#S22E05 The 140 Characters Episode

Follow me on Twitter! I remember saying that back in 2010 when not very many people knew what Twitter was and why it was called Twitter. 
I started my Twitter back in 2009 when I was running a fan page for Tyler Perry's House of Payne (HOP) television series. At the time TBS, which is the network that House of Payne aired on, had a fan forum on their page for House of Payne fans and I loved talking to other HOP fans about the actors, show ideas, critiques, and so on and so forth.

Season Five DVD of House of Payne

 I began updating the fans on upcoming episode titles and I would do extensive research to find these episode titles and descriptions. In the process I stumbled across someone tweeting about House of Payne. I didn't have a Twitter at the time however I was able to view pubic twitter accounts and I began strolling to find more information. 
There was a guy (I believe his Twitter Name at the time was @blcactor) who was speaking about his HOP audition and how he began shooting his scene in just a few weeks. I noticed he used the hashtag #HouseofPayne #ActorLife so I began to really look into those Twitter hashtags to see who else was talking about the show. I clicked the hashtag and only a few things popped up; two other actors who had upcoming auditions, a family member of one of the crew members for the show, and luckily some of the actors had Twitter pages!

Lance Gross, China Anne McClain, and Solange Knowles were three of the first people I followed on Twitter. Lance and China are actors on the show, and Solange is an artist I admire and of course the closest I'd ever get to Beyonce being that she is her sister, so I had to follow her!. 

While on Lance and China's page I noticed that they would post things that they were doing such as "about to rehearse these lines" or "M&Ms and hot chocolate while on set is great" then they began posting pictures and talking about specific episodes! This is where I became the "IT" girl on the fan forum because no one really used Twitter or knew what it was therefore I had exclusive information! The type of exclusive information that would only be known if viewers watched an exclusive TBS interview or anything of that nature.

HOP Actors Lance Gross (L) & China Anne McClain (R)

 I was able to know what the actors were doing, what direction the show was going, and get exclusive details that we fans would love to know about. I became the "go to girl" for information as I relayed information about upcoming episodes, interviews, episode titles and show descriptions.

 I became so into it that I even developed my own fanpage away from the TBS Fan Forum. Eventually as time passed everyone began to get into Twitter and understand the follow train of how a simple hashtag could provide so much information. Therefore I began live tweeting during episodes and using the hashtag of #HouseofPayne or #HOP or #TylerPerry in order to get other people who was interested in the things I was talking about a place where they can express themselves in a few words.
 Eventually I ventured off and created my own personal page where I tweeted my everyday moves, musical lyrics, pictures and other things of interest. However I tried to keep the fan page as professional as possible by engaging with the fans, Re-Tweeting their comments, thoughts, opinions, and ideas, playing online games such as which episode was this, or whose line is it?

I believe that Twitter provided an opportunity for people across the globe to engage with one another to make announcements, give opinions, and express themselves in as few words as possible. I believe that the founder of Twitter is brilliant and I have always wondered why only 140 characters was allowed. Seeing as how Jack Dorsey had a speech impediment and was a bit anti-social yet loved radio calls on a scanner of simple quick talk from police officers and EMS I respect his vision even more.

Twitter has changed drastically and is now a part of public figures brand. In order for you to lead you must have followers therefore everyone from politicians, news outlets, celebrities, fashion designers, and doctors, they have all created Twitter accounts to reach out to the world and let the world know about them. Sometimes little is more and that is the case with Twitter in just a few words someone can teach you something, hurt your feelings, break your heart, or make your day!