Twitter: It’s More Than Just 140 Characters
Do you tweet? I recently asked my freshman writing students this question, and was surprised to find that none of them knew what I was talking about. Twitter had become, I had supposed, a phenomenon that everyone under the age of fifty would certainly know about. Even I know about it, and that’s saying quite a lot, since I am slow to acknowledge and quick to dismiss many of the Myspace-type networks after the initial excitement wears off–not so with Twitter.
What exactly is the difference between tweeting and posting information on other “social networks”? Because of the limited number of characters allowed on each “tweet”, Twitter is not a place to banter back and forth about your latest romantic relationship or wish a friend Happy Birthday and find out details about the upcoming party. These snippets of information must be eye-catching, informative, and meaningful in order to get more than a quick dismissive glance. Additionally, there is perhaps no better way to connect with people who are actually interested in the same things, whether those things are as trivial as cooking techniques or as critical as world hunger.
Recently, I taught a poem in my freshman literature course by Allen Ginsberg. Having never taught this poem or author before, I simply searched on Twitter for references to Ginsberg and connected with other professors, students, and casual readers. I began following some of my new “friends” and received input on teaching and reading one of our greatest American writers. Sharing information is the key to the success of Twitter, but unlike other networking ideas, the information is completely controlled by the user. Not interested in celebrity tweets? Fine, Twitter allows you to block their often self-promoting advertisements; however, if you are interested in witty and often hilarious one-liners and instant links to funny videos, then following Weird Al Yankovic is something to lighten up your otherwise dark and dreary day.
Ultimately, Twitter will not only survive simply because of the unbelievable opportunity to connect with anyone in the world within seconds, but also because of the informational control placed in the user’s hands. For those of you still not tweeting, I suggest you give it a try; Weird Al is waiting.
Follow me: @teachgirl521
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teachgirl: I am one of those cyber-challenged individuals who had no idea what twitter was or how to go about the act of twittering
It sounds like something I do when I’ve had too much caffeine. I will most certainly look into this growing phenom… God knows, I love to give advice on every subject imaginable. By the way, your writing is incredible! Not as good as mine..lol but incredible none-the-less.