Twitter; The Advantages and Disadvantages of Microblogging

While Twitter can be used as a social media platform, its main advantage is bringing users minute-by-minute news events as they happen. An example of this is the Boston Bombing in 2014.This was the first time a police department used Twitter to announce its knowledge on a pending situation. Although medium matters, the cons of faster information could lead to inaccuracies. Because of this, journalist's need to be hyper aware of the credibility of sources they use in order to maintain their reputation. Here’s a recap of what Twitter got wrong over the course of the week following the 2014 Boston Marathon

1.When reports that a child was killed in the attack, rumors circulated that it was this young girl who was killed while running the Marathon in honor of her friends who died in Sandy Hook. This was proved false because not only are children not allowed to run the Boston Marathon but the Boston Globe reported the young victim was Martin Richard, an 8-year-old boy who was killed as he waited near the finish line with his parents and siblings.

2.A reliable source, the Associated Press, originally reported that “cellphone service had been shut down,” according to an unnamed law enforcement official, but cellular companies said that they did not halt service. The increased usage in Boston likely caused the spotty service.

According to the article “How the Boston Marathon explosions reveal the two sides of Twitter” by Simon Ricketts, Ricketts explains the downfall of instant media especially its use in the news.  He states that people want to feel involved and connected to the situation. Everyone saw the events that occurred, with people struggling to finish after the explosions occurred. People then tweet their unfiltered opinion. It’s the journalist’s job to “funnel” out fact from fiction.  

The impact technology is having on journalism today is information that is faster is not always better. Journalists face the challenge of being first or being accurate. In Advancingthe story.com the “Four advantages of mobile journalism” are explained by Judd Silvak, an assistant professor of convergence journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism.  He states that mobile journalism gives a single news platform for example Twitter. Journalist can publish directly to social media faster than ever. Silvak explains how the app universe lets journalist build novel content. Since mobile content does not look the same on a laptop it is important to engage audience for example the CNN APP. It is important to be tech savvy

Because Twitter is fast paced and far reaching with its audience, certain stories or events can be retweeted by millions of people within an hour. Some noteworthy Twitter events include……..

1. Super Bowl XLIX, which was the most-tweeted sports event and the most-tweeted event overall, with 25.1 million tweets sent. An advantage of this amount of feedback from a P.R standpoint is knowing how well the much anticipated advertisements were received from the public.  Companies spend million dollars on a single advertisement, so to know seconds after how the public received the often humorous commercial is crucial.  

2."Game of Thrones"was the number 1 most tweeted show in 2015. The data was measured by Currys PC World and found that between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2015, 16,463,944 tweets were made about "Game of Thrones." A downside of this especially for fans are of the course the spoilers! Sending out a quick tweet of who died that episode can be catastrophic to an avid Game of Thrones fan who may potentially be a little behind.

3.A lot of tweets that go viral claim that a large amount of retweets will cause some actual good in the real world. For example Pedigree had a #tweetforbowls campaign last year, although the company said it reached its goal of donating 210,000 bowls to dogs in need, it’s not clear these RTs actually accomplished anything. The company did not respond to emails for clarification if anything was actually done to help dogs in need.

When choosing who to follow on Twitter for the project, it was important follow someone you would not ordinarily follow. This allows you to explore mediums or people and gives insight into new things. For example following people like model Chrissy Teagan, John Legends wife, who is known as being outspoken and has a great following with millennials. Her social media accounts follow her as a cook and home life with John Legend. Because she shares so much about her personal life she is known as being very relatable. Although quite often her openness comes at a cost and she often comes under fire for things like picking the gender of her baby. Another good platform to follow is a news source, especially a reliable one such as the New York Times. This is a sure way to keep up with the fast paced news environment of Twitter.

Tweeting, as opposed to blogging, gives the user immediate feedback from its audience. Another difference is the length. While a log is usually a few paragraphs, a Tweet is limited to 140 characters. Today, users want quick detailed excerpts with the choice of being able to click into the link and read the article.