Adjoa Mante
Staff Writer

Although it has only existed for three years, Twitter, a site which allows people to ‘follow’ their favorite celebrities and friends by reading the ‘tweets’ that they post, is becoming a part of the daily lives of people all over the world. Do not be surprised when “tweet” becomes a verb in the English dictionary.
Whether you are drinking coffee in the morning while getting updated on the events of your friend, following the tweets of your favorite celebrity or even tweeting yourself, spending time on Twitter can become a ritual. Though the site only allows you to use 140 characters per tweet, so much information can be packed into those restrictions. It could be a witty thought or comment, or a funny joke you heard or something that actually happened to you; the possibilities are endless. Twitter is also a great resource, just like Youtube, for those practical enough to use it. Through Twitter you can broadcast an idea, meet people who are like-minded, and find means to produce or manufacture your idea.
However, as would be expected, the main users of Twitter are interested in the website for pure entertainment reasons such as teenagers who want to catch up with the activities of their friends and celebrities. However, the population of Twitter is not only composed of teens; there are some adults who talk with their friends and celebrities. These celebrities often grace their fans with news of their daily undertakings. Among the many Twitter users was Miley Cyrus who says she became addicted to Twitter too. Miley’s constant tweets lead her fans to use the site along with her in order to keep up with their favorite pop star’s daily life. When, all of a sudden, Cyrus left Twitter, all her fans were left alone on the Twitter bandwagon. This was not an intentional result, Miley had a reason: she did not just decide to leave Twitter just to disappoint her fans. She says she left the site because she was spending to much time on her computer instead of living life.
“All I did was lay in bed on my computer and sit there and eat ice cream late at night, you don’t end up living your life and you end up saying things that really is no-one else’s business.” ~Miley Cyrus
Cyrus’s obsession with Twitter was rivaled only by the obsession of her fans. Just like cigarette smokers, Cyrus’s fans needed updates on the doings of their favorite celebrity, so instead of a nicotine patch, one of her fans came up with a plan. To get Cyrus back on Twitter, this person threatened to kill and eat his/her cat named Fuzzy if Miley Cyrus did not get back on Twitter by November 16th. Though it may just be a bid to get their daily bit of Miley Cyrus back into their routine, whoever came up with the idea of killing Fuzzy has introduced an interesting subject: What will people do once an addiction takes hold? And what exactly is the addictive nature of social networking and the sites that spring up around it and what is it doing to today’s youth?