Homeless woman finds shelter through Twitter AnnMarie Walsh is just one of several people featured in a documentary about the relationship between people and the microblogging platform Twitter. But as "Twittamentary" tours the film and tech circuit, her story is getting the most attention. Homeless for five years, the 41-year-old Chicago resident started using social media to help others understand the plight of the homeless. Posting on Twitter with the username @padschicago, it also helped her get a roof over her head in April 2011. She spoke recently about her experience at the library where she first gained Internet access, and it's easy to understand why her appearance in the doucmentary is most compelling. As the Guardian reported following the "Twittamentary" premier, when Walsh: ... found herself homeless, she used the computers in Chicago's public libraries to not only look for ways of getting out of her situation but also to share thoughts and worries about her day-to-day struggle, such as finding hostel bed for the night. As her following grew, she began to receive tips on shelters or even gifts of warm clothes and blankets. It was at a Chicago Tweetup - a gathering of Twitter users - that Walsh met Audrey Thomas, a social worker who helped find Walsh housing. Walsh continues to share her experiences on Twitter, where she now has more than 5,400 followers, as well as her blog. She recently spoke about the plight of the homeless at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library in Chicago, where she first started to tell her story via the free Internet access. "[Those who judge the homeless] need to sit down and talk to someone who is homeless once in a while and find out more of the story," she told the Daily Herald. Most of them think that homeless people are all criminals, on drugs, alcoholics. They think we don't try to get out of homelessness and that we aren't successful at anything. Some (homeless people) have college degrees and because of the economy got laid off. Walsh's homelessness followed job loss and an acrimonious divorce, after which she lost contact with her two children. She says she suffers post-traumatic stress syndrome from lifelong abuse, as well as other health issues, but adds that she didn't qualify for public housing because of her medical history. Walsh told the Daily Herald that despite having a place to live now, she still has a homeless mindset. I don't know how I'm going to pay my phone bill or get to the doctor's office on the bus. I still have to depend on other people to help me just like when I was homeless. She's also the last subject seen in "Twittamentary," ending on a note of hope, as the Guardian describes: The documentary ends on a positive note as the bus carrying the crew and a few of the featured tweeters arrives at their destination: a social media conference in Los Angeles, where the once-homeless AnnMarie Walsh gives a talk to an audience of Twitter enthusiasts. 'S--- White Girls Say ... to Black Girls' star talks ignorance, racism Convicted killer re-tried after virus destroys testimony