The Perks and Pitfalls of Twitter

Tweet, tweet, tweet!

Twitter... I have been meaning to get one for about 2 months. I have a lot to say and I, of course, know everybody would want to hear what I have to say. Unfortunately I couldn't think of a name so I got lazy and the urge passed. Now I have a twitter account and I don't want to flood my classmates with the incessant ramblings of a somewhat angry, self-righteous 19 year old university student, so I am censoring myself for the greater good. Twitter is a relatively new social networking/mircoblogging site and is incredibly popular. For example, if you go on People.com (for all your celebrity crush needs) you can see a live feed of celebrity 'tweets', a quite recent addition to the website.

Of course, there are many varied ways to use twitter. 

Some people feel the need to update constantly with tweets about absolutely everything, which generally reads like this: 

"The highway is sooo busy. OMG, gonna be late :( "

"I just got to work... 5 minutes late :( "

"Just got sushi for morning tea, my day is looking up!"

"Have food poisoning from sushi... not happy!"

And so it goes on. 

However, there are many amazing and innovative uses for Twitter including the instances in which it has been used by citizens in warzones to get news out to the world when journalists have been banned. Another good use of Twitter is to promote causes which you can read about here: http://thenextweb.com/me/2011/11/17/tweetbacks-back-to-help-develop-100-egyptian-villages/. 

Unfortunately some of the news that gets put on Twitter is false (cue: gasps and shocked expressions)! I know, absolutely shocking. This recently led to people thinking the Pope was dead (http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/TechandScience/Story/STIStory_775668.html), claims which were soon dismissed as false. This is disadvantageous to all the people who are telling the truth via Twitter because their words may be cast in the shadow of the lies. Since there are so many benefits to Twitter, it would be sad to see it ruined by hoaxes. 

Regardless, the popularity of Twitter seems to be showing no signs of slowing down, so happy tweeting my friends @JOUR1111 Students! Just keep it real... literally.