Although Facebook has long been the usual way for teenagers to connect with their friends online, an alternative has gained popularity in the social networking world.
 For many, Twitter is the new site for people to share what’s on their minds.
 “I love how I can tweet what I want, whenever I want,” junior Ashley Brown said. “On Facebook, it gets annoying if you constantly update your status, but it’s different on Twitter.”
 According to profilerehab.com, the site was created by Jack Dorsey in 2006. He introduced the idea of using an SMS (short message service) that would let a user text something to a group of friends to be shared on the Web.
 A revolution in social networking was made. Since then, Twitter has acquired over 200 million users worldwide, 460,000 accounts are made daily and 140 million tweets are sent daily, says theglobeandmail.com.
 The site mainly consists of a person’s “tweets” or updates. People can be “followed” (which is similar to being someone’s friend on Facebook) so their updates and photos can be read and shared.
 However, the site isn’t just random updates of what your friends are up to. Many top news stories – from tsunamis to Osama Bin Laden’s death to scores of a football game to the latest celebrity gossip – break on Twitter first.
 Another attraction to the site is the huge number of celebrities who post tweets.
 “My favorite thing about Twitter is that you can stalk them legally!” senior Jake Steenhoek said
 According to twitaholic.com, the top five most-followed people worldwide on Twitter are Lady Gaga at 8.9 million followers, Justin Bieber at 8.2 million followers, Britney Spears at 7.1 million followers, Barack Obama at 7 million followers, and Kim Kardashian at 6.8 million followers.
 Twitter is also used as an educational tool in many schools. While our school’s page is mainly focused on updates of sports teams, many are used to keep classes updated on homework assignments and classroom itineraries.
 An eu.crunch.com article states that in some UK primary schools kids are taught blogging, how to use Wikipedia and podcasting, as well as keyboard skills and how to use a spellchecker.
 But here, for now, most teens are using the site simply as a casual way to communicate with friends.
 “I like how there’s no parents on it and you’re not judged by how many ‘likes’ you get on your posts. I just use it to tell how I’m feeling,” senior Allie Shrum said. “Also I like how there’s people you can follow who just post inspirational quotes. They brighten my day!”