For Max Abrahms, Twitter has opened up a whole new world with regard to his research and scholarship. Abrahms, a terrorism expert and professor of Political Science at Northeastern University, has amassed nearly 40,000 followers and is quite active on Twitter. He underscores that Twitter has benefitted him in myriad ways, from networking to inspiring ideas for the classroom and his research, to opening his eyes to the global community’s varied and nuanced views of terrorism.
Abrahms opines, “Unfortunately, terrorism is such an enduring problem that there’s a lot of work to do.” Here, he shares how he got started on Twitter, how he approaches his engagement on the social media platform, and why tweeting isn’t for everyone. Abrahams joined Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing (in 2013). He’d been studying terrorism for a long time andwanted to comment on the news. He knew if he joined Twitter that he’d have an instant audience to share my thoughts about the attack.Many professors use it already, but Twitter isn’t for everybody. There are a lot of people who prefer not to be known, and then even within Twitter, there are many different approaches depending on what you want to get out of it. He wouldn’t encourage anyone or every academic to follow my example. He feels that it’s very personal how people approach using this social media platform.
Twitter is very good for making short statements and sharing links. A lot of content can be packed into a tweet. That said, Twitter is not good for expressing complex ideas. Abrahams feels, “Many times I’ll want to say something but I can’t figure out how to say it in such little space. I also don’t like to go back and forth with people on Twitter because I feel self-conscious, almost as if we’re having a dialogue that’s being seen by the public. So I’ll message someone privately and ask if they want to have a more substantive conversation over the phone”.
Harminder Singh