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.
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.
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.
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Although Twitter still doesn't have Chinese internface, there are already an increasing number of people using it. It's easy for Chinese to use and understand that one should only understant "What are you doing?".
Also, using Twitter to share your story is much more easer and efficient than writing Blog. One doesn't need to spend much time on writing blog and the followers can receive one's messages immediatly. A famous Japanese actress suicided last year, and this news became a big bomb among Twitter users one hour later and spread to Taiwan and China mainland in only one minute.
In China, there is a technology "Fetion" that free SMS can be send and received between PC and mobile phone, because most of the mobile phones in China are not connected internet for some reasons. So, if Twitter can support this function, it will be more popular and convinient.
Hi Amber,
So nice to see your picture here! Thank you!
LuChen, I didn't realize Twitter does not have a Chinese interface. I bet you could utilize the free translation software on the internet to participate. Thanks for letting us know your perspective on these technologies in China. I would think that China would be leading in many of these applications, no?
Andrea
i love the title...lol. As I digress, I am still not a twitter fan. I have yet to create a page and I really don't want to but I feel at some point I think I will have to break down and create a page....maybe after reading your blog every once in a while I will conform to the rest of society and create one.
I too have never used twitter and honestly wouldn't even know where to begin. I am even reluctant these days to update my facebook status. I guess I just don't feel the need to let the world know what I am doing or how I am feeling 24/7. However, after reading this I now understand the importance and see the benefits that this technology can bring in an educational manner. I'm intrigued now to go ahead and join the twittering world.
Amber,
that was a very eye-opening blog that you posted. I had no idea that Twitter had become such a political space for people to use, especially internationally. I must say that I am no fan of Twitter, but I do have more respect for it after reading this post.
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