Hear me twitter

I have been reading countless tweets, trying to figure out why people are so hooked on this form of social media? I think I will be the last person joining this party. However I have been brought up with the saying “If you can't say anything good, then don't say anything at all”. Seeing that these blogs are part of my assignment, I am betting that this attitude will backfire. So let me share what I discovered about Twitter ...

The mind boggles at the ingenious (and sometimes ridiculous) ways this medium is being used. @yourinamerica is a popular account (8000 followers in 60 tweets over 3 days) according to Chris Taylor (2012). I bet you are wondering what insightful tweets this individual is sharing with the world? This account is hell bound on correcting the grammar of twitter users by naming and shaming them. Can I hear the collective cheer of educational institutes across the world?

Floatingsheep (2012) utilizes Twitter in an interesting way through geocoded tweets to map out information like America's favourite Thanksgiving meal or where the greatest number of racist tweets are generated from.

                                                  (image courtesy of floatingsheep.org)

It is not all fun and games on Twitter though. The FBI is using twitter to combat crime, in particular to track stock fraud. News about the Gaza ceasefire agreement featured prominently on BBC reporter Jon Donnison's twitter account.  His tweets not only updates us on the big events, but also enlightens about the differences between Israelis and Palestinians as he experiences it. Cross (2011 ) reminds us that when national disasters strike or dictators try to suppress citizens, Twitter is the media of choice to communicate and educate the world.

Because Twitter is an uncensored way of communicating, things can get out of control. This was the case when an online argument between Chris Brown and Jenny Johnson got out of hand, resulting in Brown deleting his account and Johnson having to deal with numerous death threads from fellow tweeters.  It seems that we are more capable of expressing negative emotions via social media, while being less capable of solving relationship issues.

Howard Rheingold is an academic who has mulled over the impact of social media and in particular the role played by the virtual community. It is thus no wonder that in my desperation I turned to him for insight and boy did I get it! In his article Twitter Literacy (I refuse to make up a Twittery name for it)(2012) he nails it by stating that the difference between seeing Twitter as a waste of space and great communication tool is knowing how to use it. You must know who to follow and how to keep the people following you interested.

I am amazed at the positive features he manages to point out. It is all about variety, immediacy and connecting with people who can enhance you in some way. In hindsight I have discovered a few truths about myself while attempting to learn about Twitter. I am not as tolerant as I thought myself to be. Even a mere 140 characters can irritate me if I deem it to be non-sense. I am spoiled for choice and expect instant gratification. Rheingold mentions that Twitter is not a place where you can drop by once a week, you need to spend time on it to really get the feel and appreciate it.

 

While I am still not convinced about getting a Twitter account, this research into social media leaves me pondering. Why do we have such an overwhelming need to be heard?

REFERENCES 

Cross, M 2011, Bloggerati, Twitterati, Praeger, viewed 3 December 2012, EBL

Goldstein, M & Ablan, J 2012, 'FBI uses Twitter, social media to look for securities fraud', Reuters, 26 November, viewed 3 December 2012 <http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/26/net-us-investment-summit-fbi-idUSBRE8AP0EX20121126>

Luippold, R 2012, 'Chris Brown's vulgar twitter attack on Jenny Johnson, Comedy writer', Huffington Post, 25 November, viewed 3 December 2012 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/25/chris-browns-vulgar-twitter-attack-on-jenny-johnson-comedy-writer_n_2188841.html>

Rheingold, H 2012, 'Twitter Literacy (I refuse to make up a Twittery name for it',  SFGate, 6 December, viewed 7 December 2012 <http://blog.sfgate.com/rheingold/2009/05/11/twitter-literacy-i-refuse-to-make-up-a-twittery-name-for-it/>

Taylor, C 2012, 'You're in America! Twitter account corrects dumb grammar', Mashable, 27 November, viewed 3 December 2012 <http://mashable.com/2012/11/26/your-in-america-twitter/> 

Zook, M 2012, 'Mapping racist tweets in response to President O'bama's re-election', Floatingsheep, 8 November, viewd 3 December 2012 <http://www.floatingsheep.org/2012/11/mapping-racist-tweets-in-response-to.html>