I did not grow up learning on computers, so social media was unknown territory as far as I was concerned. What did I know about Facebook and Twitter? I didn’t even know what it meant to tweet! But I realized that many of the people I knew were using social media to keep in touch with the world around them.

I decided to enroll in a social-media class offered at my local adult school. Our teacher was young and very savvy with social media. By the time the class had finished, I was ready to start blogging, Facebook-ing, and tweeting.

Twitter is extremely popular because you can reach the whole world with your tweets. Let’s say that I tweet a message, limited to 140 characters, with a link to a yummy vegan recipe. If I have 20 followers and one of my followers retweets my tweet (i.e., sends it to all of his or her followers), it will be seen by as many followers as that person has. If he or she has 40 followers, 40 people will see the recipe that I posted. Then if some of those people retweet to their followers, the number of people who see my recipe will be compounded and will keep snowballing as more people retweet my original tweet.

Confused? Don’t be. Tweeting (and retweeting) is very easy—and so is adding links and pictures. A great way to start is by checking out the Twitter Help Center. Simply sign up for an account (it’s free) and then start following people and organizations that you like. If you want to find some vegan and animal-rights organizations, vegan restaurants, people, etc., go to the “Search” box and type the words “vegan” or “animal rights.” All sorts of sites will come up, and then you can just pick the ones that appeal to you, open up their pages, and hit the “Follow” button.

If you are searching for a particular subject, type the hashtag (#) in front on your search. For example, put “#tofu” in the search box, and all things tofu will come up.

For years, PETA has been effectively using social media to get its animal rights messages and alerts out, and once I learned how to use Twitter, I have been tweeting and retweeting PETA’s messages right along with the younger folks. Twitter is a valuable tool for spreading the word about animal rights. A simple tweet or retweet about anything from abuse on factory farms to where the next SeaWorld protest is going to be held has the power to reach thousands if not millions of people. The world is changing, and by tweeting and retweeting our animal rights messages, the world will hear us!