Twitter sounds like a verb in itself. It has been transformed from a word into a website. Then, that website became a way of life for many people. People wake up and Twitter, they eat breakfast and Twitter, they even go to class, work, and to the bathroom and Twitter. Twittering is a brief 140 message that is posted to your profile. It can pertain to whatever, whoever, and however you are feeling at the moment. When a message is posted it is referred to as a “tweet”. You can involve your friends by tweeting them in your post.
Let us back up and start from the beginning. In order to even starting the Twitter experience, you have to sign up. A new Twitter member must create an account with a user name and password. This allows you to access the site and view other Twitterers…For example; I follow Andy Roddick, Perez Hilton, Soledad O’Brien and many others, including friends and family.
Verbs play an important role in social media. Through Twitter a vast variety of verbs are used. Such as: tweeting, tagging, posting, following, designing, re-tweeting, composing, showing, and many others. Re-tweeting is a message that multiple people have tweeted. In order to follow someone you must find him or her on the site by searching their Twitter user name.
The users of Twitter are endless. Celebrities started using Twitter as a way to connect with one another. Due to Twitter’s popularity it has become a networking hot spot for celebrities to post to their fans about upcoming events, movie premieres, C.D. releases and other important events. Twitter is a social media site centered around connecting individuals, often to people who the normally may not have been able to connect with.
I focused on the pros and cons of Twitter. In relation to the positive aspects of Twitter I have found that many major corporations use Twitter as a source of Public Relations. There are people assigned to be designated Twitter “updaters”. Ford, General Motors, Honda, Jet Blue, South West Airlines, Carnival Cruise line, are just to name a few. Even sports teams use Twitter to highlight games and update fans.
The car companies listed use Twitter as a way to give buyers and customer’s valuable information. They update people on promotions, sales, and offers. Twitter makes it accessible and offers a humanistic element to an online source. Often it makes customer’s feel relatable to the company. Twitter is not overwhelming, and considering there is limited amount of space to write, it usually straightforward. It is a current technology that engages its audience.
Users of Twitter are able to access these major corporations conveniently from home, work, school or even their phone. Twitter adds a fast pace momentum that is able to keep up with the non-stop society we are a part of. In addition, users are able to receive feedback directly from the source. They are offered answers and information in a friendly and social way.
I investigated the people who work for these companies. And explored their duties as Twitter updaters. Employees explained that Twitter was used as an experimental tool to promote their companies. It expanded into a phenomenon of updates and became a community based off its users longing for knowledgeThe negative side of Twitter should be examined as well. Considering that anyone can make an account Twitter is not always a reliable source. There have been multiple occasions where a person has created a false account, therefore creating a fake identity. Celebrities have had people making Twitter accounts for them and posting misleading and often confrontational things. There have been occurrences where people have tweeted that certain celebrities have passed away, when in reality they have not. Since Twitter has become a source of news this is an issue. People will ultimately be misguided with faulty information. There is no way around this problem.
In addition to misleading Twitter accounts, there were instances where people were rallying together on Twitter ending in an actual uproar in Iran. Twitter has become a community in which people are comfortable with the idea that they are enveloped in other peoples lives. It is another for of voyeurism just like Facebook. As a society we have become obsessed with understanding and knowing about the lives of those around us.
Consequently, Twitter offers a compelling aspect to social media, luring its users in with bold updates that are solely directed towards their wants and needs. It is easy to use and therefore becomes available to all ages.
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