You’ve probably heard it around campus, people sitting on benches talking about reading people’s tweets on Twitter. You might be asking yourself what a Tweet is, and why does someone have a tweeter? Twitter is a micro-blogging site and a social networking site. Well Twitter was invented for a myriad of reasons but overall it was made to let people know what they’re up to.
Twitter is different from other social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook because you can follow who you want and they don’t necessarily have to follow you. You will receive their updates and they can receive yours if they choose to follow you as well. Many online journalists are calling Twitter the new Blogger for the world.
Twitter is unique because unlike other social networking sites that let you write a mini-novel in your status, twitter only allows 140 characters that leave your updates short and to the point! The first twitter accounts were based for giving breaking news, alerts for weather changes and business organizations. Since then many have joined twitter for the sole purpose of using it as a social networking site by using their current location to meet people around their city or area.
Many celebrities have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon because they feel they are able to connect with their fans without the confusion of pages filled with too much information and no actual connection. Celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have used the world of Twitter to bring awareness to various charities such as World Malaria Day.
Kutcher and Moore challenged the CNN News Network to see who could reach 1,000,000 followers on their account. If Kutcher won he would donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets for World Malaria Day and 1,000 if he lost to the popular news network. Kutcher won and brought thousands of new visitors to Twitter and ultimately brought Twitter to the spotlight. Britney Spears is currently one of top ranked Twitter users and lets her fans view pictures, status updates and videos with the click of a mouse. Spears and other celebrities are able to update in real time with the use of cellular phones that are equipped with Twitter programs that update not only statuses, but pictures and videos in a matter of minutes.
According to eMarketer twitter currently houses 4 percent of people on the internet or 6 million users and is estimated to reach 18 million users in 2010. So as you see Twitter is not only a social networking site, it’s a site to bring awareness for different charities and causes around the world.