You just got home from practice after a long day of school.  You pick up your phone to see the usual two or three text messages you missed, and then it begins.  You open up the app and start scrolling and reading.  Before you know it, 30 minutes have passed.  You start to do your homework, but feel the need to check again.  You open the app and start scrolling and reading some more.  It’s 10 pm and your homework still isn’t done.  You decide to finish all your homework and then finally get some sleep.  But right before you go to sleep, one last time you open the app, scroll down, and read some more, and before closing the app you finally end your day with a tweet that says, “Goodnight Twitter.”

Twitter is a daily part of teenagers’ lives today.  Once the words, “tweet”, “hashtag”, and “followers” are used, every teen immediately knows what you’re talking about.  While the social network has only been around for seven years, during the last four years it has become one of the most popular social networks. It has over 500 million registered accounts as of 2012 and receives over 340 million tweets daily.

Most students seem to prefer reading tweets rather than tweeting themselves. Sophomore Gionna Melchione said that she checks Twitter about 30 times a day on average and junior Gabi Mottola said that she checks Twitter every 20 minutes.

“You always know what’s going on.  You’re not gonna miss anything,” Gabi says.  Apparently, “knowing everybody’s business” was one of the main reasons that people love Twitter.

In addition to “knowing everybody’s business” another reason why Twitter is so popular, especially among teenagers, is because they love the drama that it brings.  When friends subtweet (tweet usually negative things about each other but do not specifically mention names) this causes what is called a “twitter fight.”  Any time there is a fight over Twitter everyone reads it and everyone talks about it.

“All the fights are the best,” says sophomore Joe Ballantyne, “they are entertaining and funny to read.”

“I only got a Twitter to see all the drama,” says another sophomore.

Twitter isn’t only popular with the younger generation today, but many companies and TV shows use Twitter for their benefit.  Many shows nowadays have a specific “hashtag” to use if you want to tweet feedback.

“I hate when TV shows use hashtags. It’s so annoying,” says Gabi.  Joe Ballantyne said that hashtags on TV are unnecessary and should just be used in tweets and not shown on television screens.

Another reason why teens love Twitter is because it is their main source of news from all around the world.  When something happens nearly halfway across the country, people know about it immediately when the news stations that they follow tweets about it.  Twitter is a big part in keeping teenagers informed today.

Whether you tweet 50 times a day or don’t even have an account, everyone knows about Twitter.  It is on your TV’s, in the newspaper, in magazines, and in stores.  You are constantly being told to follow your favorite news reporter or tweet what you think will happen on your favorite TV show. Some stores even have discounts if you follow them on Twitter.  Twitter has only been around for seven years, but we can already tell that it will be around for much longer.