by Ifreke Inyang [@ifreke]

Abiola Adewoyin, who we all call Jamilah has a celebrity status on twitter. And it’s quite amazing because she is not even based in the country. She’s been away in Phillipines for some years but she has stayed connected to her roots via the social networking site. In this quick interview, the Information Technology graduate tells us more about her sojourn on twitter and what it has been like.

How did you get on twitter?

I joined January 2009. I remember I wanted to get a free copy of ubuntu software sent to me and one of the requirements was to tweet about it. So I joined but I didn’t really get active till mid 2009.

Who would you say is your favourite tweep?

I have a lot of favorites, but there are some whose timelines I can’t do without checking in a
day. 1st thing I do when I log into twitter is to check timelines of football players especially arsenal players. I enjoy reading tweets from @juiceegal , @toptosyn however.  And @bankyw’s replies to his
mentions crack me up all the time.

Is there any particular tweet you’ll never forget? Tell us about it.
All  @PiersMorgan’s tweets bullying  Manchester United players especially Rio Ferdinand. Loool

Have you had any embarrassing/memorable experience on twitter? If yes, what happened?

No embarrassing experience for me but memorable experience would be the day super eagles qualified for the world cup. I was screaming all over twitter and eventually got into twit jail.

What are the downsides of being on twitter?

Twitter can be so distracting, if you are not careful, it can make you less productive. There were a lot of times I had to deactivate my mobile internet and block twitter on my laptop so I could focus on school work.

What are the upsides?

Networking Networking Networking. I’ve met really wonderful people on twitter, people who I don’t think I would ever have had the opportunity to talk to offline. Then another good thing about twitter is the way you first hear about news and updates about situations on it. It has helped me especially during typhoon and flood situations.

What three words describe your twitter persona?

Fun, Mischievous and Honest.

How come you seem to know a lot of Nigerian celebrities when you’re not even in the country?

Funny thing is I have only met about 30 of my followers, but I think its my interesting character that makes me make friends easily. I talk with everyone like I’ve known them for a long time.

Colin Udoh exclusively told us that you blackmailed him into joining twitter. How did you do that?
Lool. I can’t even remember how, but I know I kept persuading him to join for a long time.
Do you follow back readily? Why?

I only follow people whose tweets would be useful for me and I would only follow back if I’ve seen your
name a lot on my timeline like people retweeting your tweets and stuff. I however hate when you ask me to follow back because you’re following me, I just ignore such people.

What would possibly make you close your twitter account?

If any of my future employers ask me to do so, I would however open a secret account. 😀

TWITTER STATS (As at 3.30pm, 27^th April, 2011)

Handle: @Jamilah11

Followers: 1,787

Following:  637

Tweets: 47, 041

Favourite tweets: