I joined Twitter! Yay Twitter! And I haven't looked back since.
Twitter is the micro blogging site that allows users to post 140 chars or less of information. These posts called tweets, can range from the menial (ie I'm staring at the ceiling) to the informative (ie Earthquake in Chile). Tweets are then posted on a user's webpage for open access and then distributed to the user's group of followers. Twitter is quite a simple tool it asks the question "What's Happening?" This is changed from their original "What are you doing?" question.
Twitter makes it very easy to communicate with others by disturbing conservations to your followers, and the people in general. If a user is following other users then their updates show on their page. You can reply to a person’s tweets and have conservation. Retweeting allows a person to repost a tweet, for either sharing purposes or make public comments on a person’s tweet. These conservations and commenting aren’t limited to a user’s followers but can be held with any user on twitter.
Twitter lets user cooperate and share photos and video. The most common way is to use a twitter photo and sharing service. The most common used are Twitpic and Twitvid. However Mashable lists the top five Twitter photo sharing and Twitter video sites. Users can comment on photos and videos, tag them with subjects, and share their own. Users can upload through email and sms texts as well.
Twitter is great for collaborating amongst users on a particular subject, or trending topics. Trending topics are the most popular and most talked about subjects of the moment. Users can use hashtags or acronyms to tag their tweets with a trending topic. For instance when watching a popular sporting event, or television show users often hashtag the show (ie #rhony or #worldcup). Here anyone searching for tweeting about the subject will show up in the public timeline of twitter. Twitter often makes large events such as Fifa World Cup, or The Olympics more prominent by including little pictures or verified twitter lists of active Twitter accounts of players.
Connection
Twitter builds connections by allowing people to connect and build relationships over 140 chars. Whether it’s sporting events, television shows, or a user’s love of music connections are made based on mutual interests. Users can follow individuals, companies, or other applications that interest them. Here they can receive updates and inside information that may not be available to the public.
Twitter is a very addictive tool and should be used with caution. Hence my 19,575 updates. And because I'm not the only one addicted
Actually I can't imagine why a person need to report his/her daily life to the public for every details. In China, microblog most time is well known as a personal channel for some famous people to present their opinions to some news event. Normal people still do not get used to use microblog in real life.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm on the fence about Twitter,I can see the appeal. However, I just can't get over the fact that it's very self-indulgent. Perhaps if it becomes more of a networking site and less individualistic.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, you have an addiction. This blog is proof of that. It's okay. You've already taken the first step towards recovery: acceptance.
ReplyDeleteI see the good in using Twitter to make brief statements about what IS generally happening in your life, or if you come across something you want to share with other people. We do live in a digital age where children today are digital natives. These things are all they know - broadcasting yourself online is common. I don't think that the argument that we're all too self-absorbed in what we're doing is really the case - it's just the status quo of today.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a fine line and there are many people online who are self-absorbed, but then there are a lot of others who actually use it to perform a new kind of media. (For example, talking about a television program on Twitter which is playing on tv)
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting phenomenon.
I think the beauty of twitter is that it is individualist. It gives random people to outlet to vent, comment, and share whatever is going on in their lives but with a 140 char limit. I think people like to share, and overshare because it's just the norm now. Everyone has camera phones and are sharing news and happenings with CNN, and Fox news, and twitter lets you do it on a smaller level.
ReplyDeleteTwitter has been really invaluable for me for networking purposes. Since that's been the case, I'm almost reluctant to tweet things that don't have some sort of meaning to my wine network. That being said, I still do it a little bit. I think it's beneficial to have both person and professional Twitter accounts the way that many have begun creating personal and professional Facebook accounts.
ReplyDelete