Life Happens. Get a Twitter.
Some of the most important things in life occur in between Facebook status updates, blog posts and emails. This is the basis behind the concept of “Twitter.” Twitter is a micro-blogging that allows you to post “tweets” of 140 characters or less.
Developed in the Summer of 2006, Twitter has become an outlet for celebrities, Presidents, businesses and the everyday Joe that wants to share his life with the world. Taking the concept of “going viral”, Twitter has developed a few really cool functions into their site.
The Hashtag:
The first one is the hashtag (#). When a user places a hashtag in front of a word it turns the word into a link. If you click this link it will allow you to see all the posts in the world with that hashtag in it.
Trends:
Ever read Malcolm Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point?” In Gladwell’s book he speaks about how trends start and spread. He takes the concept of a connector (a person that is well connected to different groups of people) and applies it to specific examples (i.e. Hushpuppy shoes trend in the 90s, crime cleanup in NYC). Twitter lets this concept go online in an easy to read fashion by placing a “Trends” section on the right hand side of your main page. These trends cover what people are posting about in larger cities, entire countries and the world.
As I am typing this the Baltimore Ravens played the NY Jets last night. Ray Lewis must have had a good game because he is trending right now on Twitter.
The Retweet:
Have you ever saw a Facebook status, loved it and just wanted to put it as your status? Twitter allows you to do that with the retweet function. It’s a really interesting function because everyone does it and its not considered creepy. In fact, I have found it flattering when people retweet me. If your tweet is retweeted enough times it will show up at the top of some of the hashtag searches.
Sources:
I hear about Twitter all the time on the radio. It drives me nuts. I hate hearing about it. That's probably just because I don't have one. I'm sure it's not much different than facebook. ---On the radio though, talk show hosts always say "this celebrity tweeted this, this celebrity tweeted that".. how do they know that it is infact actually those celebrity and not posers who made fake twitters for celebrities? Is there some sort of security/privacy setting when you are first creating the Twitter account to make sure you are exactly who you say you are?
ReplyDeleteSteeplechaser,
ReplyDeleteTwitter will actually verify celebrity accounts and they display that to everyone with a blue check mark next to their profile.
I personally don't enjoy hearing all the celebrity gossip but I do follow some politicians, athletes, talk show hosts (Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien, etc).
In my opinion Twitter is so radically different from FB because of the ability for things to go viral. The built-in features (like the ones named in the blog) help it to do this.
I do not have a twitter, only recently cancelled my facebook account, and have little desire to read about all the minutia of other peoples' lives. We have become a society of self-important, self-absorbed creatures that believe the rest of the world wants, indeed NEEDS, to know all the important things happening in our lives. As a student, I sit in class and see scores of students around me oblivious to the lecture or work before them, all because they must stay up to date on their account. I think social media is alienating us as a culture from each other and is becoming one of the most significant distractions to work, school, and real social relationships. It is my contention that the abrupt and staggering rate of growth of online social outlets is making our world smaller, not expanding it. People often hide behind the protection of their profile, seldom venturing much beyond their own comfort zone, ignoring the real interaction that a global society requires.
ReplyDeleteI second every word Greg Fox had said. I don't have a twitter and I barely get on Facebook anymore. People should once in a while check on comments or messages instead of getting on when they wake up and such. It takes the fun out of it. Addicts.
ReplyDeleteI too think Social media is a distraction. Come to think of it, distraction is everywhere.
It's a shame how much social networking, or networking in general, has been so good, and yet so bad.
I hated twitter at first, but then realize hey I can avoid people that I don't want to encounter by simply following them, but you will never see me post a thing...I think? #TeamCochrane there I did it. #GETURSELFATWITTER
ReplyDeleteI got a Twitter account only a few days ago, but not for the reasons that I suspect many register. I could care less what people are doing at any give moment or where they ate for lunch, what movie they saw, I could go on... I make an attempt to keep up with global market and business news but it can be difficult with stories developing all the time. Through Twitter, I am able to subscribe to outlets such as Bloomberg and Reuters to receive breaking news updates that I actually care about. Better still, it's all in one place and free. I didn't think I would every say it but I am happy to have a Twitter account.
ReplyDelete