Katrina Gulliver (@katrinagulliver), the founder of #twitterstorians, marked the second anniversary of the group today. And I wanted to pass along birthday wishes too. I am exceptionally late to the Twitter party, even later to twitterstorians, since I only joined Twitter a mere (couple of) months ago. My social media runs more Facebook, but I was intrigued at using twitter as a way to more publicly connect with other scholars as well as drum up attention for Gospel According to the Klan. Putting my bad habits of self-promotion aside, Twitter is a fascinating venue to connect with not only fellow American religious historians but also other cultural, American, and public historians too. Post a question, get a tweeted reply. I get quick analyses of news stories as well as fellow twitterstorians sending me links to my current research interests.
Just last week Stetson Kennedy, the famed Klan unmasker and Civil Rights activist, died. How did I hear about during my weekend? Not on the news, not even on Facebook (until a little later), but rather through a fellow twitterstorian. Chris Cantwell (@cdc29) tweeted it to me. While I was hesitant about the prospect of microblogging, I am slowly incorporating Twitter as scholarly praxis. I can’t wait to see how I feel on twitterstorians’ birthday next year
So glad you could join the party, Kelly! It’s great to see the many ways historians are using twitter in their research lives.
It is no problem. I am eager to see what others’ posts include, since I am the “new kid.”
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