Wednesday, September 30, 2009
In the 12 or so months since Twitter has become a mainstream medium, it has diversified into a technology of numerous uses. Hacked celebrity accounts, an inevitable Kanye West controversy, Ashton Kutcher’s race with CNN for the most followers, and other specific events have taken over Twitter in their aftermath.
With Twitter being a service dominated by the trends of the moment, it could be easy to call Twitter a fad that will fade as soon as celebrities find a new way to have their incompetence discussed. This label of fad, though, has been applied to Internet communication forms all the way back to e-mail and instant messaging.
As these services grew, the label faded. As Twitter matures and perhaps calms down, it will be easier to recognize the practical values of 140-character expression.
In education, especially in college, Twitter seems such an ideal way to create a somewhat informal, but equally vibrant dialogue between instructor and students. It is already more popular than other places that students and instructors converse, like discussion blogs on the University’s Blackboard system.
Students would be willing to offer up a quick counterpoint or some agreement in between checking out which new insect President Obama swatted.
At the same time, the 140-character limit is a blessing in disguise, forcing a razor-sharp clarity if an instructor wants to attract students to their discussion. In the end, Twitter is not appropriate for anything requiring in-depth discussion, but it is silly to deny its talents for instructors to bring up a relevant article, blog posting, Web site or any other quick tidbit that can add depth for interested students.
Though Twitter has the ability to foster communication among pre-established groups, it also functions equally well in bringing unknowns together. A recent Wall Street Journal article has shown interest from some companies in using Twitter to help publicize their job openings.
What is truly remarkable about this story is the importance that these companies are apparently placing in networking.
Presumably any job opening would be quickly seized in this job market, but a company’s use of social media to advertise its opening illustrates how important it is for the right person to hear about the right job.
Twitter allows this directed flow of information by allowing one user, who saw the original tweet from the job-offering company, to redirect to a friend, colleague, family member or anyone who might be interested.
Perhaps Twitter’s most unique and valuable skill is the ability to quickly direct information from those who have it to those who would find it most valuable.
While social media, and Twitter specifically, might appear to be frivolous gossip machines, that mark will fade as more and more value is assigned to these services.
Already Twitter has sparked interest among investors, and reaching the $1 billion value that seems to mark worthy Internet services is not far off.
Past and current members include YouTube (President Obama’s official Internet video source), Facebook (how we know who we are today) and several other less-known but up-and-coming services such as LinkedIn.
Students would benefit from beginning to familiarize themselves with services such as Twitter, even if only by learning what happened on Kate Plus 8 last night.
— Alex Doherty for The Kansan Editorial Board
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Editorial: Twitter is more than a fad
I think that eventually the fad will calm down but that Twitter will still find a strong niche, perhaps more in the journalism and sports professions.
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