One major problem I found that arises on Twitter is the issue of gatekeping related to amateurs versus experts. While there are Twitter accounts that provide verified news, such as the ones mentioned in my previous posts like The New York Times and CNN, most of the individuals that use Twitter are just normal individuals. Therefore, a wide array of users on Twitter do not offer sources of substantiated information and are not considered experts. Due to the amount of amateurs present on Twitter, false or unverified information has the potential to spread extremely quickly to a wide audience. To be fair, this is not a fault that is unique to Twitter, but of many websites on the Internet today. What separates Twitter from other websites that do this are the phenomena of retweeting and quoting tweets of other users.
On a completely different note, I have realized throughout the semester that I personally use Twitter more on my phone that I do on the computer. I found that even when I was sitting at my computer I would still often times pick up my phone to go on Twitter. I’ve actually become addicted to Twitter on my phone and I arguably go on it more than I go on Facebook on my computer. It’s just so easy to access and, because individual tweets are so short, I can read a lot of them in one sitting. I have actually begun to realize that I go on Twitter through my phone so much that tweets aren’t updating fast enough for me. I guess that means that I have to start following more people, although I already follow over 150 people.
(Sorry in advance to everyone who hated the websites they were assigned.) Overall, I had a great experience using Twitter. While I initially had found it a pointless supplement to Facebook, Twitter has now become part of a big part of my daily life. I found out news gossip, humor and just random facts in general from this one website and has turned into something that I cannot imaging not using.
Jana - I think it is interesting that you use Twitter more on your phone than on your computer. I thought I was the only person who did that! The mobile Twitter applications are much easier to use and tweeting/retweeting is quick and simple. I, however, do not have a problem with the speed of updating tweets!
ReplyDeleteWhat twitter application do you use? I recently updated to UberTwitter and enjoy it a lot more than the plain Blackberry twitter application.
I think it's really interesting how Twitter can spread vast amounts of (potentially false) information to it's users so easily. This kind of technology is really scary in the face spreading false rumors or promoting false facts. When I was in high school, there was a rumor about a gang fight at school where someone was going to bring a gun and because of text messages amplifying that rumor, only 1/3 of the students came to school and cops on school property doubled. Because information spread so fast, it was immediately believed to be true despite no other factual information. I also think it's interesting how you only really use twitter on your phone. I did create a twitter account but never actually use it because my phone does not have Internet. Maybe when I add Internet into my plan, I will use it more.
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