Experience with Twitter

Since it was first created, Twitter has undergone a functional transformation as far as what info people can get from the site. At first the main function of the site was following celebrities or famous people and keeping up with them on a somewhat personal level through their tweets. Another function of Twitter was following other people you know in real life and keeping up with their lives via their tweets. Over time, the instant nature of Twitter led to it becoming a very effective and efficient way to get news from anywhere around the world. Current events are tweeted about within minutes of happening and the tweets are available for anyone to see which makes it easy for someone to keep up with the news of the events. Now all news outlets have accounts on Twitter and tweet out news as it happens in addition to the citizen journalists that tweet about events. Twitter has even been used as a rescue tool in some instances. During Hurricane Harvey in Houston,  many people were stuck or stranded with no other way of contacting people for help other than tweeting out their location in the hopes they will be found or rescued. This use of social media was one many never would've thought would be necessary when creating it. 

Twitter can be very effective as a journalistic, political and organizational tool when correctly used. With Twitter being an instant form of media, news outlets and journalists use it to get the information to the consumer as fast as they can. Any news that appears on the 6pm evening news was likely tweeted out hours before the news broadcast. Politicians also have Twitter accounts now in order to directly engage with the public they represent and to communicate to them as quickly as possible. Effective use of social media can help a politician to grow their following, an example would be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She has used twitter to spread her message and reach a much greater audience than she otherwise would. Movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement demonstrate the organizational power social media such as Twitter has. 

One event that was displayed to the world over social media was the blast in Beirut. A massive explosion in the capital city of Lebanon was caught on video and immediately distributed around the world via Twitter. A tragedy that took place around the world was viewed by anyone within minutes of it happening. In this case twitter effectively and rapidly delivered news. Another event was the death of Kobe Bryant as well as his daughter in a helicopter crash. That news was first reported on Twitter and the news caused so much traffic on the social media site that it crashed for a bit. A third event captured by social media has been the 2020 election. Both candidates have Twitter accounts and have been making statements related to the outcome of the election. In addition, Twitter has provided their own election coverage in the app, showing tweets about the presidential race. In all three cases, Twitter provided the most instant information related to the vents as they happened. This instant nature of Twitter is why it is such a popular news source now. 

The three accounts I chose to follow for the assignment were Playstation, UFC and Sephora. Playstation and UFC were chosen because they are two of the biggest interests I have in my personal life. Sephora was selected because the brand name was something I was familiar with but it is an account I would typically never follow otherwise. 

The Twitter experience was a much quicker and direct experience as opposed to blogging. Twitter's purpose is providing short, succinct info and it does that very well which is in contrast to longer blogs. In comparison to other forms of social media it seems slightly more news/current event oriented than other platforms are now. Instagram and Facebook are seen as more personal as opposed to Twitter.  Twitter fills its role very well and is a very big reason it is as popular as it is. 

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