NYC train passengers. Photo: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML

LOGISTICS

@nyctrains

Pierre Bastien is the man behind @nyctrains, and the MTA (NYC’s transit system) should hire him as their social media manager. Bastien tweets updates about NYC transit service problems. With all the maintenance being done on subway lines, @nyctrains is worth checking out before leaving home, hotel, or hostel.

@NY1weather

NY1 is the city’s 24 hour news channel, and @NY1weather is its Twitter broadcast of the local weather report… far more concise than the television talking heads. You’ve never appreciated 140 characters more.

@NotifyNYC

NYC’s Office of Emergency Management tweets updates about emergencies around the 5 boros, including fires, weather-related situations, traffic accidents, and power/utility outages. May be more useful for city residents than visitors.

BUDGET TRAVEL

@TheSkint

TheSkint is the Twitter handle for a blog by the same name. Both provide daily listings of “free and cheap things to buy, see, do, and eat in New York.” Follow TheSkint on Twitter for a more condensed, easy to read version of the blog updates. @TheSkint also uses Twitter for regular ticket giveaways.

ACTIVITIES

@olv

Hollywood has Star Maps. New York City has @olv. Learn where you can sight celebrities by following @olv’s updates of daily movie shoot locations around the city.

ONE-STOP SHOP

@newyorkology

If you follow just one person on this list, this is it. Amy Langfield, the woman behind @newyorkology and the blog by the same name, provides an excellent service by tweeting about events around the city. She’s also incredibly responsive to her almost 14,000 followers. Be sure to check out her lists, too, which compile the best tweeps for transportation, culture, museums, and the arts in NYC.

KIDS & FAMILIES

@mommypoppins

It’s like @newyorkology, but for kids. @mommypoppins tweets events for kids (Bollywood skating fundraiser for an Indian orphanage? Seriously.) and lets her sassy personality loose on Twitter: Why do class descriptions say stuff like…:’if your kid is the next Beyonce this is the class for you’? Can’t they just like to dance?

ARTS & CULTURE

@nycarts

The Twitter account for NYC’s Alliance for Arts tweets about events, give aways (“Get a free class coupon for African dance”), and volunteer opportunities.

@GuernicaMag

NYC based online mag that mixes news, politics, art, and literature. They bring perspectives and stories found nowhere else.

@BombMagazine

NYC artists’ magazine since 1981 “publishing conversations that delve deep into theory and practice, allowing for complex discussions on art and life to emerge.”

FOOD

@slowfoodnyc

The Twitter account for NYC’s Slow Foods chapter announces tasting events and opportunities to participate in food advocacy activities. I’d love to see them update their account more frequently.

RANDOM

@idealistinnyc

In town to volunteer? @idealistinnyc is Idealist.org’s local presence for New Yorkers, tweeting not just about volunteer opportunities, but events, and other conscious living ephemera (“Find love and do good, or find a do-gooder to love. A dating site for socially conscious New Yorkers: http://bit.ly/dbyufW”)

Community Connection

Know any other NYC based tweeps to follow? Let us know.

We’ll be returning next Friday with a new destination-based list of twitter resources.