If Facebook is a loft in the city and Myspace is a house in the suburbs, what is Twitter? A trailer park! Twitter is a social media application that is used by billions each and every day. It is a more causal application when it comes to other social media websites, but it has the power for people to have a voice in situations close to them. It has advertisements and marketing within its walls as well. Twitter has gone beyond socializing and can be a useful tool in journalistic, political and organizational styles. It has been successful in helping others as well as distracting at the same time.
Twitter has been used beyond socializing and marketing. When it comes to tragedies and natural disasters, Twitter has been a gateway in communication for people in need, sending tips and placing condolences. For example, in the past year hurricane Harvey has impacted many lives. During this time, people were stranded without any help or communication. Phone calls would take too long and the police, organizations and fire departments were rejecting people’s cry for help. Author of the article “Some people find help in Houston. Social Media can do Much Better,” Christina Cauterucci stated, “One man said he had called the Red Cross for help, only to be booted off the line then told he had to call 911 to get on the rescue list.” She also included, “Even if calls could get through to 911, without electricity and the ability to charge their phones, people in trouble could waste precious battery power waiting on hold on the off-chance that someone would pick up and record their location.” So, people turned to social media to help. Tweeting, which only takes a second and can be done from any internet-enabled device with a battery charge, seemed to many, like a much better option. People were getting their word out and being rescued. Volunteers with boats were even taking their time to help people in the area. However, social media has had some negative factors as well. Within the Hurricane Harvey disaster, viewers continued to retweet cries for help; however, those areas were already vacated, making helpers continuously receive updates of places that have been helped to make the system more efficient and not send help where it was not needed. Another example is at the time of the Boston Marathon Bombing. An article, written by Simon Ricketts, was about the ups and downs of Twitter. He used an example on twitter by Matt Roller stating, “Twitter does its best work in the first five minutes after a disaster, and its worst in the twelve hours after that.” Throughout the article, Rickett said that people would tweet untruthful tips or unnecessary information, which would get in the way of the investigation. Twitter has changed the way people receive information. It can save someone's life or interrupt serious problems.
Twitter can be useful as a journalistic, political and organizational tool because it is a quick place to get a short message, photo, or event across to a mass majority of people. Even people or organizations who are not personally followed can show up on the twitter timeline, which can advertise events or people. Twitter is one of the most used social media applications out there. Numerous amounts of people of all different types of age ranges are participating on Twitter. Twitter can be a useful tool in a journalistic perspective for a couple of reasons. One would be to report breaking news within the community. Through Twitter, journalists can reach out, with an advanced search, and find people who were present at the event. Through Twitter, they can also follow newsworthy people and organizations. This way they can get quick stories by credible sources. A few other reasons would be for story ideas, search for sources, and gather community quotes. Twitter can be an organizational tool because there can be a timeline of all the events happening as well as people sharing their political views.
Hurricane Harvey, the Parkland Shooting and the San Antonio Bomber, are three events where Twitter was used as a communicator of these events. Twitter was a success and a failure in Hurricane Harvey. It successfully communicated where people needed help and with multiple retweets, rescuers were made aware of where help was needed. However, with so many retweets going around, some places had already been vacated, but people were still retweeting the same cries for help, making it difficult for responders to be made aware of where they actually needed to go. In the Parkland Shooting, Twitter was a source of communication for students within the school. Students had taken shocking and disturbing videos of them exiting the school. Young teens who had been shot were just lying on the floor as they exited the building. This broadcasted the views 15 year olds kids and the experience they went through. This projected the issue of no guns in school and having gun rights negotiated in the government. Twitter was a success in this event. The third event was the San antonio bomber. Twitter was a success in the sense that it kept updating people of breaking news and what had been discovered. However, people were leaving tips which did not help officers or officials come close to the end result. Twitter has its ups and downs when coming to certain events. It can lead to help and safety, a message or an uneventful tips.
The topics that were followed on Twitter were Cute Overloads, Jimmy Kimmel and Disney Pixar. Cute Overloads have only had cute pictures of dogs, cats, bunnies and many more. They can always brighten peoples days when they see a cute picture of a dog or a baby bunny stretching after a nap. The pictures are something to look forward too. Jimmy Kimmel was entertaining to follow. However, even though he is funny, he is too political at times. It is okay when people share their views, but when it is a constant topic being discussed in his monologue, it can make people disinterested. It was even worse on his Twitter page. Disney Pixar has always been an interesting company and the memes they do are inspirational and can impact people more when they use characters from movies that people can relate with. They are playful and can really put the mind at ease. Pixar also advertises new movies coming out over the next few years.
The experience of using Twitter is different from blogging. Twitter is more casual and definitely more concise than a blog. With Twitter, users only have 280 characters to say something or mention something about a certain topic. Sometimes the limit isn’t a problem; however, with topics people are passionate about, it could be a struggle to stay within those constraints. With a blog, bloggers can make their writing however long or short they want it to be. Twitter is more popular and will be easier for people to see what has been written, even if they are not being followed by a lot of people. Sometimes people will show up on timelines based on what has been personally liked or retweeted multiple times. Using Twitter is a different experience from other social media because it can use pictures, GIFS, and words. It is quick paced and more likely to be seen. Snapchat is mostly friends and photos with little words involved. Instagram is pictures with captions and Facebook is more like Twitter than other applications, but Facebook has an older age group within it and is more family-friendly than other things that people would see on Twitter.
In conclusion, Twitter has grown in popularity in the past few years. It can have success in tragedies of natural disasters as well as failures within those events. Twitter can help save lives like in the example of Hurricane Harvey or be an item in the way with the example of the Boston Marathon Bomber. Twitter is a popular application and still continues to grow. It allows people to share their opinions informally, but it lets them have a voice on issues which are true to their hearts. Twitter is helpful in many ways, but it needs to be pursued with caution in cases of tragedy or natural disasters.
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