Today, Demi Moore helped to save a suicidal woman via Twitter.

For the few of you who don’t already know, Twitter is a social network in which users can follow updates on friends, celebrities, and strangers alike. Some well known users include Sean “Diddy” Combs, Tina Fey, Perez Hilton, and Satan, who answer the age old question, “What are you doing?”. Users are invited to twitter about details of their everyday life, updating profiles to share how a waxing appointment went, what kind of cigarettes they bought at the bodega or who they’re having lunch with.

A distressed woman, known on Twitter as Sandieguy, chose to update her followers with her suicide plans. After a long series of updates such as,  “hurting”, “does anyone care?”, and “thinking about killing myself”, Sandiguy sent a message to Moore which read, “getting a knife, a big one that is sharp. Going to cut my arm down the whole arm so it doesn’t waste time”.

Out of 383,047 followers, Moore saw Sandieguy’s message and responded by saying, “hope you are joking”, and later added “Everyone I was very torn about responding or retweeting that woman’s post but felt uncomfortable just letting it go”.

Moore’s update sparked concern as her followers flooded the San Jose Police Department reporting SandieGuy’s threat. When police intervened they found SandieGuy unharmed. Moore later wrote, “Today is a prime example of the power of collective consciousness and our incredible ability to create change when we come together!”

[Life isn’t black and white. As much as we wish we simply loved or hated things, there is often that whole annoying gray area in the middle. Like, we hate getting up for early morning classes, but we love being done by 11. Or, we love how Spanx make us look, but hate how sweaty we get putting them on... Damn you, gray area; you make decision-making that much more complicated!

There are so many difficult choices in life (do we love or hate high heels??), so we thought we’d sort through ‘em right here. Every week we will discuss another issue we are torn up about. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!]

So, we now all know what Twitter is. I can guarantee that you either Twitter yourself, have a friend who Twitters, or know a celebrity that Twitters (and creepily internet-stalk them).

Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has gained roughly 5 million users, coming in 3rd in the social network sites, with 2nd going to MySpace and 1st place to Facebook. It’s actually kind of like the status updates on Facebook, without all the wall posts and bumper stickers (and those annoying pokes). But sometimes I do miss a good laugh at a not-so-attractive FB picture (*untagging now), and a friendly poke now and then isn’t so bad. So Twitter: I’m torn. Read More »

Let’s talk about Twitter: To have a Twitter, or not to have one? To use it, or not to use it? And most importantly, how do you use a Twitter?

It seems like everyone’s all atwitter about, well, Twitter these days.  Started in 2006, Twitter is a “micro-blogging” service where users post status updates (called Tweets) that are limited to 140 characters, which answer the question, “What are you doing?” You can also add friends on Twitter by “following” their feeds.

But while you may be thinking, “only status updates? Just 140 characters? Why would people care what I’m doing 400 times a day? I already have a Facebook, thanks,” don’t dismiss Twitter just yet.  As a matter of fact, its beauty is in its simplicity.

People use Twitter for everything from updating their friends about their whereabouts (“at the airport- Spring Break Cancun here I come!”) to sharing breaking news and reactions to important events.  It’s actually become quite a phenomenon among journalists and media-types. Many will post links to fresh news stories or recent articles they’ve written. It’s easy because you can update Twitter from your cell phone (via text message) or instant messanger, so you can post when you’re on the go. Read More »