Holy freakin' crap. I just hit 10,000 Twitter followers on @whatsuptucson.
I was given this Twitter account by Leesa, a woman I didn't know but who followed my other Twitter @kencarr in 2009. She was moving to California and thought it should stay in Tucson. It had just under 2,000 followers at the time.
Since then, I've used it to share local information about breaking news stories around town, traffic accidents, and things like that. The content has grown to include live Tweeting of news events as I hear them on the emergency / police scanner such as the recent huge parties at The Standard apartment complex on Stone and The Seasons on Wetmore that were broken up by police, and the shooting at The Standard which was later picked up by local media.
I also Tweet police dispatches to loud party calls on Friday and Saturday nights (when I'm home) and DUI checkpoints. Both of these have been quite popular with followers.
@whatsuptucson has grown by about 3,000 followers in the last two months so apparently I'm doing something right. I broke the 10,000 follower mark at 11:35 p.m. tonight (2/17/13).
One other thing that is unique about this Twitter account: It landed me a job as a TV news producer in October 2011 at Fox 11 here in Tucson.
It's been a time consuming hobby but I've totally enjoyed it. The reward has been building a following that seems to appreciate the content that I write.
One word for it all: Awesome.
To check out @whatsuptucson on Twitter, click here.
