Tweet Tweet

I first joined twitter in 2009; I only created an account to see what the hype was about, a couple college students at my job talked about it a lot. At the time Facebook was the top social site, so it took some time for me to get the fill for the tweeting concept. At first I didn’t like twitter; I felt that it didn’t have enough interaction between users. Comments couldn’t be placed under tweets as they could with Facebook; so it’s hard to see where the interactions were taken place.  Once my followers began to increase, the objective of the site became clear. My timeline had more diversity and I could see how users interact with other account holders by simply tweeting.

 My first followers where my close friends who had joined the site around the same time I had. Once word about twitter began to spread, it wasn’t long before more of my high school peers began to join the site, and I followed them. Students who hadn’t said one peep in classes began to fill my timeline full of babble, and it seemed as if this was the new way to connect with one another. Most followers were added just from me liking the content of their tweets. When the popularity of the site added celebrity interest, verified accounts allowed for followers to follow actual accounts from their favorite celebrities. Drake was my first celebrity follow, I enjoyed following music artist because it made them feel more human to me. Just as I was; the artist would tweet about their lives, making me feel more connected with them. Soon actresses and reality stars where filling my timeline with their tweets. During show episodes the stars’ would tweet their comments or feelings about the different scenes. My whole timeline will be full of discussions about episodes and it felt as if you were in a room watching the show with all of your followers. It wasn’t long before I was hooked; tweeting my every thought, socializing with anyone who tweeted something that sparked my interest. Trending topics helped with engaging my interactions as well. I can recall summer nights of where my whole twitter timeline would make tweets referring to trending topics; it was cool to be a part of topics being tweeted about all around the world.

By 2011 everything had a twitter; it made sense for more and more companies and organizations to market consumers via twitter since it had such a huge usage. Users can tweet via the Twitter website, applications (for smartphones or tablets), or by Short Message Service (SMS). Beyond socializing; connections can be made into productive working relations by seeing what people are interested in. For example:  a journalist might tweet about a specific topic for quick feedback from a diverse group of people. The reaction from twitter can be used for desired material for a project. Organizations can also use twitter as a tool to expand professional networks. Taking notice to @ messages directed to your company; the business will be able to see the status of your product and how it impacts who you are working with. If the discussion is interesting enough, a company might find someone they’d like to follow on Twitter… and eventually work with.

Twitter is unique within the social media category. Short tweets; Being but a collection of thoughts are limited to 140 characters and as a result communicating in a lenient field. Blogging remains mostly a main focus, the material is more comprehensive and the creators spend a generous amount of time building. Twitter is something used as a tool to support blogging, if a link gets tweeted consistently it can drive many visitors to a blog post. Both mediums influence a purpose to bring discussions among readers and its success is dependent on how fondly relations are made.

For three years my twitter usage increased dramatically. Downloading several twitter applications allowed me to send my every move to twitter at any time of the day. The immediacy of Twitter and the fact that it is a system that can spread word of a story, idea, question or news quickly worldwide to thousands of people very quickly makes it exclusive. Beyond socializing twitter is the fastest, simplest way to stay close to important news you care about. Today we’re far less dependent on newsletters, or new stations, because we hear about world updates all day via Twitter. For example: I hadn’t found out about the passing of Whitney Houston until someone had made a tweet on it, and it appeared on my timeline.  

Just as every other social network, twitter has its shortcomings. The enthusiasm from site can cause users to abuse the actual purpose of twitter. You can check Twitter updates from your phone and send updates from anywhere. This over usage conducts many people use Twitter as an escape from their own surroundings, paying more attention to twitter updates. Social skills began to be lost, as people feel they can only be heard via twitter. Privacy is absent with the new twitter era. Sure identities are often mixed up with rigid settings. Many people mistake the following a person as having an actual relationship with that person. Twitter has grown into to carefree venue; major topics have lost their importance due to the loose remarks directed towards severe topics. Where people become uncaring to human sorrow and, perhaps, even find interest watching train wrecks as they happen. The motive is that information is passed too quickly through the Twitter platform.

Twitter, a website for sharing what you are doing at any given moment with other people, and also to network online. All things considered, twitter is a powerful podium for both business and personal use.