Twitter

In a video project for my journalism class last year, I created a video about how much I hated Twitter. Just over a year later, I have a Twitter account and have started checking it or tweeting daily. I’m still not as pleased with this social network as I am with Facebook, but it’s starting to grow on me.

 

I find the constant tweeting by celebs like @aplusk quite annoying. However, since I have tweeted for the local Red Cross, I appreciate the difficulties of getting a message across in 140 characters or less. It’s a true challenge that requires succinct writing skills and creativity. It forces an individual to cut out details that may be unnecessary and not to overwhelm followers with a lot of information. When in doubt, redirect followers to a web page that provides more details regarding the tweet.

On Twitter, I am much more likely to follow an organization or brand. Facebook is much more personal, and I hesitate to “like” organization pages that tend to overrun my newsfeed. According to digitalbuzzblog.com, 67% of brand followers on Twitter will purchase that specific brand, compared to 51% of Facebook brand followers.

A majority of Twitter users lie between the ages of 34 and 44. Its interesting that my generation has been so hesitant to join Twitter and tweet on a regular basis. Twitter seems much more complex with hash tags -- it really takes some getting used to.

I follow profiles such as @CNN, @andersoncooper, @ACSNews, and the @redcross. These Twitter profiles seem to be much more up-to-date with news and information than websites. My favorite tweets come from CNN and Anderson Cooper. As the Japan crisis has unfolded, I’ve enjoyed getting the newest details in real-time and learning of events shortly after they occur. News organizations will often tweet, providing a sort of teaser, before following up with a longer story on their website.

I don’t really see twitter as beneficial for establishing personal contacts like Facebook or LinkedIn. However, it seems very effective at communicating information and news from organizations and companies. It’s a very effective tool for disseminating brief bits of information to a large audience. The “retweeting” feature is also valuable in that it allows followers of a profile to “retweet,” or repost a tweet from one profile to their own, and so on. It’s infectious -- sort of like that sexual exposure chart they show you in sex ed:



I will continue using my Twitter account this semester (and probably beyond that), but I tend to use it to promote events that I become aware of or to spread the word about organizations I support or volunteer for. I tend to retweet a lot more than tweet.