Twitter – Opening the Door

It might seem obvious, but the reality is that college life involves lots and lots of reading.

If you are planning to study Business at university, you will have to read a lot. If you are planning to study Medicine, you will also have to read a lot. Even if you are planning to study cinema, you will have to read a lot.

If you are in the habit of reading a lot, then no problem. If you don’t read so much, then maybe Twitter might be helpful. I am going to suggest that Twitter can be a great way for you to read lots and lots of interesting articles, relevant to your studies, and you don’t need to spend ages searching through the internet.

If you already use twitter, you know how it works. You follow people so when they tweet something you see it. If you only follow your friends then you will only really see what they tweet – e.g. photos of their dinner. But if you choose to follow people or publications that tweet about your area, then every day, you will be sent really interesting articles that you can read whilst on the bus, sitting in the canteen or waiting for your teacher to arrive to class.

• If you are going on to study Science you could follow: New Scientist, Chemistry World, Brian Cox (famous scientist) , or Astronomy Ireland .

• If you are going to study Business, you could follow The Economist , The Financial Times  or James Altucher.

• If you are going to study Engineering, you could follow Engineering Science , The Institute of Physics , or Bill Nye.

The more you get involved, the more you will find people who are similar to you. You will find people who will share interesting stuff with you. You will learn more about your area as you follow more people. In fact, why not check the professors at your university – do they have twitter accounts? If so, why not follow them!

You will learn who is reliable and who wastes time. And everyone you follow will be sending you stuff to read. You won’t have to go searching through the internet – it will be delivered to your phone. And after a while, you will share stuff too.

When you choose to study science (for example), then you are becoming a scientist. And scientists are part of a community, just as teachers and doctors are part of a community. A community where people can talk to each other, share ideas and research. Twitter can be a fantastic way for you to join that community and join the conversation.