Poetry hits the Twitter scene

By now, everyone should know what Twitter is, but just in case: Twitter is, "the best way to discover what's new in your world." This is the actual slogan on the Twitter homepage. But Twitter is much more than that. "Life is a book, you're the author, make it a bestseller." This extra short yet insightful tweet is a prime example of how a limit of 140 characters can be used effectively. This particular entry was written by Yuri Scharan, from Brazil, who is a regular Twitter user and an occasional poet, In his one sentence Twitter post, just 11 words, Yuri summed up his concept of life.

It seems Twitter was originally created as a social networking site specifically meant to enable users to update their "followers" constantly on what they are doing. Celebrities soon joined in on the fun, letting their fans know what´s happening in their lives at the moment.

Although in the mix of all the past controversial posts by 50 Cent, Kim Kardashian, former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin and even the record-breaking twitter followers of the one and only Charlie Sheen, a new Twitter sensation has arrived; poetry.

A poem can tell an entire tale without long chapters and pages filled with tons of specifics and stoic anecdotes. The beauty of poetry lies in the impact a few words can have. Twitter forces you to write very little, yet have those words be powerful enough to get your message across this hi-tech digital universe.

Poetry has become a sudden hit in "Twitterland," as many users, including some A-listers, have gone all Shakespearean on us. Probably the greatest poet to enter the digital realm of Twitter is former American Poet Laureate Billy Collins, who posts verses and rhymes on a regular basis.

Twitter is a great avenue to publicly channel your poetic prowess. Many friends, acquaintances and surely some strangers will see your poetic work with the option of commenting on it and encouraging you keep on doing what you love. Who knows, you might even finagle some extra credit from an English teacher for writing such graceful rhymes on a social network.

Twitter's 140-character limit can be seen as a positive because it combines creativity and ingenuity with the ever-shortening attention span of the public.  This text limit presents a challenge for those wishing to express themselves, but if users do it right, their message could get across stronger than ever.  If all the reader has to do is spend ten seconds of their time reading your words, they're much more likely to do so.  It's all up to whether or not you can use 140 words effectively or not.  The big question you face now is, to tweet or not to tweet?