Twitter is a double-edged sword at best. It has earned its place among the elite of social networking sites and I am a bit hesitant to say I also have an account. That’s not saying much since social networking sites are changing what we consider social activity. Again, thanks to the wonders of our social technology, I use twitter passively, meaning I don’t even log into my own profile. I did so only the one time I set it up to be updated by my facebook artist page to then in turn update my music profile on myspace. I never actually log in but every now and then I see a few tweets and I’m slightly sickened at how it abbreviates and condenses your message involuntarily. Anything past its small character limit gets garbled into a link. Twitter is not a place to actively search out information, it is a place where there is no filter, no quality control, no real premise for the majority of postings and its top users cause those searching for “textlebrity” status to scramble in a race for attention. They have my bare minimum.
I do not own nor will I get a Twitter account. It is just another social network that though supports freedom of thought, lacks in content. In an age where technology allows us to hide behind our computers and say whatever we want, maybe some of us are prolific wordsmiths that write a wide range of thought provoking ideas and observations, but in actuality many would just Tweet about a new pair of shoes or something. It can possibly be the constraint of how much you can write that hinders any real deep, intellectual verbiage, but I think it is more so that nobody really cares. We are at the point where much of anything that requires one to think deeply is downplayed, and Twitter is a well engineered vessel to carry out the simple, one dimensional, clueless rants of the masses. Walking in line with the rest of the drones will not get you killed.
Twitter is, I think,might be another phenomenon of the world wide web, which is constantly used in a wrong way, really wrong way. As A. Triff mentioned that only 2.2% of all Tweetverse population speaker's are only genuine. So, I believe this is good proof of that the majority of population are like a herd of sheep. What do they do? They just fallow the other people, and say same things, or I should say tweet the same posts. From my perspective, it is really sheep-like. And what about those, who just post random things like “Do you think French people think in French?” In my humble opinion, this just shows, how some human beings are really dumb, and how other people are even dumber to read those meaningless tweets and waste their time. And then my thoughts came back to the same conclusion that majority of Internet users are really sheep-like, I am sorry if I offend anyone. Speaking of those 2.2% genuine tweets, I think, if we would dig even more, we would just find another 2.2% or even less, who tweets interesting or worth our priceless time information. So what could be the possible wright way of using twitter? Unfortunately, after thinking about it for a good half of the day and spending some time on the Internet and researching, I haven't come up with any decent ideas. Ironically, just thought of Tweeter as voluntary spam system of the WWW, that everybody hates so much.
Twitter,Facebook and the like are, in my humble opinion,a waste of time for the most part.I have a facebook account to communicate with an old friend overseas and rarely use it. While it seems to be a fad now, I caution some of the users of social site to whatch what they post as it may well come back to bite you.Futhermore it is taking away from getting out there and actually meeting people. Perhaps I'm dating myself;but for me, I'd rather meet and talk with people the old fashion way face to face.Alan mwf 11 am spring term.
I for one can’t believe Twitter ever caught on. It looks like something 12 year olds would write in to their friends while trying to sound or look cool. To make things worse, a lot of posts on twitter use ZERO grammar or punctuation at all. How do you think I am supposed to read this and take you seriously? Why does anyone want to know things like “Just woke up” “Looked out the window” “lol friend called” and etc? Then they update this same crap up to 100 times during the day with more of this crap. What happened to writing a blog which helps develop your communication skills and writing skills? I have never and will never activate a Twitter account. I have seen almost no good come from Twitter except when their Blogs show up in the news due to them murdering someone and then reading it they planned everything out on Twitter and nobody listened (Honestly not surprising as for what I mentioned above) or paid attention. Do yourself a favor if you value your intelligence … stay away from Twitter!
I would tend to agree that social networking has become destructive to society. Mainly, the most popular social network sites being Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. The population, mostly students, I would say tend to write differently online and while texting on their cell phones than how they would write an assignment for college. They have even created a name for that type of writing used on these social networks, “Text Talk”. Where people no longer even use correct abbreviations but instead write “NVM” (never mind) or “TTYL” (talk to you later). These social networks have allowed people to become lazy in a sense, and they have restrained people from expanding their writing abilities. Since everyone on Twitter and Facebook is using “Text Talk”, younger generations see this everywhere online and assume it’s how the population in general writes. Not to mention, this may affect children’s writing performances in school. It’s like social networking is preparing our future generations to be, brainless.
When I heard about Twitter the first thing that came to my mind was the trouble I have reading those messages. I do not own a twitter account but I have seen what it is and in my honest opinion, it is pointless. Why on earth do i want to know if you are eating a chocolate cake or getting your hair cut?. Social Networks like Twitter or Facebook should be used to discuss social issues like environment, drugs, education. Nobody wonders what is going on outside. People has got used to live a sheep-like life. Everybody is trapped in a bubble, kids are loosing the motivation to learn, seek for answers. They are growing up brainwashed, focusing in less important things like how "cool" they dress, speak, etc. We have to change that.
Words have lost their meaning through the new forms of communication, people no longer need to speak to each other in order to say something. Now it is all about Facebook and Twitter. The text talk and the lack of words is all but to common it is even seen in the older generations of society i.e. my mother who has a twitter account. People no longer have intellectual conversations, it has switched to what they are doing at the moment or who they are fighting with. Twitter also contributes to society’s slothfulness, it is not necessarily “a self imposed 140-character limit” but rather the creators of Twitter know that people now are lazy and anything longer than a paragraph is a work. It is not good for society, it kills the last remaining brain cells people do have. Instead of using them for something productive they use it to talk about what they are eating. As if that is really pertinent to society. We have really come far in technology, instead of discovering new things, planets, and so fourth. We learn what Timmy from across the street is eating for breakfast.
When the internet was commercialized and made public in the 90's it took the world by storm. One of the greatest and revolutionary impacts was its ability to make any online business instantly international. This allowed companies to instantly sell their services and products all over the world, something that used to take years for a company to accomplish. Twitter kind of works the same way with our thoughts and opinions, we are now able to sell these opinions all over the world (almost like a thought revolution), at least for anyone who cares enough to read them in 140 characters or less of course. With that I should say Twitter comes with a sense of free-will and with that comes responsibility. I think I have seen more people retract tweets in the past year than any other media outlet, this is because it allows us to say anything we'd like in any state of mind to the select group that wishes to invest in our words. A lot of times we eat those words, who hasn't said something they regret in the past? This is the free-will on one side, on the other we as consumers of these words, are able to pick and choose which ones we want for ourselves. So to criticize Twitter is really criticizing our own use of it. So often we see events fabricated and opinions forced on us, just watch the majority of news stations. Remember the Mosque at Ground Zero that most people in America were in a huge uproar about because an Islamic Mosque was going to be built “ON” Ground Zero. What the news stations didn't tell us is its blocks away from where the tragedy happened and it was actually a community center open to all. My point is Twitter doesn't do that unless we let it; there is going to be a flood of different tweets from different people, some good, and some a waste of our time. The great thing about it is we have the ability to pick and choose which ones we want to see and believe. Every opinion and decision is about free-will, no one should be limited in their projection of words and beliefs and at the same time no one should be told who or what they have to “follow”.
Everyone from celebrities to teachers to our teenage kids are all using twitter. If anything it is the latest rage in the messaging blogging world and just keeps growing. The result of using twitter to stay connected with friends, relatives, and coworkers is that you have a sense of what folks are up to but you are not expected to respond to any updates unless you want to. you can totally control the information you recieve. As a result, twitter is a fast and convenient way to stay in touch with those who you choose to. So I think that twitter has positive and negative things at the same time, It could be short and quick but at the same time we are depending too much in technology.
I think the failure with society is its ignorance to realize how insignificant it really is. I personally think that the entire concept of Twitter is a half baked idea to create a website. Using Twitter is like posting continuous status updates--except this time your Facebook friends can't complain. Really? You're going to "tweet" about your life? Might as well buy $8 coffee and spend Sundays walking along a pier with no expression on your face. I'm also loving the millions of people that follow celebrities on Twitter. I'm completely aware that money can spice up one's life...but do you honestly believe a functioning human being is supposed to enjoy reading about how Kanye West is jamming to Justin Bieber's new album? In the realm of social networking we should asses which websites are valuable and which are expendable.
Twitter is no longer a social network friendly environment in my opinion. It has been taken over by different types of companies to do their dirty work and advertise about what kind of programs, or products they have to offer. I sadly do not like to use twitter for many reasons. One of those reasons are the weird post lots of people use randomly. I also like to see twitter as a new community that has opened up new heights for technology (Well so has facebook). We can tweet from anywhere, our phones, our pcs, even our televisions. there will be a time where we will be able to post comments and Twitts with online glasses, as technology keeps expanding. Twitter is an incredible phenomenon that will keep getting better as we keep extending our knowledge. However, will it take over our world with Twitt ads all over cities? We will have to see.
I can agree with most people that Twitter and Facebook are taking over the social networking. However, social networking is the new way of communicating. With the modern day society everyone is trying to do everything they can is the less amount of time possible. With social networking one can communicate with new or old friends and still stay informed and close to one another. Never the less, These social networks are destroying true friendships and the way people use to communicate with one another. Now a days one can go months without seeing someone and still know everything about them. You do not necessarily need to confront someone face to face to have a full conversations with them and see how they are doing. I do currently have a Facebook and it is a great to keep in touch with your friends. However, those who are your real friends and those who just “add” you depends on you. Facebook has taken over the lives of many teens and young adults. However, no one says you need to be on the website all day or check it 3 times a day. One can still have their normal social life while having a social networking page. This all depends on how you are and what your choices are. -Alejandro Pino
Twitter is a social network where you can communicate with your favorite celebrities, families, and friends. Everyone has a right to express themselves in their own way that is why the first amendment is the freedom of speech. You’re not obligated on making a twitter or writing properly writing your own thoughts and opinions, or even tweeting back to someone that was talking about nonsense. Although some may write things in “text talk” it’s because I believe since you can only write 140 characters there cutting their words down in order to make the whole statement they wanted to tweet fit. There’s a saying that goes there a time and a place to turn on the way you speak and know when to turn it off. -Weslyne Sainci
Twitter is one of many known social networks of our time. Unlike MySpace or Facebook, Twitter only deals with the present time. One comes to notice the difference between MySpace/Facebook statues compared to Twitter. "Twits" as most may call it concern fundamentally with what one is doing at the time being. Due to this act which Twitters have come a custom to; their statements are look upon as blank ideas. Statues publicized as means of informing their public with unimportant facts (e.g about to buy bread). In the other had there is only 140 characters; Twitters could only do so much with that limitation. Concluding and understanding the reason behind the “text-talk” syndrome however, what is worried some is the younger generations following Twits. Leading to have a greater population of youth with poor grammar and vocabulary, something the creators did not have in mind. Nevertheless, it is still the best known place to follow your favorite celebrities on.
Social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook has indeed change the way we communicate today. I am a member of these networking sites, and have observed few advantages like it’s a great medium to communicate and share with friends that reside overseas. Secondly, it is a great way of following the celebrities or our idols through their pages. Posing few benefits, it tags several disadvantages as well. These sites could have been a great way of stimulating our critical thinking but sadly it’s not happening. It’s really rare that I observe some good posts or tweets and for most part, it’s just random nonsense. We have become so addicted to these sites that whatever we are doing has to go in them. In short, we are letting others to invade our private lives. There was a time when friends use to call to wish us on special occasions but now these sites have made wishing people easier which I perceive does create a distance among people. Twitter could have been the next big thing but I really don’t see it coming.
Twitter is no more than a superficial way to communicate. A space for those who want to be part of the “new movement” and “pop- out” in the social network that everyone is talking about. First of all, I find the 140 characters rule as tyrannical limitation for one looking to express whatever is in one’s mind. It’s like telling my mind to think in 140 characters...What’s the point with that? Secondly, what twitter does, is getting people to follow the network, rather than following the people that belong to it. Instead of getting together with people or meeting with friends, the network gets you tweeting: “the best way to discover what is new in your world” (as the web site describes it.) Is that so? Today our society is getting used to a two dimensional world where experiences come from non-sense comments, imaginary worlds, and idealized characters. Most of the information and tweets published in the website come from a minority that seems to be people that do not have anything better to do than follow and be followed in the twitter world... To me, just an ego expanding game. Jeronimo Gilardoni
Some may argue that social networking is the best way to communicate, but is it really? Can you express a full interesting thought or idea in 140 characters? Maybe, but most people don't post anything interesting which is why Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace is a waste of time for the most part. People become addicted to their account activity and spend so much time on it instead of doing something more productive. It has even come down to students who have to close their accounts in order to concentrate in their studies more and yet it is said social networking doesn't affect anyone. It isn't that Twitter is a bad thing but it is obvious that users do not know how much “tweeting” is enough. Telling others what your doing every hour will not change their lives or the person posting that tweet. Users become more concerned in posting what their doing than actually doing it. So again I state that it is a waste of time. -Etil Diaz
Communication was once a way to better the pursuit of survival. Fires, Beacons, Smoke signals, Mail, Pigeon post,Hydraulic semaphores, Heliographs, Maritime flags, Semaphore lines, Signal lamps,but life itself has changed from survival to search of purpose. Now we are secure. the wars we've fought and the the epidemics we have battled for survival are still in existence but are apparent and to some extent controlled. so there is no need for john doe to worry too much about the bubonic plaque but more to worry about what all his friends would enjoy instantly via text. the twitter "pHeNoM" (pardon the irony) is better described as a self-esteem machine to manipulate your own social value. weather it be the info you know or the clever way you express it. some would say its a good way to keep in touch creating a solid foundation for social care. others would say its free speech to the point of creating your own special language of condensed humor and wit. regardless of what its used for to me the "Useless" outweighs the "good".
My two main concerns when it comes to twitter and other social networking sites like it are as follows. Firstly, why should I care? I know this might seem a bit harsh to some people but in lue of this discussion I went to the twitter website and clicked on the first thing listed under “Top Trending Topics”. The first post reads “If I get REALLY made I see black nd white….nd I don’t usually remember what I do.” By ThickaThanA. Putting aside the obvious spelling problems and need for psychotherapy I come back to my main point. I see no possible reason why I would need to know this or similarly what good does this knowledge do our society? There is none that I can see. The idea that whatever we have to say is important and that people care and want to read about it is ludicrous. Secondly whenever I find myself in a discussion about social networks I seem to always hear people talk about “their” page or “their” account. Now in terms of social interaction calling an account that you have on one of these sites yours might be acceptable but did you ever really think about who it belongs to? Is it really yours? Most people it seems strongly believe that it is theirs and that they own it however in many cases this is untrue. For example did you know that major social networking sites list their clients user information as an asset of the company. Who’s to blame them when they have contact information for hundreds of millions of users. Now I’m sure many of you are thinking something along the lines of “they can’t sell that it says so in the contract which I have with them when I joined the service to begin with”. This is true however it seems you might have skipped a line or two while on your way down to click Accept. I implore you to take a closer look at some of those contracts.
I’m not a Twitter’s user, but what I’ve researched until now is that Twitter is just like any other social network. The initial idea of these innovative communication systems is pretty good and has many advantages. They allow other people to know interesting parts of your life, discover common interest between friends you didn’t know about before, keep in touch with friends in other countries, organize meetings etc. This is very useful. The intention of using social-networking services to make a more communicated world is great. But what many people don’t understand is that they are the ones who must use these new ways of communications to get what they want, and not let social networks use them in their benefits. People become so addictive to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace for just cite the most famous; that they start thinking of them as an inseparable friend to which they need to tell everything. As a result, networks get flooded with such huge amounts of non-sense post and information, that what at a beginning was thought as a useful place to share good information and help our intellect to develop gets converted into something that just disclose our personal information and make us lose our time. (Even if in many occasions we don’t realize it) Twitter in addition contributes even more to the deformation of language with its 140 characters restriction, forcing members to create new and weird forms of writing to express their complete idea, which look more like a scientific code than real words. As well as Prof. Triff, I don’t consider Twitter as the next big think. I think that it just another social network: sometimes very useful and sometimes not that useful, but never as the next big invention that will revolutionize the world.
I personally do not have a Twitter account. This is mostly due to the fact that social networking is not my niche. For those cyber social butterflies, Twitter can be a social rollercoaster of fun. With it, their able to allow more people into to their ‘day to day’ lives and vice versa.Sharing thoughts and exchanging ideas in a publicized setting can be okay for some. For those who don’t want their lives to be an electronic journal, Twitter is just like having a stalker. In this case hundreds, sometimes millions, of devoted followers wait for the next word of wisdom from their heavenly leader. Okay, I may have exaggerated a bit but that’s one way to look at it.Lots of people are okay with putting themselves out there because they believe only friends and close ones are getting ahold of this information. People can "retweet" things which then can be misconstrued by others. Twitter then basically becomes a whole bunch of status updates, mind farts and somewhere else to drop your mental diarrhea. -Joanne Apollon
For one, I do not have a problem with twitter (the program or the creators). I believe that It is a great system which allows millions to stay connected with one another. Not only that, but it also provides a great way for individuals to express their views, ideas and knowledge of life in a simple and easy manner. What I do believe the problem is on the other hand, is the way that the program is being used and the way in which people are inundated by the program. Posting status messages every other minute of ones where abouts, current disposition, feeling/emotions and pointless rants are only proving the idea that man is a very immature, intellectually/ spiritually disconnected race. It is not "twitter" which reduces the overall spiritual/ intellectual level of man but, in reality, it is man(through his own choices) reduces himself.
No doubt that the social networks have become more popular now. It's the way the 21st century communicates today. But for People to say that Twitter is the next big thing. Mm, I don’t think so. For others it might be considered as the “big thing” because it has generated an impact now days mainly because it is seen as a great window to say what we think to the world and it is also a vast network that keeps us informed of what is going on around the world. However, I think it is not use properly. I don’t have a twitter and I’m not interested in having one either. I have enough with Facebook which I find it more interesting than twitter. The main difference between Tweeter and Facebook is in their content. In tweeter the important thing is the so called “tweet” which is what we say in 140 characters, but in Facebook there is more content and the important thing is what we post such as photos, videos, links, and connect with friends, family and establish contacts easily. I have realized that the social network have changed our ways of saying and writing things properly. In the future we will know how much we have change our language and spelling.
In my perspective twitter is not a new idea, but one that has been re thought. What I mean is that as far as social networking sites go there have been many before with the same concept, and that is giving people the ability to inform the world of their current shenanigans such as “going to the super market” or “taking a shower” which in my opinion is a waste of time since it’s irrelevant to me what you are or not doing. The thing that twitter has done that is different is sell an idea. It gives the user the satisfaction of knowing that what they are saying is being heard, since they have” followers”. In my opinion twitter is just another method people are using to give them self worth. I personally don’t own a twitter and I am not planning on getting one either, one social networking site is good enough for me.
I must have to admit, I am a victim of both these sites, twitter and face-book. I would usually only use face-book to keep in contact with friends from around the world but then I eventually got caught up in the addiction of knowing what everyone is doing at all times, I seem to find myself to spend hours on the sight and accomplish nothing with myself for that day. I would get so caught up and ignore my studies. These sights are evil, and what they can do to a person! And Twitter is on a completely different level, I've been on twitter for almost a year and it's so funny how men droll over these women, how they speak to women and not only men but women say the most derogatory things, and the pictures men and women post of themselves! Maybe I'm following the wrong people on twitter but most of the time they tweet about, who's better than the other one, money, clubs, alcohol, & sex. I have to admit after being on twitter for a while, my attitude change completely because I started thinking the same way these people did! It definitely isn't heathy, twitter is a bad influence on society period!! Im happy to say I no longer log into these sites because I want to be my own person and I feel especially twitter can change an individual! ....Also another thing I would like to add, people now a days do not now how to communicate because everything is done online, through networks and texting, this generation and the up and coming generations will not now how to properly communicate with other people because instead of picking up the phone it's done through text, tweeting and updating your face-book status. What are we becoming..
I must have to admit, I am a victim of both these sites, twitter and face-book. I would usually only use face-book to keep in contact with friends from around the world but then I eventually got caught up in the addiction of knowing what everyone is doing at all times, I seem to find myself to spend hours on the sight and accomplish nothing with myself for that day. I would get so caught up and ignore my studies. These sights are evil, and what they can do to a person! And Twitter is on a completely different level, I've been on twitter for almost a year and it's so funny how men droll over these women, how they speak to women and not only men but women say the most derogatory things, and the pictures men and women post of themselves! Maybe I'm following the wrong people on twitter but most of the time they tweet about, who's better than the other one, money, clubs, alcohol, & sex. I have to admit after being on twitter for a while, my attitude change completely because I started thinking the same way these people did! It definitely isn't heathy, twitter is a bad influence on society period!! Im happy to say I no longer log into these sites because I want to be my own person and I feel especially twitter can change an individual! ....Also another thing I would like to add, people now a days do not now how to communicate because everything is done online, through networks and texting, this generation and the up and coming generations will not know how to properly communicate with other people because instead of picking up the phone it's done through text, tweeting and updating your face-book status. What are we becoming..
When I reflect upon the importance of Twitter in comparison to life events such as the first time I learned how to tie my shoes, my first time kissing a girl, and finding myself in this world; I think Twitter will easily fade away from my memories and become as antiquated as the beeper. Although for the youthful and celebrities alike Twitter may be a lucid way to express oneself without worrying about the negative effects, there is intrinsic and extrinsic repercussions for the twits of this world. Besides, lowering one's vocabulary and critical thinking skills Twitter can be detrimental to your future as a professional in the work-force or someone who is looking to be respected for their intelligence or wisdom. One may be surprised to find out that employers actually screen job candidates during the hiring process. According to a recent career builder survey forty-five percent of employers use social networking sites to screen job candidates. Of those who conduct online background checks seven percent follow Twitter. Although, minuscule in comparison to twenty-nine percent who follow Facebook; in the state of the economy I wouldn’t take any chances in tarnishing the view or perception of an employer. Beyond the effects that it has on our image I think Twitter is also making our world asocial. I can recollect many social gatherings in which my friends would be using their blackberry or iPhone to update their Twitter status. This would prove to be a nuisance and would make it difficult to get to know the individual and make it easy to pre-judge. Although, social networking sites such as Twitter can be a fun way to get to know your friends, it personally takes away the fun out of getting to know someone face to face.
Twitter in my personal opinion isn’t necessarily “good” or “bad”, but it’s a complex combination of both. With the advances in technology present day one can’t help but see this as good thing that we’re evolving when it comes to social networking. The problem to me is that social networking it’s self is starting to take its toll on human interaction. Whatever happened to giving someone a phone call? Or better yet, having a face to face conversation with someone you see on the street? Instead what we do now is see someone, and once we get home we get on twitter and type a post that says you saw someone you know. It’s limiting ideas when it gives you 140 characters, it’s hurting our grammatical intelligence by somewhat forcing us to type in abbreviation, and we’re not even saying things that are relevant for the most part. Twitter has somehow put the convenience of texting in the backburner by not even texting one specific person. What it has done is create an idea with 140 characters towards a general audience therefore diluting thoughts and ideas as a whole. Now that I think about it, I’m starting to lean quite heavily towards “bad”. Bad twitter, bad, bad twitter.
I believe that Twitter limits you to think and truly express how you feel. The fact that it limits you to certain amount of characters it dumbs down your English grammar. By replacing “you” for “u” is ridiculous I mean how lazy can you be by not fully writing out a three letter word. Socially networks like Twitter, Facebook, cell phones, and Skype have made us mentality lethargic. We act as if this is our only source of communication. We even go as far as going into withdrawal when we don’t check our statuses like if it were some kind of drug. Whatever happened to hand written letters, Morse code, and in person conversation? Until we learn to detach from material networks like Twitter we will continue to be lethargic and not think like we used to. –Raiza Natalia Matamoros MWF 11 am
Twitter in its own way serves as another realm. A place where people can come and express exactly how you feel , or how you want others to think you feel. In this place you can be completely naked , or ridiculously clothed and not be judged as you sit behind the screen of your computer and/or mobile device. Twitter is often, and more popularly being called a social phenomenon , however; I think too much credit is given to the website. It Is simply another advancement in technology and social networking , at best. I have a twitter account , and I have had one for the better part of two years. When I was first introduced to twitter it was merely a website for nosey fans to keep track of their favorite celebrities , now it has become an arena of many things , drama in my opinion being the root. Arguments have been made saying twitter limits one from truly expressing themselves but a person that genuinely knows what they feel can and will be able to express themselves be it in 160 charters or 160 words. In retrospect that limitation does leave twitter lacking in comparison to other social networks of its kind such as face book. People often criticize people’s use of grammar and punctuation as they tweet but in reality that’s not the purpose of twitter. Twitter is supposed to be a place where you cant express your self in which ever way you choose , not a constant reminder of grade school grammar.
Twitter, in my opinion, is yet another outlet for the inanity and frivolity in us. It is highly representative of the internet in general in its expression of people’s unrefined ideas. With all the social networking and other internet culture sites like 4chan and twitter, people no longer have to worry about presenting their ideas in a prepared, refined manner; rather, they just throw it out there almost stream of consciousness. One of the particularly annoying features of this brave new world of communication is the short form “text lingo” popularized by early cellphone text messaging limitations. Abbreviations like “lol” and “rofl” are now commonplace on the internet, despite the availability of full keyboards and sufficient space to write a full message. It seems that with the extreme deluge of information available on the internet, people are spreading themselves too thin trying to keep up with it all, and in turn, relaxing their standards by resorting to abbreviations and strange keyboard hieroglyphics to represent themselves. Written language started with hieroglyphics, and now it seems to have come full-circle and is going back to hieroglyphics. Call me old-school, but I obstinately refuse to ever use “text lingo” in my communications.
Nowadays it is seen that people would prefer to communicate with themselves through social networking. The way I see it, people would prefer to befriend someone in another state or country, which they have no idea on who they are than to just go say a friendly hello to the neighbor living across the street. So I highly doubt that Twitter will become the next Fad. Now I understand the usage of Twitter, Face book or any social network as a means to stay connected with old friends or colleagues from work. I admit that I too am involved in social networking since I have a Face book account but I do not own nor will I own a Twitter. However, I also see that people have taken the usage of social networking as a means to get boredom out of the way and ask for attention. Like honestly, it has gotten to the point that people would tweet or post something like “just showered” or “staring at a wall”. This is not only a waste of time but also a waste of time to others. I am not saying that people shouldn’t be able to express themselves, but rather to say something that is worthwhile to read. Instead people continue to use social networking in the incorrect way especially in Twitter. So in my point of view, I do not see that Twitter will be the next fad in society.
Twitter has its pro’s and con’s in the social realm but mostly it not good. The purpose of twitter and what it present to its twitter followers always baffle me. Because I think twitter seem very arbitrary to me. Some people use twitter to plug promotions for celebrity and products, and others use twitter to painfully bombard us with meaningless, fruitless thoughts and information. Twitter presents a world where profound thinking, educated inquiries, written expressions, human interactions, are dismissed and un-encourage. In addition what happen to the concept of writing how you feel, asking questions, freedom of expression, it seem that as well has be restricted upon twitter followers. All these factors are not only harming the way we express our self but how we communicate with each other. I feel twitter is not the next phenomenon it just a bad trend. Eventually the twitter trend will lose its fare and cease to exist in time.
The social network that exists virtually is a commercial venture that attempts to transplant the connection that individuals feel with others when they examine or become physically involved with others to a seemingly ever accessible state on the internet. It becomes the site where one can examine an already predetermined and carefully placed profile that allows individuals to describe themselves. In the case of Twitter, individuals virtually "follow" others in the privacy of their personal computers. The "Tweeters" garner a sense of satisfaction or connectivity by thoroughly examining the lives of others, while other members are content with just skimming through the mountains of trivial "news" as provided by other members. Some "Tweets" are now even being treated as headlines and announced as such by radio and television personalities. Talk about cross media sponsorship.. What begins as an honest commercial venture to a few technologically savvy programmers, becomes a social fad that seems to have already had a significant impact in shaping how we each perceive our 21st century world.
I am completely unfamiliar with the site in question, Twitter, so it is difficult to generate a valid judgment. Still, I have always leaned to a more negative view regarding this site. The way I see it, Twitter holds both positive and negative aspects. On one hand, it is a convenient way to keep up with the latest news regarding one’s favorite sports, celebrities, or even organizations. It also has the advantage of allowing users to choose which posts they want to see. On the other hand, however, I feel that it has little, if any, significant functionality. First of all, do we really need yet another social networking? As if the Facebook epidemic weren’t enough. Second, you would think that this site would enable a convenient form of acquiring useful knowledge and data, when really people are utilizing it to expose to the world the most insignificant and useless bits of information. Is it really necessary to disclose what you do every second of everyday? To top it off, Twitter is no longer only used as a blogging service, but it has also become a means of propaganda. With such a widespread demographic at hand, organization or even political entities exploit Twitter in order to spread propaganda, which is guaranteed to reach thousands of users.
Twitter is a wonderful tool that allows people to communicate in a very fast way in this digital era. It is part of the relatively new phenomena of the social networks that is surrounding us in this new millennium. It is easy to use and because of having a friendlier interface than Facebook’s, its main competitor, many people with less networking and computer skills prefer to use Twitter instead. Personally, I do not know how it really works because I am not accustomed to spend time in any social network. Nevertheless, as I am writing this response new Twitter accounts are being created right now by many people around the planet who want to share their experiences with old and new friends in this new dynamic way. I have even heard of politicians and head of States of different countries talking about how useful Twitter is to them when they want to share opinions and even decisions among their followers.
Is Twitter really to blame for the degradation of our society? I believe the issue isn’t Twitter; it’s the users who are posting on it. We live in a generation where everything needs to be instant via mobile. Facebook is a good way to stay connected but when you try to view it on your mobile phones it takes a while. Facebook isn’t the most user-friendly and definitely not mobile friendly. However, Twitter has a much simpler platform and it’s easier to load up on a mobile phone. It’s not a profile; it’s just a status update. Twitter only contains a tweet box with a character limit of 140. I agree the tweet limit is too small but is it Twitter who really decides? I am pretty sure if a lot of users complained they’d increase the limit. It’s easy to say Twitter is bad or it’s degrading our youth but look at who is keeping Twitter alive. Another, thing about Twitter is the short hand typing. It wasn’t Twitter who started this abbreviating phenomenon. It was way before Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. My final thoughts are that people need to stop hiding behind this electronic world we call World Wide Web and actually get out there. Interact with your friends instead of sending them a tweet or a status update. It is okay if your friend lives overseas or in another state but if they live right next to you it’s better to just go visit them. So, twitter is a good thing and at the same thing a bad thing. It is up to you how you want to use it. For me, I rather not get involved in the twitter hype. Like MySpace this soon will die out.
Being honest, I have no idea what twitter means and what it is all about. I have an account in Facebook, but this one seems to be different than twitter. Since I moved to USA, I have heard a lots of staff about the ways of texting, writing and communicating, which were new for me. Where I come from (South Est Europe), everything is different. Since childhood, I was taught to think twice before daring to say something in order to avoid misunderstanding. To express the true meaning of your thought sometimes even full words aren’t enough, because the expression is missing. How then, can you express yourself within character limits and abbreviations? I truly believe in the power of words, and making me write in twitter style would be meaningless. I think that this way of communicating makes people to think less and act like robots, without any feelings.
I am going to be completely honest, I am not a fellow “tweetizen,” therefore, I do not know much about this cyber world. So I looked it up. In the “About Us” section of Twitter, the website is described to be a place to connect to information that interests you. They make is sound so simple to follow. Keyword in that sentence; follow. Ever since grade school I remember how much emphasis was put on how our world needs more leaders. What happened to that goal? This website is a place to follow the lives, the business of others who we may not personally know. In order to follow you must find the conversations that interest you most. This takes time, wouldn’t you say? Are the humans that inhabit this earth that lonely and miserable with their own conversations they feel a need to follow others?
Networking through the internet has become such a huge part of our modern day culture. It’s a convenient way of gathering information and having contact with friends and family. I suppose if you think about whether or not this may lead to some concerning attributes like children and their socialization it may be a considered to be harmful. Looking through a functionalist perspective however, being presented with the ability to be able to meet new people and have those connections it can be very beneficial. Personally, I used to have a twitter account. I used it to network with fellow artists and keep track of upcoming events. I am a sculptor, and in order to even bother keeping in touch with the art world you must keep contact and be involved. Using twitter the way I did, I was able to showcase in the Creative Visions Art Exhibition at F.I.U. back in high school. The only way I even heard about the showing was through twitter and brought it up to my art teacher during the time. Because of this I met some very important people and made a few contacts. Although, noticing that making sure I was updated 24/7 on everything was a bit over whelming and exhausting which is why I had to delete it and just move on from such an aesthetic based reality. Some people like myself at the time, Twitter is not some pointless minute website where its just used to follow some trend, but as a means of seeking opportunity. To be quite honest, opportunity is something that is very hard to come by, especially within the art world regardless of economic status.
Like I had stated, it all depends really on how you see things. Personally from my perspective, I don’t see a site like twitter as something that can be too harmful. It is a site basically dedicated to posting up statuses (small verses or statements) which, it is a choice to have an account with them or not. But like all precautions dealing with the internet, you have to be very particular to what you post because the internet is very permanent.
Twitter and many social networks are a big thing because they serve many peoples interest. It’s there to follow who you are a fan of and communicate with those you follow or to see what your favorite celebrity is doing at that particular moment or what he or she did that day. Like Facebook it provides a service at no cost. But at the same time I do believe that people feed into social networking sites like Twitter; they become obssessed with it. I strongly believe that people should leave some time for themselves and a little time for Twitter. It’s amazing to see how people eat, drink, and sleep Twitter. It’s as if they are a baby and Twitter is their bottle. They need to draw a line from their personal life and their Twitter account. More and more people use their cellular phone to make tweets or send Facebook messages then they do talking on it or sending text messages. I do believe that Twitter provides a good service at no charge but at the same time there’s a fine line between your life and your Twitter account.
I do not think twitter is the next big thing, I believe it is a joke because like stated above in the blog “No one reads your stupid tweets”. I agree with that opinion because tweeters just go along the tweets passing through, only glancing at what seems to catch their attention, and even then barely reading it. Twitter decreases the interaction between people, because they have a social network in which they can send a text to a group of people all at the same time. This social network seems to be going off track because originally it was created to be an all day brainstorming session with SMS service to contact a small group. Now twitter has become a place for mostly pointless babble, and then conversational topics. It also contains a small percentage of news feed, spam, self promotion, and somewhat passable information for others to see.
I personally think, tweeter is a website that does not make any differences to society. I can not stand the idea of tweeter, asking to write everything that a person does. Eventhough facebook is another similar page is kind of different at the same time. Is a website that you can found your friend more easy. I personally think that these site would not impact the user as much as other site such ad myspace, facebook, and others sites. I have a facebook account but I am not a fan of facebook as other show it. Back to the subject I think that this type of site should be more educated for teenager like our age.
46 comments:
Twitter is a double-edged sword at best. It has earned its place among the elite of social networking sites and I am a bit hesitant to say I also have an account. That’s not saying much since social networking sites are changing what we consider social activity. Again, thanks to the wonders of our social technology, I use twitter passively, meaning I don’t even log into my own profile. I did so only the one time I set it up to be updated by my facebook artist page to then in turn update my music profile on myspace. I never actually log in but every now and then I see a few tweets and I’m slightly sickened at how it abbreviates and condenses your message involuntarily. Anything past its small character limit gets garbled into a link. Twitter is not a place to actively search out information, it is a place where there is no filter, no quality control, no real premise for the majority of postings and its top users cause those searching for “textlebrity” status to scramble in a race for attention. They have my bare minimum.
- Rene Gonzalez
I do not own nor will I get a Twitter account. It is just another social network that though supports freedom of thought, lacks in content. In an age where technology allows us to hide behind our computers and say whatever we want, maybe some of us are prolific wordsmiths that write a wide range of thought provoking ideas and observations, but in actuality many would just Tweet about a new pair of shoes or something. It can possibly be the constraint of how much you can write that hinders any real deep, intellectual verbiage, but I think it is more so that nobody really cares. We are at the point where much of anything that requires one to think deeply is downplayed, and Twitter is a well engineered vessel to carry out the simple, one dimensional, clueless rants of the masses. Walking in line with the rest of the drones will not get you killed.
- Rachel Dorvil
Twitter is, I think,might be another phenomenon of the world wide web, which is constantly used in a wrong way, really wrong way. As A. Triff mentioned that only 2.2% of all Tweetverse population speaker's are only genuine. So, I believe this is good proof of that the majority of population are like a herd of sheep. What do they do? They just fallow the other people, and say same things, or I should say tweet the same posts. From my perspective, it is really sheep-like. And what about those, who just post random things like “Do you think French people think in French?” In my humble opinion, this just shows, how some human beings are really dumb, and how other people are even dumber to read those meaningless tweets and waste their time. And then my thoughts came back to the same conclusion that majority of Internet users are really sheep-like, I am sorry if I offend anyone. Speaking of those 2.2% genuine tweets, I think, if we would dig even more, we would just find another 2.2% or even less, who tweets interesting or worth our priceless time information.
So what could be the possible wright way of using twitter? Unfortunately, after thinking about it for a good half of the day and spending some time on the Internet and researching, I haven't come up with any decent ideas. Ironically, just thought of Tweeter as voluntary spam system of the WWW, that everybody hates so much.
- Rokas Zickevicius
Twitter,Facebook and the like are, in my humble opinion,a waste of time for the most part.I have a facebook account to communicate with an old friend overseas and rarely use it. While it seems to be a fad now, I caution some of the users of social site to whatch what they post as it may well come back to bite you.Futhermore it is taking away from getting out there and actually meeting people. Perhaps I'm dating myself;but for me, I'd rather meet and talk with people the old fashion way face to face.Alan mwf 11 am spring term.
I for one can’t believe Twitter ever caught on. It looks like something 12 year olds would write in to their friends while trying to sound or look cool. To make things worse, a lot of posts on twitter use ZERO grammar or punctuation at all. How do you think I am supposed to read this and take you seriously? Why does anyone want to know things like “Just woke up” “Looked out the window” “lol friend called” and etc? Then they update this same crap up to 100 times during the day with more of this crap. What happened to writing a blog which helps develop your communication skills and writing skills? I have never and will never activate a Twitter account. I have seen almost no good come from Twitter except when their Blogs show up in the news due to them murdering someone and then reading it they planned everything out on Twitter and nobody listened (Honestly not surprising as for what I mentioned above) or paid attention. Do yourself a favor if you value your intelligence … stay away from Twitter!
Anthony DeCollibus
I would tend to agree that social networking has become destructive to society. Mainly, the most popular social network sites being Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. The population, mostly students, I would say tend to write differently online and while texting on their cell phones than how they would write an assignment for college. They have even created a name for that type of writing used on these social networks, “Text Talk”. Where people no longer even use correct abbreviations but instead write “NVM” (never mind) or “TTYL” (talk to you later). These social networks have allowed people to become lazy in a sense, and they have restrained people from expanding their writing abilities. Since everyone on Twitter and Facebook is using “Text Talk”, younger generations see this everywhere online and assume it’s how the population in general writes. Not to mention, this may affect children’s writing performances in school. It’s like social networking is preparing our future generations to be, brainless.
--- Laura Galindo
When I heard about Twitter the first thing that came to my mind was the trouble I have reading those messages. I do not own a twitter account but I have seen what it is and in my honest opinion, it is pointless. Why on earth do i want to know if you are eating a chocolate cake or getting your hair cut?. Social Networks like Twitter or Facebook should be used to discuss social issues like environment, drugs, education. Nobody wonders what is going on outside. People has got used to live a sheep-like life. Everybody is trapped in a bubble, kids are loosing the motivation to learn, seek for answers. They are growing up brainwashed, focusing in less important things like how "cool" they dress, speak, etc. We have to change that.
Gabriela Ramos
Nice thread so far. Don't mind me.
Words have lost their meaning through the new forms of communication, people no longer need to speak to each other in order to say something. Now it is all about Facebook and Twitter. The text talk and the lack of words is all but to common it is even seen in the older generations of society i.e. my mother who has a twitter account. People no longer have intellectual conversations, it has switched to what they are doing at the moment or who they are fighting with. Twitter also contributes to society’s slothfulness, it is not necessarily “a self imposed 140-character limit” but rather the creators of Twitter know that people now are lazy and anything longer than a paragraph is a work. It is not good for society, it kills the last remaining brain cells people do have. Instead of using them for something productive they use it to talk about what they are eating. As if that is really pertinent to society. We have really come far in technology, instead of discovering new things, planets, and so fourth. We learn what Timmy from across the street is eating for breakfast.
Yeanli Velez
When the internet was commercialized and made public in the 90's it took the world by storm. One of the greatest and revolutionary impacts was its ability to make any online business instantly international. This allowed companies to instantly sell their services and products all over the world, something that used to take years for a company to accomplish. Twitter kind of works the same way with our thoughts and opinions, we are now able to sell these opinions all over the world (almost like a thought revolution), at least for anyone who cares enough to read them in 140 characters or less of course. With that I should say Twitter comes with a sense of free-will and with that comes responsibility. I think I have seen more people retract tweets in the past year than any other media outlet, this is because it allows us to say anything we'd like in any state of mind to the select group that wishes to invest in our words. A lot of times we eat those words, who hasn't said something they regret in the past? This is the free-will on one side, on the other we as consumers of these words, are able to pick and choose which ones we want for ourselves. So to criticize Twitter is really criticizing our own use of it. So often we see events fabricated and opinions forced on us, just watch the majority of news stations. Remember the Mosque at Ground Zero that most people in America were in a huge uproar about because an Islamic Mosque was going to be built “ON” Ground Zero. What the news stations didn't tell us is its blocks away from where the tragedy happened and it was actually a community center open to all. My point is Twitter doesn't do that unless we let it; there is going to be a flood of different tweets from different people, some good, and some a waste of our time. The great thing about it is we have the ability to pick and choose which ones we want to see and believe. Every opinion and decision is about free-will, no one should be limited in their projection of words and beliefs and at the same time no one should be told who or what they have to “follow”.
-Patrick Crowley
Everyone from celebrities to teachers to our teenage kids are all using twitter. If anything it is the latest rage in the messaging blogging world and just keeps growing. The result of using twitter to stay connected with friends, relatives, and coworkers is that you have a sense of what folks are up to but you are not expected to respond to any updates unless you want to. you can totally control the information you recieve. As a result, twitter is a fast and convenient way to stay in touch with those who you choose to. So I think that twitter has positive and negative things at the same time, It could be short and quick but at the same time we are depending too much in technology.
Marie Michelle Leveille
I think the failure with society is its ignorance to realize how insignificant it really is. I personally think that the entire concept of Twitter is a half baked idea to create a website. Using Twitter is like posting continuous status updates--except this time your Facebook friends can't complain. Really? You're going to "tweet" about your life? Might as well buy $8 coffee and spend Sundays walking along a pier with no expression on your face. I'm also loving the millions of people that follow celebrities on Twitter. I'm completely aware that money can spice up one's life...but do you honestly believe a functioning human being is supposed to enjoy reading about how Kanye West is jamming to Justin Bieber's new album? In the realm of social networking we should asses which websites are valuable and which are expendable.
-Margarita Meshini
Twitter is no longer a social network friendly environment in my opinion. It has been taken over by different types of companies to do their dirty work and advertise about what kind of programs, or products they have to offer. I sadly do not like to use twitter for many reasons. One of those reasons are the weird post lots of people use randomly. I also like to see twitter as a new community that has opened up new heights for technology (Well so has facebook). We can tweet from anywhere, our phones, our pcs, even our televisions. there will be a time where we will be able to post comments and Twitts with online glasses, as technology keeps expanding. Twitter is an incredible phenomenon that will keep getting better as we keep extending our knowledge. However, will it take over our world with Twitt ads all over cities? We will have to see.
I can agree with most people that Twitter and Facebook are taking over the social networking. However, social networking is the new way of communicating. With the modern day society everyone is trying to do everything they can is the less amount of time possible. With social networking one can communicate with new or old friends and still stay informed and close to one another. Never the less, These social networks are destroying true friendships and the way people use to communicate with one another. Now a days one can go months without seeing someone and still know everything about them. You do not necessarily need to confront someone face to face to have a full conversations with them and see how they are doing. I do currently have a Facebook and it is a great to keep in touch with your friends. However, those who are your real friends and those who just “add” you depends on you. Facebook has taken over the lives of many teens and young adults. However, no one says you need to be on the website all day or check it 3 times a day. One can still have their normal social life while having a social networking page. This all depends on how you are and what your choices are.
-Alejandro Pino
Twitter is a social network where you can communicate with your favorite celebrities, families, and friends. Everyone has a right to express themselves in their own way that is why the first amendment is the freedom of speech. You’re not obligated on making a twitter or writing properly writing your own thoughts and opinions, or even tweeting back to someone that was talking about nonsense. Although some may write things in “text talk” it’s because I believe since you can only write 140 characters there cutting their words down in order to make the whole statement they wanted to tweet fit. There’s a saying that goes there a time and a place to turn on the way you speak and know when to turn it off.
-Weslyne Sainci
Twitter is one of many known social networks of our time. Unlike MySpace or Facebook, Twitter only deals with the present time. One comes to notice the difference between MySpace/Facebook statues compared to Twitter. "Twits" as most may call it concern fundamentally with what one is doing at the time being. Due to this act which Twitters have come a custom to; their statements are look upon as blank ideas. Statues publicized as means of informing their public with unimportant facts (e.g about to buy bread). In the other had there is only 140 characters; Twitters could only do so much with that limitation. Concluding and understanding the reason behind the “text-talk” syndrome however, what is worried some is the younger generations following Twits. Leading to have a greater population of youth with poor grammar and vocabulary, something the creators did not have in mind. Nevertheless, it is still the best known place to follow your favorite celebrities on.
-Maybelis Velasquez
Social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook has indeed change the way we communicate today. I am a member of these networking sites, and have observed few advantages like it’s a great medium to communicate and share with friends that reside overseas. Secondly, it is a great way of following the celebrities or our idols through their pages. Posing few benefits, it tags several disadvantages as well. These sites could have been a great way of stimulating our critical thinking but sadly it’s not happening. It’s really rare that I observe some good posts or tweets and for most part, it’s just random nonsense. We have become so addicted to these sites that whatever we are doing has to go in them. In short, we are letting others to invade our private lives. There was a time when friends use to call to wish us on special occasions but now these sites have made wishing people easier which I perceive does create a distance among people. Twitter could have been the next big thing but I really don’t see it coming.
Nimisha, it would be cool too if the tweetjority wrote like you.
Twitter is no more than a superficial way to communicate. A space for those who want to be part of the “new movement” and “pop- out” in the social network that everyone is talking about. First of all, I find the 140 characters rule as tyrannical limitation for one looking to express whatever is in one’s mind. It’s like telling my mind to think in 140 characters...What’s the point with that? Secondly, what twitter does, is getting people to follow the network, rather than following the people that belong to it. Instead of getting together with people or meeting with friends, the network gets you tweeting: “the best way to discover what is new in your world” (as the web site describes it.) Is that so? Today our society is getting used to a two dimensional world where experiences come from non-sense comments, imaginary worlds, and idealized characters. Most of the information and tweets published in the website come from a minority that seems to be people that do not have anything better to do than follow and be followed in the twitter world... To me, just an ego expanding game.
Jeronimo Gilardoni
Some may argue that social networking is the best way to communicate, but is it really? Can you express a full interesting thought or idea in 140 characters? Maybe, but most people don't post anything interesting which is why Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace is a waste of time for the most part. People become addicted to their account activity and spend so much time on it instead of doing something more productive. It has even come down to students who have to close their accounts in order to concentrate in their studies more and yet it is said social networking doesn't affect anyone. It isn't that Twitter is a bad thing but it is obvious that users do not know how much “tweeting” is enough. Telling others what your doing every hour will not change their lives or the person posting that tweet. Users become more concerned in posting what their doing than actually doing it. So again I state that it is a waste of time.
-Etil Diaz
Communication was once a way to better the pursuit of survival. Fires, Beacons, Smoke signals, Mail, Pigeon post,Hydraulic semaphores, Heliographs, Maritime flags, Semaphore lines, Signal lamps,but life itself has changed from survival to search of purpose. Now we are secure. the wars we've fought and the the epidemics we have battled for survival are still in existence but are apparent and to some extent controlled. so there is no need for john doe to worry too much about the bubonic plaque but more to worry about what all his friends would enjoy instantly via text. the twitter "pHeNoM" (pardon the irony) is better described as a self-esteem machine to manipulate your own social value. weather it be the info you know or the clever way you express it. some would say its a good way to keep in touch creating a solid foundation for social care. others would say its free speech to the point of creating your own special language of condensed humor and wit. regardless of what its used for to me the "Useless" outweighs the "good".
My two main concerns when it comes to twitter and other social networking sites like it are as follows. Firstly, why should I care? I know this might seem a bit harsh to some people but in lue of this discussion I went to the twitter website and clicked on the first thing listed under “Top Trending Topics”. The first post reads “If I get REALLY made I see black nd white….nd I don’t usually remember what I do.” By ThickaThanA. Putting aside the obvious spelling problems and need for psychotherapy I come back to my main point. I see no possible reason why I would need to know this or similarly what good does this knowledge do our society? There is none that I can see. The idea that whatever we have to say is important and that people care and want to read about it is ludicrous. Secondly whenever I find myself in a discussion about social networks I seem to always hear people talk about “their” page or “their” account. Now in terms of social interaction calling an account that you have on one of these sites yours might be acceptable but did you ever really think about who it belongs to? Is it really yours? Most people it seems strongly believe that it is theirs and that they own it however in many cases this is untrue. For example did you know that major social networking sites list their clients user information as an asset of the company. Who’s to blame them when they have contact information for hundreds of millions of users. Now I’m sure many of you are thinking something along the lines of “they can’t sell that it says so in the contract which I have with them when I joined the service to begin with”. This is true however it seems you might have skipped a line or two while on your way down to click Accept. I implore you to take a closer look at some of those contracts.
-Christopher Jackson
I’m not a Twitter’s user, but what I’ve researched until now is that Twitter is just like any other social network. The initial idea of these innovative communication systems is pretty good and has many advantages.
They allow other people to know interesting parts of your life, discover common interest between friends you didn’t know about before, keep in touch with friends in other countries, organize meetings etc. This is very useful. The intention of using social-networking services to make a more communicated world is great. But what many people don’t understand is that they are the ones who must use these new ways of communications to get what they want, and not let social networks use them in their benefits. People become so addictive to Facebook, Twitter and MySpace for just cite the most famous; that they start thinking of them as an inseparable friend to which they need to tell everything. As a result, networks get flooded with such huge amounts of non-sense post and information, that what at a beginning was thought as a useful place to share good information and help our intellect to develop gets converted into something that just disclose our personal information and make us lose our time. (Even if in many occasions we don’t realize it)
Twitter in addition contributes even more to the deformation of language with its 140 characters restriction, forcing members to create new and weird forms of writing to express their complete idea, which look more like a scientific code than real words.
As well as Prof. Triff, I don’t consider Twitter as the next big think. I think that it just another social network: sometimes very useful and sometimes not that useful, but never as the next big invention that will revolutionize the world.
Ana Laura Chaves
I personally do not have a Twitter account. This is mostly due to the fact that social networking is not my niche. For those cyber social butterflies, Twitter can be a social rollercoaster of fun. With it, their able to allow more people into to their ‘day to day’ lives and vice versa.Sharing thoughts and exchanging ideas in a publicized setting can be okay for some. For those who don’t want their lives to be an electronic journal, Twitter is just like having a stalker. In this case hundreds, sometimes millions, of devoted followers wait for the next word of wisdom from their heavenly leader. Okay, I may have exaggerated a bit but that’s one way to look at it.Lots of people are okay with putting themselves out there because they believe only friends and close ones are getting ahold of this information. People can "retweet" things which then can be misconstrued by others. Twitter then basically becomes a whole bunch of status updates, mind farts and somewhere else to drop your mental diarrhea.
-Joanne Apollon
For one, I do not have a problem with twitter (the program or the creators). I believe that It is a great system which allows millions to stay connected with one another. Not only that, but it also provides a great way for individuals to express their views, ideas and knowledge of life in a simple and easy manner. What I do believe the problem is on the other hand, is the way that the program is being used and the way in which people are inundated by the program. Posting status messages every other minute of ones where abouts, current disposition, feeling/emotions and pointless rants are only proving the idea that man is a very immature, intellectually/ spiritually disconnected race. It is not "twitter" which reduces the overall spiritual/ intellectual level of man but, in reality, it is man(through his own choices) reduces himself.
- Christopher Jitta
No doubt that the social networks have become more popular now. It's the way the 21st century communicates today. But for People to say that Twitter is the next big thing. Mm, I don’t think so. For others it might be considered as the “big thing” because it has generated an impact now days mainly because it is seen as a great window to say what we think to the world and it is also a vast network that keeps us informed of what is going on around the world. However, I think it is not use properly. I don’t have a twitter and I’m not interested in having one either. I have enough with Facebook which I find it more interesting than twitter. The main difference between Tweeter and Facebook is in their content. In tweeter the important thing is the so called “tweet” which is what we say in 140 characters, but in Facebook there is more content and the important thing is what we post such as photos, videos, links, and connect with friends, family and establish contacts easily. I have realized that the social network have changed our ways of saying and writing things properly. In the future we will know how much we have change our language and spelling.
- Joixen Lobo
In my perspective twitter is not a new idea, but one that has been re thought. What I mean is that as far as social networking sites go there have been many before with the same concept, and that is giving people the ability to inform the world of their current shenanigans such as “going to the super market” or “taking a shower” which in my opinion is a waste of time since it’s irrelevant to me what you are or not doing. The thing that twitter has done that is different is sell an idea. It gives the user the satisfaction of knowing that what they are saying is being heard, since they have” followers”. In my opinion twitter is just another method people are using to give them self worth. I personally don’t own a twitter and I am not planning on getting one either, one social networking site is good enough for me.
-Christopher Lopez
I must have to admit, I am a victim of both these sites, twitter and face-book. I would usually only use face-book to keep in contact with friends from around the world but then I eventually got caught up in the addiction of knowing what everyone is doing at all times, I seem to find myself to spend hours on the sight and accomplish nothing with myself for that day. I would get so caught up and ignore my studies. These sights are evil, and what they can do to a person! And Twitter is on a completely different level, I've been on twitter for almost a year and it's so funny how men droll over these women, how they speak to women and not only men but women say the most derogatory things, and the pictures men and women post of themselves! Maybe I'm following the wrong people on twitter but most of the time they tweet about, who's better than the other one, money, clubs, alcohol, & sex. I have to admit after being on twitter for a while, my attitude change completely because I started thinking the same way these people did! It definitely isn't heathy, twitter is a bad influence on society period!! Im happy to say I no longer log into these sites because I want to be my own person and I feel especially twitter can change an individual! ....Also another thing I would like to add, people now a days do not now how to communicate because everything is done online, through networks and texting, this generation and the up and coming generations will not now how to properly communicate with other people because instead of picking up the phone it's done through text, tweeting and updating your face-book status. What are we becoming..
-A. McClaskey
I must have to admit, I am a victim of both these sites, twitter and face-book. I would usually only use face-book to keep in contact with friends from around the world but then I eventually got caught up in the addiction of knowing what everyone is doing at all times, I seem to find myself to spend hours on the sight and accomplish nothing with myself for that day. I would get so caught up and ignore my studies. These sights are evil, and what they can do to a person! And Twitter is on a completely different level, I've been on twitter for almost a year and it's so funny how men droll over these women, how they speak to women and not only men but women say the most derogatory things, and the pictures men and women post of themselves! Maybe I'm following the wrong people on twitter but most of the time they tweet about, who's better than the other one, money, clubs, alcohol, & sex. I have to admit after being on twitter for a while, my attitude change completely because I started thinking the same way these people did! It definitely isn't heathy, twitter is a bad influence on society period!! Im happy to say I no longer log into these sites because I want to be my own person and I feel especially twitter can change an individual! ....Also another thing I would like to add, people now a days do not now how to communicate because everything is done online, through networks and texting, this generation and the up and coming generations will not know how to properly communicate with other people because instead of picking up the phone it's done through text, tweeting and updating your face-book status. What are we becoming..
When I reflect upon the importance of Twitter in comparison to life events such as the first time I learned how to tie my shoes, my first time kissing a girl, and finding myself in this world; I think Twitter will easily fade away from my memories and become as antiquated as the beeper. Although for the youthful and celebrities alike Twitter may be a lucid way to express oneself without worrying about the negative effects, there
is intrinsic and extrinsic repercussions for the twits of this world. Besides, lowering one's vocabulary and critical thinking skills Twitter can be detrimental to your future as a professional in the work-force or someone who is looking to be respected for their intelligence or wisdom. One may be surprised to find out that employers actually screen job candidates during the hiring process. According to a recent career builder survey forty-five percent of employers use social networking sites to screen job candidates. Of those who conduct online background checks seven percent follow Twitter. Although, minuscule in comparison to twenty-nine percent who follow Facebook; in the state of the economy I wouldn’t take any chances in tarnishing the view or perception of an employer. Beyond the effects that it has on our image I think Twitter is also making our world asocial. I can recollect many social gatherings in which my friends would be using their blackberry or iPhone to update their Twitter status. This would prove to be a nuisance and would make it difficult to get to know the individual and make it easy to pre-judge. Although, social networking sites such as Twitter can be a fun way to get to know your friends, it personally takes away the fun out of getting to know someone face to face.
Twitter in my personal opinion isn’t necessarily “good” or “bad”, but it’s a complex combination of both. With the advances in technology present day one can’t help but see this as good thing that we’re evolving when it comes to social networking. The problem to me is that social networking it’s self is starting to take its toll on human interaction. Whatever happened to giving someone a phone call? Or better yet, having a face to face conversation with someone you see on the street? Instead what we do now is see someone, and once we get home we get on twitter and type a post that says you saw someone you know. It’s limiting ideas when it gives you 140 characters, it’s hurting our grammatical intelligence by somewhat forcing us to type in abbreviation, and we’re not even saying things that are relevant for the most part. Twitter has somehow put the convenience of texting in the backburner by not even texting one specific person. What it has done is create an idea with 140 characters towards a general audience therefore diluting thoughts and ideas as a whole. Now that I think about it, I’m starting to lean quite heavily towards “bad”. Bad twitter, bad, bad twitter.
--Alejandro Camargo
I believe that Twitter limits you to think and truly express how you feel. The fact that it limits you to certain amount of characters it dumbs down your English grammar. By replacing “you” for “u” is ridiculous I mean how lazy can you be by not fully writing out a three letter word. Socially networks like Twitter, Facebook, cell phones, and Skype have made us mentality lethargic. We act as if this is our only source of communication. We even go as far as going into withdrawal when we don’t check our statuses like if it were some kind of drug. Whatever happened to hand written letters, Morse code, and in person conversation? Until we learn to detach from material networks like Twitter we will continue to be lethargic and not think like we used to. –Raiza Natalia Matamoros MWF 11 am
Twitter in its own way serves as another realm. A place where people can come and express exactly how you feel , or how you want others to think you feel. In this place you can be completely naked , or ridiculously clothed and not be judged as you sit behind the screen of your computer and/or mobile device. Twitter is often, and more popularly being called a social phenomenon , however; I think too much credit is given to the website. It Is simply another advancement in technology and social networking , at best. I have a twitter account , and I have had one for the better part of two years. When I was first introduced to twitter it was merely a website for nosey fans to keep track of their favorite celebrities , now it has become an arena of many things , drama in my opinion being the root. Arguments have been made saying twitter limits one from truly expressing themselves but a person that genuinely knows what they feel can and will be able to express themselves be it in 160 charters or 160 words. In retrospect that limitation does leave twitter lacking in comparison to other social networks of its kind such as face book. People often criticize people’s use of grammar and punctuation as they tweet but in reality that’s not the purpose of twitter. Twitter is supposed to be a place where you cant express your self in which ever way you choose , not a constant reminder of grade school grammar.
Twitter, in my opinion, is yet another outlet for the inanity and frivolity in us. It is highly representative of the internet in general in its expression of people’s unrefined ideas. With all the social networking and other internet culture sites like 4chan and twitter, people no longer have to worry about presenting their ideas in a prepared, refined manner; rather, they just throw it out there almost stream of consciousness. One of the particularly annoying features of this brave new world of communication is the short form “text lingo” popularized by early cellphone text messaging limitations. Abbreviations like “lol” and “rofl” are now commonplace on the internet, despite the availability of full keyboards and sufficient space to write a full message. It seems that with the extreme deluge of information available on the internet, people are spreading themselves too thin trying to keep up with it all, and in turn, relaxing their standards by resorting to abbreviations and strange keyboard hieroglyphics to represent themselves. Written language started with hieroglyphics, and now it seems to have come full-circle and is going back to hieroglyphics. Call me old-school, but I obstinately refuse to ever use “text lingo” in my communications.
- Alexander Zaiarnyi
Nowadays it is seen that people would prefer to communicate with themselves through social networking. The way I see it, people would prefer to befriend someone in another state or country, which they have no idea on who they are than to just go say a friendly hello to the neighbor living across the street. So I highly doubt that Twitter will become the next Fad. Now I understand the usage of Twitter, Face book or any social network as a means to stay connected with old friends or colleagues from work. I admit that I too am involved in social networking since I have a Face book account but I do not own nor will I own a Twitter. However, I also see that people have taken the usage of social networking as a means to get boredom out of the way and ask for attention. Like honestly, it has gotten to the point that people would tweet or post something like “just showered” or “staring at a wall”. This is not only a waste of time but also a waste of time to others. I am not saying that people shouldn’t be able to express themselves, but rather to say something that is worthwhile to read. Instead people continue to use social networking in the incorrect way especially in Twitter. So in my point of view, I do not see that Twitter will be the next fad in society.
- Daysis Moraga
Twitter has its pro’s and con’s in the social realm but mostly it not good. The purpose of twitter and what it present to its twitter followers always baffle me. Because I think twitter seem very arbitrary to me. Some people use twitter to plug promotions for celebrity and products, and others use twitter to painfully bombard us with meaningless, fruitless thoughts and information. Twitter presents a world where profound thinking, educated inquiries, written expressions, human interactions, are dismissed and un-encourage. In addition what happen to the concept of writing how you feel, asking questions, freedom of expression, it seem that as well has be restricted upon twitter followers. All these factors are not only harming the way we express our self but how we communicate with each other. I feel twitter is not the next phenomenon it just a bad trend. Eventually the twitter trend will lose its fare and cease to exist in time.
-Reyna Barnhart
The social network that exists virtually is a commercial venture that attempts to transplant the connection that individuals feel with others when they examine or become physically involved with others to a seemingly ever accessible state on the internet. It becomes the site where one can examine an already predetermined and carefully placed profile that allows individuals to describe themselves. In the case of Twitter, individuals virtually "follow" others in the privacy of their personal computers. The "Tweeters" garner a sense of satisfaction or connectivity by thoroughly examining the lives of others, while other members are content with just skimming through the mountains of trivial "news" as provided by other members. Some "Tweets" are now even being treated as headlines and announced as such by radio and television personalities. Talk about cross media sponsorship.. What begins as an honest commercial venture to a few technologically savvy programmers, becomes a social fad that seems to have already had a significant impact in shaping how we each perceive our 21st century world.
I am completely unfamiliar with the site in question, Twitter, so it is difficult to generate a valid judgment. Still, I have always leaned to a more negative view regarding this site. The way I see it, Twitter holds both positive and negative aspects. On one hand, it is a convenient way to keep up with the latest news regarding one’s favorite sports, celebrities, or even organizations. It also has the advantage of allowing users to choose which posts they want to see. On the other hand, however, I feel that it has little, if any, significant functionality. First of all, do we really need yet another social networking? As if the Facebook epidemic weren’t enough. Second, you would think that this site would enable a convenient form of acquiring useful knowledge and data, when really people are utilizing it to expose to the world the most insignificant and useless bits of information. Is it really necessary to disclose what you do every second of everyday? To top it off, Twitter is no longer only used as a blogging service, but it has also become a means of propaganda. With such a widespread demographic at hand, organization or even political entities exploit Twitter in order to spread propaganda, which is guaranteed to reach thousands of users.
-Vanessa Guiracoche
Twitter is a wonderful tool that allows people to communicate in a very fast way in this digital era. It is part of the relatively new phenomena of the social networks that is surrounding us in this new millennium. It is easy to use and because of having a friendlier interface than Facebook’s, its main competitor, many people with less networking and computer skills prefer to use Twitter instead. Personally, I do not know how it really works because I am not accustomed to spend time in any social network. Nevertheless, as I am writing this response new Twitter accounts are being created right now by many people around the planet who want to share their experiences with old and new friends in this new dynamic way. I have even heard of politicians and head of States of different countries talking about how useful Twitter is to them when they want to share opinions and even decisions among their followers.
- Anibal Sicilia
Is Twitter really to blame for the degradation of our society? I believe the issue isn’t Twitter; it’s the users who are posting on it. We live in a generation where everything needs to be instant via mobile. Facebook is a good way to stay connected but when you try to view it on your mobile phones it takes a while. Facebook isn’t the most user-friendly and definitely not mobile friendly. However, Twitter has a much simpler platform and it’s easier to load up on a mobile phone. It’s not a profile; it’s just a status update. Twitter only contains a tweet box with a character limit of 140. I agree the tweet limit is too small but is it Twitter who really decides? I am pretty sure if a lot of users complained they’d increase the limit. It’s easy to say Twitter is bad or it’s degrading our youth but look at who is keeping Twitter alive. Another, thing about Twitter is the short hand typing. It wasn’t Twitter who started this abbreviating phenomenon. It was way before Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. My final thoughts are that people need to stop hiding behind this electronic world we call World Wide Web and actually get out there. Interact with your friends instead of sending them a tweet or a status update. It is okay if your friend lives overseas or in another state but if they live right next to you it’s better to just go visit them. So, twitter is a good thing and at the same thing a bad thing. It is up to you how you want to use it. For me, I rather not get involved in the twitter hype. Like MySpace this soon will die out.
Being honest, I have no idea what twitter means and what it is all about. I have an account in Facebook, but this one seems to be different than twitter. Since I moved to USA, I have heard a lots of staff about the ways of texting, writing and communicating, which were new for me. Where I come from (South Est Europe), everything is different. Since childhood, I was taught to think twice before daring to say something in order to avoid misunderstanding.
To express the true meaning of your thought sometimes even full words aren’t enough, because the expression is missing. How then, can you express yourself within character limits and abbreviations? I truly believe in the power of words, and making me write in twitter style would be meaningless. I think that this way of communicating makes people to think less and act like robots, without any feelings.
Eugeniu Timofti
I am going to be completely honest, I am not a fellow “tweetizen,” therefore, I do not know much about this cyber world. So I looked it up. In the “About Us” section of Twitter, the website is described to be a place to connect to information that interests you. They make is sound so simple to follow. Keyword in that sentence; follow. Ever since grade school I remember how much emphasis was put on how our world needs more leaders. What happened to that goal? This website is a place to follow the lives, the business of others who we may not personally know. In order to follow you must find the conversations that interest you most. This takes time, wouldn’t you say? Are the humans that inhabit this earth that lonely and miserable with their own conversations they feel a need to follow others?
-Adrianna Garcia
Networking through the internet has become such a huge part of our modern day culture. It’s a convenient way of gathering information and having contact with friends and family. I suppose if you think about whether or not this may lead to some concerning attributes like children and their socialization it may be a considered to be harmful. Looking through a functionalist perspective however, being presented with the ability to be able to meet new people and have those connections it can be very beneficial. Personally, I used to have a twitter account. I used it to network with fellow artists and keep track of upcoming events. I am a sculptor, and in order to even bother keeping in touch with the art world you must keep contact and be involved. Using twitter the way I did, I was able to showcase in the Creative Visions Art Exhibition at F.I.U. back in high school. The only way I even heard about the showing was through twitter and brought it up to my art teacher during the time. Because of this I met some very important people and made a few contacts. Although, noticing that making sure I was updated 24/7 on everything was a bit over whelming and exhausting which is why I had to delete it and just move on from such an aesthetic based reality. Some people like myself at the time, Twitter is not some pointless minute website where its just used to follow some trend, but as a means of seeking opportunity. To be quite honest, opportunity is something that is very hard to come by, especially within the art world regardless of economic status.
Like I had stated, it all depends really on how you see things. Personally from my perspective, I don’t see a site like twitter as something that can be too harmful. It is a site basically dedicated to posting up statuses (small verses or statements) which, it is a choice to have an account with them or not. But like all precautions dealing with the internet, you have to be very particular to what you post because the internet is very permanent.
~Marielle Baliwis
Twitter and many social networks are a big thing because they serve many peoples interest. It’s there to follow who you are a fan of and communicate with those you follow or to see what your favorite celebrity is doing at that particular moment or what he or she did that day. Like Facebook it provides a service at no cost. But at the same time I do believe that people feed into social networking sites like Twitter; they become obssessed with it. I strongly believe that people should leave some time for themselves and a little time for Twitter. It’s amazing to see how people eat, drink, and sleep Twitter. It’s as if they are a baby and Twitter is their bottle. They need to draw a line from their personal life and their Twitter account. More and more people use their cellular phone to make tweets or send Facebook messages then they do talking on it or sending text messages. I do believe that Twitter provides a good service at no charge but at the same time there’s a fine line between your life and your Twitter account.
Donald Dominique
I do not think twitter is the next big thing, I believe it is a joke because like stated above in the blog “No one reads your stupid tweets”. I agree with that opinion because tweeters just go along the tweets passing through, only glancing at what seems to catch their attention, and even then barely reading it. Twitter decreases the interaction between people, because they have a social network in which they can send a text to a group of people all at the same time. This social network seems to be going off track because originally it was created to be an all day brainstorming session with SMS service to contact a small group. Now twitter has become a place for mostly pointless babble, and then conversational topics. It also contains a small percentage of news feed, spam, self promotion, and somewhat passable information for others to see.
-Lenin Bojorge
Kisayra Lagual.
I personally think, tweeter is a website that does not make any differences to society. I can not stand the idea of tweeter, asking to write everything that a person does. Eventhough facebook is another similar page is kind of different at the same time. Is a website that you can found your friend more easy. I personally think that these site would not impact the user as much as other site such ad myspace, facebook, and others sites. I have a facebook account but I am not a fan of facebook as other show it. Back to the subject I think that this type of site should be more educated for teenager like our age.
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