Since
twitter started, it has taken over the public and social
mindset. From having the hashtag (#) becoming a
known icon from appearing in movie trailers to storefronts, as well as becoming
for a good majority where people get there news and updates, to even
our president using it for announcements, wrong or right as that
maybe. It was almost overnight but Twitter has become the one of if not the
most predominant source of news and updates for millennial's and
even people older. A good majority don't even watch the news anymore,
they just go to Twitter and see what the latest updates are in the world.
People sometimes don't even use Twitter as a social hub but rather
the best and easiest source to get the latest news updates. Twitter has
become a mainstay in our social media and news landscape.
Because of
what was just mentioned above about how Twitter has become a huge supplier of
news, many outlets and political figures have begun to use it as a
political and news tool. Love him or hate him the best example of this is the
president of the united states, Donald Trump. Never have we had a president who
used Twitter like he does. To comments crested to stir the pot, him threatening
over Twitter and him addressing issues and making announcements, he’s used
Twitter as his defacto way to get his
point and message across. With this he has amassed a giant following on
twitter of 59.6 million followers. It really is a great way to make sure as
many people as possible can see what you want them too or feel that they
need too, regardless of how you feel about what he is actually posting and
saying.
Some
examples in the past year showing how Twitter is used in this fashion include,
Nike's Colin Kapernick ad. Being a
giant source of controversy already with his kneeling in
the NFL during the anthem. Nike chose to use Colin as the poster boy for all
their new ads with the "Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing
everything." message they were using for their brand. It payed off with
their stock pricing getting a short decrease then a huge boost
shortly thereafter. Another example would be in March of 2018, Dwayne Johnson (The
Rock) promoting the March For our Lives March in DC urging against gun
violence. This shows how influential celebrities have
become in political messaging, good or bad. Lastly another big event would have
been the whole Tide pod debacle. What this was, was apparently kids were
challenging each other/or trying to get high by eating tide pods. Clearly
this wasn't good, and looked not so good for Tide, even though it’s
not their fault people are numb. So they released a tweet telling people not to
do so but if they did, drink water or milk and to call the poison hot
line immediately. They also included said hot lines number.
When it came to the Twitter project for class,
I chose IGN, a video game and entertainment website, Kinda Funny, an
entertainment/gaming/and just talk show channel, and The NBA which is
basketball. I chose the first two because it’s what I love and enjoy and hope
to one day be in that field. I primarily chose Kinda Funny
because I have been following these people since 2008, when the ironically
started at IGN, my first choice, till they became their own thing in 2015. It's
really what I aspire to do after college. I chose NBA because I know jack
about basketball, and it was part of the assignment to choose
something you're not comfortable with. I figured this would be a good
idea because even though I don't personally follow it or even really
watched any, I've always kind of wanted to try and get into it so I figured why
not try.
The biggest difference between
using Twitter and
the blogging we have done as well as any
other social media is honestly the size difference. With Twitter, which started
with 140 characters and eventually expanded to 250, you need to be way more
thoughtful with each word and really get the point across fast. you have no
room or filler or fluff. You need to just get to the point and not write an
essay about whatever you're talking
about. For me that’s always been the hardest part because
I find I can be a bit of a rambler. But I appreciate the challenge because you learn that
if you can really capture someone’s attention and get the point across
with that few characters, you really did well and is a very good skill to learn
for future endeavors,
especially because I plan on going into PR.
