5 Years on Twitter: What I've Learned

is on the Twitter Bandwagon, lets see how long this lasts
— Evan Barnes (@evan_b) January 13, 2009

That was my first tweet. January 12, 2009. I had no idea what to expect after I got convinced to join Twitter by my friend Bree. I remember thinking "Is this just like posting status updates or what?" and it'd be a fad I'd give up since I was so into Facebook.

Five years later, Twitter's become everything Facebook was back in 09-10 and more. A news source. An outlet of emotions. A way of interacting with people you'd never meet everyday. A community. And for me, it's been as much a part of life since 2009 as anything.

Back in 2009, I was looking for a spark. 2008 was a huge year for my newspaper and I wondered what the year would hold now that Barack Obama was President. Personally, I was slowly recovering from a breakup and wondering how I would start meeting people outside of work. 2 1/2 years out of college, I still had yet to find a consistent circle of friends to hang out with besides church.

That's when Twitter came along. I only knew that one friend and I ended up following President Obama and Dart Adams, a writer who had inspired me with his site Poisonous Paragraphs. I didn't know what to expect but I figured it was a bold new world. Plus I was just about to start this blog so the timing was perfect.

2013: Music Favorites and Digging Deeper

I dug deeper into (clockwise from top left) Passion Pit, Haim, The National and my new favorite band, Vampire Weekend in 2013.

I do this every year and I wasn't going to forget in a year where I dove deeper into more artists and took some chances.

Favorite 10 albums (I wrote about four of them here at Bro Jackson)

10. Booker T. - Sound the Alarm (A summer classic from one of America's finest soul men/arrangers)

9. Mayer Hawthorne – Where Does This Door Go (Finally realize how great he is)

8. Killer Mike/El-P - Run The Jewels

7. Justin Timberlake – 20/20 Experience Part 1 (Welcome back JT)

6. Janelle Monae – Electric Lady (Best R&B album of the year

5. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (It got so much better with time)

4. The National – Trouble Will Find Me

3. Haim – Days Are Gone

2. Arctic Monkeys - AM

1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

Why Vampire Weekend? Modern Vampires is a great album about growing up and questioning your world around you. It’s questioning faith without giving it up. The single “Unbelievers” sounds like a folk song that fits the grown nature of the album without sacrificing the light-hearted optimism in Ezra Koenig’s voice. 

2013: A Year of Transition

2013 felt like Jesse Pinkman in Season 3 of “Breaking Bad”. You finally shake some demons and step up to be the person you need to be.  It started on a cold January day running a 1-mile loop in my neighborhood and it ended with me driving home from a game on December 30 in my new car.

In between there, I lost 30-35 lbs, started a sports blog, added another job, challenged myself to think even more critical. I learned more about discipline and patience through running than I did before. In total, I ran 370 miles and some change, which still blows my mind.

Losing weight was one of the hardest things I’ve done and for 3-4 months, I sacrificed fast food, late night eating and devoted myself to night workouts.  When the summer came, I realized how much different I looked. Clothes fit better, energy was stronger and I was more motivated to write and think.