By Nomathemba Pearl Dzinotyiwei

Central Business District, Johannesburg, South Africa. Original image by Nomathemba Pearl Dzinotyiwei

Welcome to Twitter

The virtual global city.

Many neighborhoods,

But no love for neighbours.

A colossal marketplace from everything

From Avocados to Zulu language texts

The bane of governments, companies and media everywhere.

News so fast,

It’s now made on the streets,

Not just broken anymore.

Thanks to the unmatched spirit of

Ingenuity, improvisation and inventiveness*

You will only find here.

With fake reports

Creating PR nightmares

Of melodramatic proportions.

In these streets,

Celebrities and citizens are equally famous.

You can go from zero to hero and back

In minutes, 24/7, 365.

Butterflies cause hurricanes here.

Let’s drive by #InnerCityTwitter

Where the streets are

Mean, grimy & rough.

Crawling with racists, misogynists,

Dissemblers, liars, psychopaths,

Abusive mean-spirited bullies and trolls

Whose dragging and burning

Are the scourge of many.

Its unruly inhabitants

Like to barge in, unwelcome,

As we sit and weigh in on the

Sage and cultured debates

Of politics, the economy,

Social issues and literature by

#IntellectualTwitter

Of all genders, races and creeds.

Where the language is refined,

The vocabulary on point.

Defeated by the elegance of the argument

The intellectually stunted morons’ best shot is to

default to base insults or

Worse, profanity (sh*t this, f*ck that)

To make their point or lack of thereof.

Come and sit by the fireside of

#EthnicTwitter, those

Vibrant close knit networks

Of people with common origins

Where native language tweets

Share the latest news,

Dispense wisdom and bring tears to ones with laughter

With the best inside jokes.

Home away from home

For the lonely dwellers of the diaspora,

Longing for the sights and sounds of home.

My favourite neighborhood which,

Just like the village, there are

Aunties and uncles at the corners

Calling to order rude boys and mean girls

With the temerity to bring

their inner city savagery

To these quiet civilized streets.

Live, love, laugh and lead

Share your mountain top moments:

Your innovations and successes;

Your opinions, informed or otherwise;

Your woes in the valley: your worst struggles and

Your deepest griefs.

Inspire others with your greatest joys.

Hashtag # your stories

To reach like-minded souls

Find what you’re looking for:

Whether it’s lasting love;

Or the cheap thrill of mindless, meaningless sex;

Validation- ‘am I the crazy one here’;

Professional respect; or

An opportunity to vent,

When it all gets too much.

Like, Retweet, Quote and repeat.

Watch your language.

Pick your battles.

Choose carefully who to watch because,

You are who you follow.

A place of permanent memory,

More immutable than the #Blockchain.

Careers are made and broken here.

Even if you’re not a #Twitterzen.

These streets are watching

Start safe out there

Coz it’s all good in the hood.

*Evelyn of the Internets