My feature on the emergence of Twitter

The ever growing use of Twitter

By: Chris Hogan

            Ten years ago, people relied on things like email, AOL Instant Messenger and writing letters in order to communicate with people. Fast forward ten years later, social media has become a main stream ticket for everyone in today’s ever changing world.

            One of these social media trends that has an impact on the world is Twitter, which launched in the summer of 2006. The interactive site allows users to sign up for a free account, “tweet” what is going on in their lives and follow friends or celebrities.

            The use of Twitter has expanded dramatically because it now allows us to get breaking news quicker than before from companies like CNN, ABC and the New York Times. These publications tweet important information to us. Users can “retweet” for followers to see, creating a viral effect.

            Smart phones like the Blackberry, IPhone and Android now feature twitter apps for the phones so that customers can use twitter on the run. Most popular journalists use it as well to break news. College students rely on the twitter apps to contact other students about assignments, their locations and or just about anything. It provides another alternative to texting.

             Twitter is invaluable for searches. For example, people who are unemployed can type in key words in the search box to and what kind of job interests them and what potential employers offer As a result, more and job postings are being put up. People are also using twitter to search for different kind of news that appeals to them.

            UB student Josh Ryan, who is a regular user of twitter daily, feels it has a lot to offer and wonders about the future ability of it.

“Twitter in my opinion right now is easily the best way to get news as quickly as possible, whether that’s good, remains to be seen,” Ryan said.

            The downside of Twitter is that only top line information goes out. As a result, people are beginning to avoid longer news formats, which may hurt the news services financially.  Another negative aspect to twitter is that information put on the site maybe false because of its quick broadcast.

 Twitter is poised to grow as a social media site serving people wanting to receive information faster. How it evolves will be something to watch.