All Sorts of Information in 140 Characters or Less

Social Media has become very prominent in the lives of people that live in this generation.  From interacting with friends to reading breaking news, Social Media really can do it all. The wide diversity of topics that circulate through Social Media makes it an enjoyable place for almost anyone.

Twitter is a Social Media platform that is rising in popularity extremely and beating out its competitors.  The fast nature of Social Media is one of the reasons that people love it so much, and Twitter keeps up with this fast nature better than a lot of the other Social Media platforms do.  The instantaneity of a tweet to the public is a key factor of twitter.  For social reasons, people love the fast factor of Twitter.  It is easy to tweet something funny that just happened in a person’s every day life.  Twitter goes much farther beyond the realms of just social purposes though.  Although it is technically a Social Media, it is also so much more. 

Twitter has been used beyond socializing and used for marketing in many different instances. In an article called, Egypt five yearson: was it ever a ‘social media revolution’? , Twitter was used to literally overthrow the Egyptian President.  Although Twitter was not the reason the president was overthrown in Egypt, it helped share the story to the world.  People in Egypt took to Social Media platforms such as Twitter to talk about the protests that were going on and how they felt about the situations.  With the power of sharing and retweeting, the instance gained all sorts of attention and even was named the Twitter “news moment” of the year according to Foreign Policy magazine.

Twitter can also be used for journalistic purposes and as an organizational tool.  Just like the organized chaos of the protests of Egypt, people have used twitter for other huge events in our recent history. In an article titled How the Boston Marathonexplosions reveal the two sides of Twitter, Twitter is shown as a tool for communication about information about the Boston Marathon.  Unfortunately though, that doesn’t mean this information is always correct.  Because Twitter is so instantaneous, it is easy to tweet something that you think you know is true seconds after it has happened.  A quote in this article from Matt Roller says, “Twitter does its best work in the first five minutes after a disaster, and its worst in the twelve hours after that”.  Within the first five minutes of a story, people are taking to Social Media to exclaim what they know, or at least what they think they know.  In the next 12 hours after that, journalists are trying to clean up the story to reveal to the public what actually happened. The Boston Marathon was breaking news on twitter, although many stories about the incident were wrong.  It is a journalist’s job to figure out what is right and what is wrong, and then break the news to the public.  With something so instant and fast paced as Twitter, a journalist really has to be on their game and getting the right news out to the public before their competitors do.

In the past 12 months, Twitter has been dealing with a lot of news events.  Whether we are talking about the election of President Trump, the news about United Airlines, or the passing of Prince, the news continues to travel around Twitter.  Since the presidential election started, Twitter has been cycled with stories, opinions, and negative comments at each of the candidates.  It is hard to forget about the time when Hillary Clinton got sick at the 911 memorial, left early and lost her shoe, or when President Trump mocked out a disabled reporter.  Thanks to Social Media, these types of stories circulate around all the time for the public to see.  The people of Twitter like to jump on harsh news and spread it like a wildfire.  When the story about United Airlines broke on Twitter, people were instantly retweeting it, tweeting their opinions, and sooner or later making memes out of the situation.  When news is broke on Twitter, it stays serious news for a short amount of time.  The general public is respectful about the news that is circulating for a while until eventually it becomes a joke.  Puns, memes, and endless jokes begin to circulate Twitter after a while.  The United Airlines case is an excellent example of this.  It is hard to find a story on Twitter about the United Airlines case that is actually news and fact now compared to a joke about the situation.  Whether it is the society’s way of dealing with such harsh news stories, or just the desensitization of the public, harsh news becomes lighthearted jokes and we move on to the next big story.  One thing that is hard for the public to move on from and tends to stay pure and not joked about is the death of a loved celebrity.  News broke on Twitter about the passing of the superstar Prince.  The story changed multiple times about how he died, but continued to stay purely news instead of making memes about dying from drugs.  Twitter was flooded with tweets that read things such as “RIP to another legend” and variations that respected the passing of Prince.

Twitter is a place for news to break, people to socialize and everyone to connect.  The people you follow on Twitter shows a lot about you as a person, and the diversity of those types of accounts are important to keep your timeline from being the same old boring thing over and over.   Ariana Grande, the Buffalo Bills, and Donald Trump are all very different sources to follow on Twitter.  Ariana Grande is a pop princess superstar that will fill a Twitter timeline with music.  The Buffalo Bills are a NFL Football team that will fill a Twitter timeline with sports.  And Donald Trump is the president, for better or for worse, and will fill a Twitter timeline with politics and keep the followers up to date about what is going on in the country.  The difference between what the three accounts tweet keeps the information well rounded.

Twitter is a form of blogging but is very different in many ways.  Twitter is very easy to use for the common person, and is a fun way to tell the world a little bit about you in a short amount of space.  The fast pace and limited amount of characters are two key things that make Twitter stand out from Social Media and other blogs.  Not only is it an easy way to share information about you, but it is also an easy way to learn information about others.  Celebrities, friends, family and literally anyone can use Twitter for whatever use and gratification they please.  Socialization, news, promoting a business, keeping an eye on family members and so on, Social Media is a place where anyone can get something out of it.  This world is filled with very different people, but we all come together on Social Media and unite as one.