Microblogging over E-mail?

Could microblogging and a twitter-like application take precedence over email?
In an educational setting, especially in online classes, communication between the instructor and their students is common place. Students get regular email updates and reminders to start projects, submit assignments, and a variety of other short messages and updates.

Though I made the switch from a typical cell phone to a smart phone and now practically live in my email inbox, not everyone is the same way. Some even go days between checking their email. But an application such as Twitter could provide a way for instructors to be able to get information to their students in a quick and effective way.

Short messages such as ‘Don’t forget to submit your paper by 11:59 tonight!’ could be received instantaneously by an entire class of individuals, and it omits the need for a computer to do so. An instructor can easily send out the message from their cell phone, and all students can receive it just as easily as they receive any other SMS message.

It’s a technology that instructors should consider facilitating as another method of communication with their students, especially in online settings. It’s so easy to get lost in the sea of deadlines, so short little text reminders could be a great way to keep students on track.

Celebrity and Imposter Tweeting

As mentioned in my last blog, Twitter is used by celebrities in order to communicate with their fans and followers. While this is a highly convenient and efficient mode of communication, there is a down fall to it. With any website that has a social component to it, be it Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. some individuals use it as a way to create imposter accounts and try to recruit people to friending or following them. They often interact with their fans and spread false information to increase their status. They also often point out other accounts as being fake, while theirs is supposedly the “official” page.

These users that pose as celebrities can have a serious impact on how these individuals are actually viewed. One of the most prominent examples for me right now would be individuals from the Twilight cast. I’m sure you’ve all seem the gossip magazine covers professing the secret love between co-stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart while in line at the grocery store. They’re in love, they’re engaged, and just this last week I saw a cover about a wedding of the year. This fodder is often used by imposter accounts to garner followers.

After a quick search, there are over 60 fake Pattinson accounts. The number is astronomical, and it continues to grow- this is the case for any popular celebrity. And even the more obscure celebrities have imposters; no one in the public eye is immune.

Despite this occurrence, Twitter is making strides to defend their website and protect their users by using a verification program. Individuals in the public eye such as celebrities now have the opportunity to verify their account. It provides a way to distinguish between real users and the endless list of imposters. Not only does this protect the famous individual, but it provides a way for the everyday user to distinguish between the real individual and everyone else. The program is still in beta, however many celebrities are taking advantage of this option as a way to prove to their fans who they really are in order to avoid confusion and have the ability to put an end to the endless rumor mill that imposter Twitter accounts continue to run.

Life in 140 characters or less

Microblogging (such as the ever popular Twitter) is a means of publishing and sharing short messages with the public, or a certain group of individuals. These messages can be submitted via sms messaging, the hosting website, an instant message, etc. (Wikipedia) These messages are bound to character restrictions; Twitter keeps messages to 140 characters or less.

When I first heard about Twitter, I outright rejected the idea. Microblogging- who needed it? I thought it was nothing more than perpetual Facebook status updates, which I already did....so what was the fuss about Twitter? It didn't seem like it would be beneficial to me in any way. I resisted for months on end until I finally caved and decided to see what it was all about. There were, and still are hoards of teenagers lamenting about canceled Friday night plans, unfair teachers, and being grounded for the weekend. It seemed like nothing more than self involved people sharing their lives with other people who may or may not actually care. But hey, the more followers you have the more "popular" you are, right? It seemed to me that Myspace and Facebook had a love child called Twitter that provided you the best and worst of both worlds- tons of "friends", or followers as they're called for Twitter, and now you got to share every single second of your boring English Lit class with 421 of your closest followers.

I didn't fully grasp the ramifications of Twitter until June 13th, the day that the winner of the Iranian election had been announced. At that point Twitter was inundated with messages from Iranians and others alike who were crying out with the injustice the people of Iran were experiencing. With Twitter, real time news could be reported by individuals who were living it in the moment. The middle man, CNN, MSNBC, FOX and any other news reporting agency was rendered useless when information became available straight from the source. This article from Time explains how Twitter assisted in the dissemination of news from within the country of Iran to the rest of the world.

The Twitter and microblogging phenomenon was studied by Akshay Java, Tim Finin, Xiaodan Song, and Belle Tseng. They focused on the networking aspect, and what a communities on Twitter looked like. Their article can be found here. Their diagrams provide a good visualization of how information is disbursed among individuals, and the links between communities.

Twitter isn't the only website available, Jaiku is another service that provides the opportunity to engage in microblogging.

Though I was initially skeptical of Twitter, I've come to understand the benefits it can provide. Beyond the teenagers that I suspected, a user is able to follow certain companies, a variety of celebrities or musicians to have easy access to information they can provide about their careers and even the current president Barack Obama has a twitter that is regularly updated with information.