Christmas JoinIn Twitter Sarah Millican

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People alone on Christmas are bonding on Twitter with #JoinIn

The hashtag was started by British comedian Sarah Millican seven years ago—and it's still going strong.

 

Samira Sadeque

IRL

Posted on Dec 25, 2018   Updated on May 20, 2021, 10:45 pm CDT

British comedian Sarah Millican is urging those feeling alone on Christmas to band together on Twitter using the hashtag #JoinIn.

“If you’re alone or feeling lonely, follow the hashtag #joinin and start chatting with others there,” she wrote in a tweet shared Christmas morning:

Last December, she told The Howard Hour show by British presenter Russell Howard that it was her seventh year of doing this.

“[It’s] to bring together people who are on their own [on Christmas] and don’t want to be,” she told the show. “There are so many different reasons why people might be on their own and we just have a conversation on Twitter.”

She explained that when gets up on Christmas, she “set[s] the rules” and then retweets everybody using the hashtag, until everyone is having a conversation together.

It’s already helped some people in the past:

https://twitter.com/MikeArmiger/status/1077326863662530561

https://twitter.com/MissLauraMG/status/1077599145836326913

Millican said on Howard’s show that she sometimes gets messages as early as September from people asking her if she will be doing #JoinIn over Christmas for the year.

This year, many are sharing deeply personal—sometimes funny, sometimes painful, sometimes resilient—stories:

https://twitter.com/willmarty/status/1077518266870976512

Some are opening up their (Twitter) doors to others:

https://twitter.com/alexgblack/status/1077472278085074944

https://twitter.com/taralabecki/status/1077541580586795008

Some are sharing their realizations of being alone during the holidays:

The holidays can be difficult for people for a number of reasons. But the threads inspired by #joinin bring out a unique unity through the honesty and vulnerability that people share. Millican admitted to Howard she’s addicted to the movement now. As she said, “I clearly can’t not even do it now, it’s so lovely.”

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*First Published: Dec 25, 2018, 11:42 am CST