The social networking site Twitter is gaining more notoriety but still has not gained the attention of MySpace and Facebook.
The public is still learning about this newest social networking site that allows users to read each others updates. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them. These users are known as followers.
“What makes Twitter so useful is that you can let all your friends know where you are and what you are doing at anytime,” Scott Fine, music major said. “You don’t need to call them up and ask them what they are doing. We are all too lazy to call our friends and ask them how they are doing. Now we can just check Twitter and it’s done.”
Many people are still learning about Twitter so there are things that have to be explained about the language that is associated with the social network and microblogging service. When you follow someone on Twitter, you want to know updates about where the person is and what they are doing.
We are advancing really fast technologically as a society,” Kyle Haggen, 21, history major said.
“Ten years ago we were using dial-up and now cutting news is being sent via Twitter before even the television stations can get the information,” Haggen said.
Whether Twitter is a fad or here to stay, millions of people are tweeting. It is a social networking tool that is being utilized because of its ability to pass information quickly.
“As time goes by, more and more people I know are leaving MySpace and joining Twitter,” Fine said. “I still like Facebook better because you can do so much more with it than Twitter.”
“I have heard my friends talking about Twitter but I haven’t bothered to ask what it’s about,” Tessa Rugero, 23, nursing major said. “I would try it out even though I am not familiar with its functionality.”
Actor Ashton Kutcher and singer John Mayer are two well-known celebrities who are avid Twitter users. Kutcher used Twitter to help raise awareness for mosquito nets in Africa in a high profile race to a million twitter followers against CNN.
“I love using Twitter and think that the popularity of it is just going to grow in the future,” Ivan Mendez, 19, undecided major said. “It is a really fast way to transmit text and images to many people. There was a time about three months ago when I was tweeting constantly, but I’ve cut down on my tweeting. Time will tell if the popularity of Twitter will increase or decrease.”
Even though Twitter is a new social networking tool, its followers are multiplying. as more and more people join.
From celebrities to athletes to news corporations and everyone in between, Twitter is continuing to be one of the fastest growing social Web sites.
