I surpassed a significant milestone in social media terms this week. I reached ten-thousand tweets. With only one tweet left before the 10,000th, I downloaded my Twitter archive. (I could not remember what my first tweet had been.) Perusing my microblogs from 4 years and 2 months ago, I discovered my first tweet was not only boring but misspelled. Twitter-style, I solicited advice from my 573 closest friends on Facebook using the hashtag: #WhatShouldMy10000thTweetBe. The first response came from a young family member who suggested, “It should say that i’m ur most favoritest niece.” Others suggested particular quotes or types of quotes. Some gently chided me with, “That’s all folks” or “Tim, you have to get a life! Lol.”

Wanting to tweet the perfect 10,000th tweet I went to bed separated from my Twitter account. The next morning, I woke to the magnitude of tornado destruction in Oklahoma. Compelled by current events I responded in tweet with the following:

Whether or not is was the perfect 10,000th tweet, it was done. In some ways my tweet represented the nature of Twitter, a place where we pass along found information to friends, a place where we respond as community to current events, and a place where — at its best — we share, collaborate, and discuss deep thoughts and ideas. Twitter at its best connects us to our human family around the globe. And, yes, sometimes, as it was for me fifteen times in my first month, Twitter is about the food we eat.