Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Can twitter replace news feeds?

Twitter has become a growing phenomenon like Facebook surviving off by people using it. It has taken control of the social media platform and has made millions off on consumer generated content. Millions and millions of people are tweeting throughout the day leading to chats, conversations, and social action. It has already created a niche for itself and is used by millions doing a great job getting and connecting with organizations in all subjects such as news, celeb news, sports, and fashion.



Everyone, even celebrities, politicians, organizations, businesses etc have a Twitter handle. Some would say that it is one of the greatest social networking sites there is, while others would think it is for idle people who have nothing more to do, but tweet all day. Celebrities have flocked to the social media site. It has become a tool to connect with their fans as well as other celeb friends. Although it has some good points, twitter has caused many controversies among its celeb users. For example, tweeting offensive or controversial tweets of their unfiltered opinions. Fan bases of celebrities can be more than some of the world’s country population.
Many people believe that social networks such as Facebook and Twitter will dominate and soon erase original websites for news. This is a myth. Although followers do receive part of the news from these sources, most people state that they still like to visit the original news website to catch up on their news. Although research proves that the device you are using does not change which website you resource to for news, Twitter news followers are known to be more mobile, using more smart phones and computer tablets than any other news source. Demographics also show that the Twitter population is younger than the most frequently compared to Facebook. Twitter news followers rely on this social network because of its efficiency and the quickness in which the news travel.

In the sports world, Twitter has become a powerful promotional tool. While some athletes just use Twitter to “connect” with their fans, it seems that most are just trying to build a big following so they can get more lucrative endorsement deals. Twitter and sports fit together because the sports newsfeed have to be live, immediate, and suspenseful. With every touchdown, goal or home run you can literally see the spikes in Twitter activity. For athletes it’s not easy to connect with their fans all the time. Maintaining a strong relationship with fans is probably one of the most important aspects of a sport off the field, court or ice. Social networks are effective tools to improve those relationships with die hard supporters while also finding new fans.

How Twitter has also affected the world of fashion and how they spread the new trends from week to week or season to season. A great example of how fashion companies are utilizing Twitter is by looking at how Urban Outfitters uses Twitter to their advantage. From day to day Urban Outfitters updates their Twitter with new music, sales, and the latest fashions. This keeps people coming back for more because they are interested in the next best thing coming from one of the most edgy, and unique, as well as biggest retail stores in the United States. 

Although Twitter has many positives like keeping people informed and up to date and being able to keep in contact with friends and family all over the world, it also has its negatives.  From the perspective of someone that has no social networks an opinion may be considered bias, but it also may be someone who can see it from the outside looking in with fresh eyes.  From what the point of view of not having a Twitter account it is not a necessity.  Twitter is very addictive and distracting, especially for a college student.  Everyone is so dependent on technology and twitter is only adding to that.  Something like this can make college life all the more difficult because it’s something else that draws your attention away from your work, or any task at hand.

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