Ahhh, Twitter. Whether you use it to stay up on the latest news or get your daily dose of Grumpy Cat, Twitter is an amazing tool to keep a pulse on the goings-on on the people and communities you love most.
That's why — for the second year in a row — we've curated 50 people from Chicago's tech and startup community who we think deserve a follow. The list includes techies, founders, marketers, VCs, reporters and other important community members involved in the local tech scene. You'll find some Chicago tech staples and some newer, up-and-coming faces, all of whom have a significant following and are fairly regular tweeters.
This list is meant as a jumping off point for discovering great people to follow in our community — and is by no means exhaustive. (If we were to include everyone we love to follow ... we'd be exhausted!)
Without further ado, check out our 2016 list of 50 people in Chicago tech to follow on Twitter:
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Step Two: Start Clicking Follow
Shrada Agarwal
Inspiring new wall murals at @contextmedia - reminders to fight for our mission #WhatsYourSuperpower #ChangeTheWorld pic.twitter.com/0YmRbRALnF
— Shradha Agarwal (@shr4dha) April 26, 2016
Tom Alexander
Super fun (albeit short) trip to Cali. Congrats to MyChild and @1871chicago and GFE! ¡Hast… https://t.co/RI7NExGwwv pic.twitter.com/vAnVB0ryZo
— Tom Alexander (@tomalexander19) May 5, 2016
Talha Basit
check out our new engineering blog at https://t.co/oW31TZp47g! @DoseTeam @dose
— talha f basit (@talhafbasit) May 23, 2016
George Bousis
Excited to share w/ everyone the new Raise welcome video! https://t.co/4VroblAXx8
— George D. Bousis (@GBousis) May 19, 2016
Jennifer Brandel
Office HQ for @wearehearken go from my dining room to Aon Center thanks to @thoughtworks - We feel so welcomed! TY! pic.twitter.com/0zXEgg9s4U
— Jennifer Brandel (@JenniferBrandel) April 27, 2016
Emile Cambry
Please check out the @BLUE1647 #join1919 Women in Tech program video of our latest Tech Tea Party https://t.co/YanZV4cQGW cc:@KathrynFinney
— EmileCambry (@EmileCambry) May 21, 2016
Griffin Caprio
5 years ago I wrote about my dad, chicago and community building for @Technori https://t.co/27bgLlYxrF Time is flying
— Griffin Caprio (@gcaprio) May 7, 2016
Steven Collens
Future of health will be continuous engagement with the healthcare system via tech like @4DHealthware https://t.co/0pSx3jxXFH @MATTERChicago
— Steven Collens (@scollens) May 19, 2016
Jeffrey Carter
Saturday in the Park (@ Lincoln Park in Chicago, IL) https://t.co/JglCuIenDz pic.twitter.com/abu1A8HAD2
— Jeffrey Carter (@pointsnfigures) May 21, 2016
Jayna Cooke
These Are The Most Difficult Tech Jobs to Fill https://t.co/WzBlu14XRf #tech #startup #entrepreneur
— Jayna Cooke (@JaynaCooke) May 24, 2016
Andy Crestodina
How to Rank Higher in Google in 5 Minutes https://t.co/B866xcxHF2 ← real, ethical #SEO for #ContentMarketing pros. pic.twitter.com/vHW9qGCSsS
— Andy Crestodina (@crestodina) November 12, 2015
Kristi Dula
Congrats to @bforgan and @Hologram_io! '#Chicago #IoT startup raises $4.8 million' https://t.co/M3DBiIuVci via @crainschicago
— Kristi Dula (@KristiDula) May 24, 2016
Amina Elahi
Chicago tech office spaces that keep it: https://t.co/2Fkp0I0nDu
— Amina Elahi (@aminamania) May 9, 2016
Fabian Elliott
Definitely a must read. Provides a valuable career and life perspective. Please don’t learn to code https://t.co/fNjzh9NW00 via @techcrunch
— Fabian Elliott (@Fabian_Elliott) May 17, 2016
Jason Fried
Know Your Company lands some well-deserved press in FastCompany: https://t.co/5ch8zG3pA1. Congrats @cjlew23!
— Jason Fried (@jasonfried) May 23, 2016
Stella Garber
arrive to airport 3 hours before flight in Chicago. NBD. https://t.co/AYW7v0Yo9Q
— Stella Garber (@startupstella) May 17, 2016
Melissa Harris
It's early but never thought I'd see this in my lifetime. @Cubs (.786), Sox atop divisions and MLB. pic.twitter.com/xVApN2SQwP
— Melissa Harris (@ChiConfidential) May 7, 2016
Troy Henikoff
Beautiful view! pic.twitter.com/FuqOyykKDL
— TroyHenikoff (@TroyHenikoff) May 24, 2016
Justyn Howard
44% of people say they're more likely to apply for a job they saw on #social. More on this in @Entrepreneur. #HR https://t.co/WYqzU4KGBq
— Justyn Howard (@Justyn) May 19, 2016
Josh Inglis
9 simple steps to strong content marketing, the Michelin way https://t.co/ST3DwxASpj
— Josh Inglis (@Propllrhead) May 23, 2016
Michelle Joseph
Founders try to convince you of their vision, I get it but that often leads to getting loose with knowable facts https://t.co/huSLIu1pNL
— Michelle Joseph (@MichelleJPF) May 18, 2016
Maria Christopoulos Katris
"We Could All Use a Little Homework" by @lefkofsky: https://t.co/2d0c8iERfx
— Maria Katris (@mariakatris) April 13, 2016
Seth Kravitz
Me looking at my inbox right now. Thanks for all the nice notes everyone :) #gratitude pic.twitter.com/SR8zrQlxfu
— Seth Kravitz (@SethKravitz) May 11, 2016
Amanda Lannert
Crowd shot from first ever @JellyvisionLab hackathon final presentation. #jellygames2016 pic.twitter.com/QEtuckcPFg
— Amanda Lannert (@AmandaLannert) May 12, 2016
Paul Lee
40% of the nominees for best new startup in the @MoxieAwards are @roniin companies https://t.co/8VdpGQrvjS cc: @GetOfficeLuv @pearachute
— Paul Lee (@iPaulLee) May 17, 2016
Steven Lee
https://t.co/TCJxvu3FTf Top 50 startups to watch in Chicago pic.twitter.com/c7rqP8zwfT
— Steven Lee (@isightdr) January 26, 2016
Eric Lefkofsky
The lobby of Groupon today. Very cool pic.twitter.com/FZsHyD8gUu
— Eric Lefkofsky (@lefkofsky) April 25, 2016
Eric Lunt
Trevor and I doing some afternoon coding together at @Signal today. pic.twitter.com/C33Zqq3GVt
— Eric Lunt (@elunt) April 28, 2016
Katy Lynch
Full house at @Chi_Innovation Celebrating Women In Innovation event! Proud to be an entrepreneur & #womanintech pic.twitter.com/OCJZtBP4Mv
— Katy Lynch (@thekatylynch) May 18, 2016
Mike McGee
Lol Brienne was all like, "yeah I killed Stannis" #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/xpEWLoL7C8
— Mike McGee (@michaelmcgee) May 16, 2016
Dorri McWhorter
In 1984, 37% comp sci grads were women, today 18%! @victoriaespinel #AICPAGC16 #womenintech #stem #chitechgyrls #WeCanDoBetter
— Dorri McWhorter (@chicCPA) May 16, 2016
Lorena Mesa
Awesome write up on how to use code in your slides https://t.co/wMnSInp4V2 @lookatmyslides
— Lorena Mesa (@loooorenanicole) May 3, 2016
Rebecca Miller-Webster
SO EXCITED!
— Rebecca (@rmillerwebster) May 4, 2016
Trained Therapists will facilitate
SELF-CARE & ART THERAPY@WriteSpeakCode Alumna track. https://t.co/7qR6kRJwXE
Julian Miller
Working on beautiful things with brilliant people. @ 1871 Chicago https://t.co/kjD3qhg60N
— Julian Miller (@JulianMiller) May 17, 2016
Matt Moog
This is a fantastic post explaining the nature of Venture Returns https://t.co/WoJhpFGLUQ via
— Matt Moog (@mattmoog) May 18, 2016
Jimmy Odom
My boy @JoshYTsui getting some love from @TechCrunch on his VR photog concept demo. https://t.co/gQSrTZyzcx
— Jimmy Odom (@JimmyOdom) May 16, 2016
Jason Peterson
.@davidbanner dropped by @HavasWWChicago today #annextalks pic.twitter.com/fFx3Rz6LqP
— Jason Peterson (@Jasonmpeterson) April 13, 2016
John Pletz
#Funding news: @ConceptDrop raises $1.1M from @jeffmaters for on-demand graphics labor platform. https://t.co/3Pp1wjcIta
— John Pletz (@johnpletz) May 20, 2016
J.B. Pritzker
Meet Viv, the next AI personal assistant from the creators of Siri @AKoopersmith @PritzkerVC https://t.co/L6MxaKYE3R
— J.B. Pritzker (@JBPritzker) May 11, 2016
Stacy Ratner
Hooray for @ChiLiteracyAlli member @ChiDebateLeague, rocking it tonight at @SVPChicago Fast Pitch! #impact pic.twitter.com/P8q7ze9DEW
— Stacy Ratner (@stacyjratner) May 12, 2016
Harper Reed
Kim Kardashian has become the Iranian state's newest enemy https://t.co/OyXw2EuEV7
— harper (@harper) May 24, 2016
Beth Santos
Okay, Chicagoans really are that nice.
— Beth Santos (@maximumbeth) May 25, 2016
Ellen Shapiro
.@dasmersingh pointing out that there are >2m iOS apps, but only ~10k watch apps, ~1k tvOS apps, ~30k Mac apps. Lots of opportunity. #UIKonf
— Ellen Shapiro (@designatednerd) May 23, 2016
Rishi Shah
Everyone on a "track" should read this. Especially recent grads in consulting/banking etc.. who don't enjoy the work https://t.co/A1PbK11NkG
— Rishi Shah (@RishiShah) May 22, 2016
Howard Tullman
Today in @chicagoinno: "...1871 is also changing the image of one of Chicago's most iconic buildings." https://t.co/ac5cHViDJ2 #1871Chicago
— 1871 Chicago (@1871Chicago) May 23, 2016
Guy Turner
Nothing says #midwest #tech focus like my 2015 GOOG location map. On the ground @hydeparkvp pic.twitter.com/SD3UPns6Yw
— Guy Turner (@guyhturner) March 30, 2016
Kevin Willer
What do these two developers know about Chicago the rest of us don't? https://t.co/XiASw0Bpne via @crainschicago
— kevin willer (@kwiller) May 20, 2016
Jessica Williams
“But it wasn’t about the money. It was about the freedom.” — @VioletaNedkova https://t.co/cTt4Vq2oV2
— Jessica L Williams (@techbizgurl) May 25, 2016
Jessica Droste Yagan
How Chicago's Social Entrepreneurs Can Be Profitable and Responsible | US News Opinion https://t.co/vJpCbdf9eF
— Jessica Droste Yagan (@drosteyagan) May 24, 2016
Nicole Yeary
One of the biggest barriers to getting funding for minority-owned business https://t.co/F3eZiE5nEI by @lydiabreakfast via @FastCompany
— Nicole Yeary (@nicoleyeary) May 25, 2016
Note that this list contains only people, not organizations — many of which are great to follow on Twitter, too. Of course, there are many more techies out there worth following, and we welcome your suggestions here.
If you're more of a Twitter list fan, subscribe to our 50 to Follow Twitter list — and be sure to follow us, too: @builtinchicago.
This list was sponsored by Marketwired.