Homeless Tweets

The future of social media can only grow exponentially. Whether it will grow in a positive way is not definite, but things are looking good. Besides the celebrity gossip on Twitter and Facebook that circulates, multiple sites are enabling more and more features to help those in need.

For example, Jackie Titus, writer for Social Impact, describes a recently New York Times article that talked about Twitter in her article published on February 28, 2012. The piece in the New York Times was tited: A Life on the Streets, Captured on Twitter (click for link).

Titus describes the article written by Kory Kilgannon, “The project follows four homeless men: Danny, Carlos, Derrick, and Albert, and each have been given prepaid cell phones and Twitter accounts that collectively boast a following of 15,905” (Titus, 2012).

In Kilgannon’s article, he describes that “Mr. Wiggins (Derrrick) typically writes a dozen times a day, often posting a “good night” from his bunk bed in the shelter room he shares with dozens of other men” (Kilgannon, 2012).

What most people do not realize is the immense social benefit of such technology. For the few homeless men who received pre-paid phones with Twitter access, they could not be more happy. Titus described Derrick’s appreciation for his new social media access. He said it “helps him avoid a spiral into dejection,” (Titus, 2012).

Social media, even if one is terribly addicted to it, can definitely be a positive force in this world, and hopefully it will continue to increase communication, knowledge, and positivity.

Works Cited

Kilgannon, Kory. “A Life on the Streets, Captured on Twitter.” City Room. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/a-life-on-the-streets-captured-on-twitter/&gt;.

Titus, Jackie. “Social Media: Bringing Voice to the Voiceless.” Social Impact Blog. Web. 15 May 2012. <http://impact.webershandwick.com/?q=social-media-bringing-voice-voiceless&gt;.