20 women to follow on Twitter
Women dominate the conversation on Twitter, so here are 20 dynamic female twitterati worth following
IF TWITTER has achieved one thing, it has given a voice, albeit one with a 140-character limit, to generations of people. It is the ultimate in free-speech democracy. According to a July study by social media news blog Mashable.com, women account for 64 per cent of Twitter users. Men may account for the lion’s share of chief executives, TDs and American politicians, but on Twitter they are outvoted.Perhaps it’s that our society has women more accustomed to being free and easy with their “chat” levels; either way, the online conversation is flowing. The only question then is: Who should we follow?
We asked Irish Times contributors to come up with their top fives, and the list contains a wide variety of women from all walks of life. From a Saudi blogger to an Italian-American feminist and an Irish stylist, there seems to be no end to the number of women out there worth following, both figuratively and, in some cases, ideologically.
MARY FITZGERALD’S RECOMMENDATIONS
(@MaryFitzgerldIT)
Judy Dempsey @Judy_Dempsey
Insights and links on international affairs with a particular focus on Europe from Irish-born Dempsey, veteran journalist and International Herald Tribune columnist.
Anne-Marie Slaughter @SlaughterAM
The world as seen through the lens of Princeton professor and foreign-affairs specialist Anne-Marie Slaughter. Author of an explosive piece on women’s work-life balance for the Atlantic magazine earlier this year, iti.ms/Qzk4EU.
Mona Eltahawy @monaeltahawy
Always provocative, Egyptian-American writer and commentator Eltahawy doesn’t hold back when it comes to opining on Arab and Muslim issues. An essential accompaniment to the changes in the Middle East.
Megan Greene @economistmeg
The euro crisis as tweeted by US-born economist Megan Greene, who analyses the financial travails of Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy.
LAURA SLATTERY’S RECOMMENDATIONS
(@IrishTimesLaura)
Helen Lewis @helenlewis
The droll deputy editor of the New Statesman has a keen eye for the absurd and can be relied upon to expose the double standards in how a male-controlled media views women. Lately she’s been busy tweeting her disdain for Britain’s almost all-white and very male cabinet reshuffle, and has just finished rolling her eyes at Naomi Wolf’s Vagina: A New Biography.
Martha Plimpton @MarthaPlimpton
“I put dead people’s hair on my head and talk loudly in front of strangers for money,” it says on her bio, which is New Yorker Plimpton’s way of saying she’s an actress (most recently on Raising Hope and The Good Wife). She tweets about politics, disbelievingly digesting US Republicans’ assault on reproductive rights, known in Twitter shorthand as #waronwomen.
Caitlin Moran @caitlinmoran
That the London Times columnist and TV reviewer is a major Doctor Who fan is reason enough to follow her, and some 280,000 people do. Of course, the fact that the author of the best-selling How to Be a Woman is also hilarious is a bonus. She’s an ALL CAPS enthusiast, so if you’ve got a problem with that, FRANKLY IT’S YOUR LOSS.
Anne Billson @AnneBillson
The Brussels-based film critic always has a wry, fresh take on her area of expertise and is great at stimulating conversation among movie nerds.
Sample tweet: “This is the way to spend Thursday afternoon, isn’t it? Tweeting about Bond soundtracks. We’ve done it before we will no doubt do it again.”
ROSEMARY Mac CABE’S RECOMMENDATIONS
