes. They were required to tweet closed, argumentative thesis statements for each reading.

They hated it. The consensus: “This Twitter will never work.”

Fast forward to 2016. Most of my students on the first day of class declared Twitter to be their number one social media outlet, their most used app.

I haven’t polled my classes in the past few years with regard to their favorite apps or social media outlets. I’m guessing Twitter may be down in the polls since seventy-year-old politicians are on Twitter. Clearly, though, my students and I could not have predicted the rise of Twitter. The IPhone and apps changed the game.

So I’m posting this tweeting business on the Irving page to talk about our Twitter considerations, in brief. The author society joined Twitter in 2013. In those first few years, I checked Twitter once a year, usually around Christmas when I had time off. It would take me less than an hour to check messages, like things of interest, deal with follower requests, etc.

Christmas time 2017, I spent an entire day going through the same process, and I threw up my hands! I couldn’t do it all in a day. I’m not sure if Twitter has exploded, or if Washington Irving has exploded, or both. I smile and like to think it’s a bit of both.

So now I’m checking the Twitter feed more often. In fact, we could use a vice-president in charge of Twitter. Anyone interested in the job?

You’ll find us as the Irving Society on Twitter, a.k.a. @irvingsociety1.