This is an archive of my non fiction Twitter story. Below are the tweets in order detailing my journey from aspiring cop to single mom to college drop out to college graduate.
(1/16)In 2008 I got accepted to the school of my dreams #johnjaycollege with the hopes of becoming an NYPD officer.
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(2/16) But a week into classes I discovered I was pregnant with a little girl and all of my goals began to unravel pic.twitter.com/qnxzkaxslD
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(3/16) I wasn't sure how I would raise a child and get a degree but I was determined to do it so I stayed enrolled in school.
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(4/16)The world dealt me another blow when I went into labor early and was put on bed rest, forcing me to withdraw from my second semester
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(5/16)I was so discouraged I had to withdraw but more than anything I was terrified and worried about my unborn baby
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(6/16)In March 2009 I gave birth to Ava, by far the most emotional day of my life. I was determined 2 do right 4her pic.twitter.com/Z7j8Pc3aF7
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(7/16) In fall of 2009 I was back in class at #JohnJay but was quickly overwhelmed with the amount of work and the stress of an infant
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(8/16)Sadly in November I dropped all of my classes. I felt defeated and lost but worst of all I felt like a failure.
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(9/16) I worked retail jobs for two years before giving college another go in fall 2011. I wanted to make my goals a reality for me and Ava
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(10/16)I finished out the semester but my heart wasnt in it & i realized this was no longer my goal. I also realized i had no idea who i was
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(11/16)I was unhappy, lost & unmotivated I didn't think I would ever amount to anything except working to make ends meet. It was depressing.
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(12/16)My mom pushed me to take the Income Tax Course and to my surprise I passed! In 2012 I started working as a Tax Pro.
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(13/16)For the first time in years I felt like I was doing something right and that everything was going to be alright.
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(14/16)In 2013 I decided to give college another try. I enrolled at #KingsboroughCC to study business. Something I found i was good at.
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(15/16)My first semester at #KBCC was amazing and for the first time in my life I had a 4.0 GPA most importantly I believed in me again
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
(16/16)In June 2015 I graduated with my A.S in business. I felt so proud that I had kept my promise to Ava. pic.twitter.com/EI68ZNXWuF
— Samantha (@sdotpezz) February 18, 2016
REFLECTION:
For my twitter story I had two particular audiences in mind. One being young moms and the other being moms who juggle work and school with motherhood both who may doubt their abilities or that the goal is attainable. I crafted the story originally to be very detailed but soon realized that would make the story entirely too long for a character limiting platform such as twitter. I then reorganized my story to include necessary detail but concise to where it wasn’t overwhelming on a timeline. I believe my story was a success because not only do the numbers (over 2,000 impressions in 24 hours) support that but I got excellent feedback from my professor as well as my peers. Mariah (@mariahraj) said “@sdotpezz your strength and go getter attitude is inspirational” and Jodie (@jodieannstephen) quoted one of my tweets saying “Life goals #lifegoals“. Professor Ellis also applauded my delivery of the message as did Pam who can personally relate as a mother herself. I feel that I got wholly positive feedback and my story was relatable to people with or without kids. I sought to deliver a message of inspiration and encouragement and based on the replies I believe I have. It was challenging but rewarding to deliver a story on this platform because not only do I love twitter I enjoy discovering new ways to use it. From these tweets I got mentions, likes and follows from things I mentioned or hash tagged. Using keys terms and tags helps to reach a specific community and that was my main goal for crafting this story.
ANALTYICS:
On Wednesday my twitter got 2,473 engagements. This consists of retweets, likes, and mentions or times people opened the tweet. The most highly trafficked tweets were the closing to my twitter story with 116 and tweet 16 of 16 with 79. The topic in general garnished a lot of attention because its in line with one of the genres of my twitter feed regularly.
