Tweet little birdie TWEET!

How has Twitter been used beyond socializing?

Twitter has been used for many things aside from socializing. Businesses use it to announce sales, organizations use it to promote events, and news outlets use it to notify the public of important and breaking news. It is great to use twitter for all of these things because everyone knows a good businesses become good via word of mouth. Since people are more in tuned with social media now a days, word of mouth is now word of tweets. Twitter is used as customer support for companies, customers can provide feedback and the business can interact with their customers and make them feel important. If you have questions they respond and that’s very helpful.  Things on twitter spread very quickly and information is distributed to many people in one tweet, one re-tweet and one response to a tweet. 

In what ways can Twitter be useful as a journalistic, political and/or organizational tool?  Name and specify these reasons why

Twitter is useful as a journalistic way you will not be able to write an essay with fluff and stuff. You are only able to have a short and sweet way of writing. This provides your followers important, timely, concise news and views. The 140 character limit is Twitters greatest asset, as much as a tiny population of people may not like it, it allows everyone to report things quickly and readers do not stray away from the post because it is not long and tiring. We are in an instant gratification generation, and it is important to get information as wuick as possible.  Even though you’re not able to write much you can still get your point across and still get your points across so it is a very useful way to use in a journalistic way.

You can also use the micro blogging in a political way. The more interactive a political figure is with the public, the better his reputation. If he is personable and persuasive that is all that matters in politics. Figures can use Twitter for political campaigns if they wanted to can communicate with people and keep everyone updated with events, fundraisers and any other activities. Twitter can be used to discuss political issues such as the economy, immigration, womens-rights, healthcare, ect. Some posts about these things can be informative, while others can be misleading. You just have to know what sources are credible and the least bias of them all. Very few political leaders have taken advantage of the technology like Twitter. They are either to stubborn to use it or refuse to spend time to learn how to use it. If only they knew that in many articles about Twitter provide results that the account actually helps increase popularity vote within society revolving around public figures and politics.

What topics/subjects did you choose to follow on Twitter and why?

Perry's Ice Cream: All semester I have been working on a project about Perry's Ice Cream  My group and I for COM 401 have been studying their marketing strategies and we found that their social media sites are actually a great way for them to keep their consumer base up to date with their latest events and news. The biggest thing they need to work on is advertising outside of the web. I thought that maybe I could follow them for this site to learn from their posts and how they post newsworthy, important information in concise messages.

Gap Inc: I work at the Gap in the McKinley Mall and I love my job. The people I work with are fantastic, the management is great and the overall company is so giving. Gap is very into social issues and they are always trying to help people in the U.S. and around the globe. We do a lot of community service and we have a lot of fund raisers for all different organizations. I wanted to follow them for the class to not only keep up on their sales the days I am not working, but also to learn from their customer interaction and their global outreach programs.

Gliding Stars of western New York: Recently I have been volunteering for the Gliding Stars WNY chapter. I followed this organization for this class just so I could keep them in mind when learning about Twitter. I created a Facebook page and the Twitter account for the organization and I want to use what I learned in this class so I can help the organization become successful in the generation of web 2.0. The use of this social media site will help Gliding Stars stay in touch with their members, to send updates on skating practices, and to announce events.

What topic did you choose to tweet about on Twitter and why?

The topic I chose to tweet about was shopping and/or spending and saving money. I am a shopaholic and I love finding good deals and new types of items to buy. All of my posts relate to things I want to buy or things I have bought.

How has this experience using Twitter differentiated from blogging?  From any social media?

My experience using Twitter is different than blogging because I am able to be short and sweet. Blogging is extremely time consuming and I feel like I always run out off things to say. Twitter helps me to narrow my thoughts and make sure everything is concise and informative. Twitter also allows instant interaction which is better than with a blog that you spend a lot more time writing and having very little input from others and not a lot of social interaction. A blog is more like a diary, that no one sees and Twitter is like the short little things that you write inside a bathroom stall and everyone sees. Twitter is great for organizations to interact with consumer base, as opposed to a regular blog that most people tend to steer away from interacting with.