Written By: Tom Mitsos
Edited By: Chelcee Johns
Picture courtesy of Twitter.com
I’m twittering because it seems to be the next big social network phenomenon. First it was MySpace, then Facebook and now Twitter.
Twitter began in March 2006 as a side project from a podcasting service called Odeo, thanks to PBS for the information.
Jack Dorsey, current CEO of Twitter, had an idea about sharing your status with all of your friends in a convenient way.In March 2007, at the South by Southwest interactive, film and music festival, Twitter won the Web award in the blog category.
It’s hard trying to keep each entry to 140 characters or less. Mary Pritchard, Grand Valley State University classmate, said it helps her become a better writer. “It’s helping me become a more refined journalist,” she said. “I only get so many words.”
I had to split up the last two updates, 140 characters is not enough. I’ll attempt to keep my following updates under the limit.
Back to the topic at hand, Pritchard heard different celebrities talking about Twitter and signed up for an
account, despite thinking it was stupid.
I heard about Twitter in my writing capstone class at GVSU. The idea of constant updates seemed very stupid to me.
Who could possibly think that their life is so important that they need to update their friends every half hour about their own lives?
Besides, Facebook already has a status update feature. Why should I get a Twitter account when all of my friends are on Facebook?
The idea seemed very pretentious to me. But, I decided to give Twitter a fair chance. Signed up for Twitter account. It took about two minutes.
Twitter is going through my e-mail account to find friends that are already on Twitter. It found my writing professor, I request to follow her.
Ugh! I did it again. This will be the last time I go over my limit, I promise. If the limit were 160 characters, I would be happy.
First Twitter: “seeing if Twitter is as good as everyone says it is.” Setting my page to private, lots of crazy people out there.
So, what do I do now? Looking around the Web site to find what else I can do on Twitter. Can’t find anything. There has to be something else
Did you notice there wasn’t a period at the end of the last update? The update would have gone over 140 characters had I inserted a period.
Continuing to look around the Twitter site. Found director/writer Kevin Smith’s Twitter. Decided to follow it. Smith’s updates include:
“Finally cleaning my office. Why do I bother keeping anything? When I'm dead, it’ll probably all just get thrown out.”
And: “Can't sleep. Losing at Full Tilt.” I didn’t know Smith was a poker player. Speaking of which, I also found Phil Hellmuth’s Twitter.
Hellmuth is a professional poker player. Updates include: “I’m down 33k!!” and “Has a new YouTube channel.” I need to see his YT channel.
I’m enjoying learning about Smith and Hellmuth’s personal life. It seems to humanize them. As if celebrities were not human to begin with.
Pritchard agrees: “It gives them (celebrities) the opportunity to say things without going through the media.”
She is following Fall Out Boy Bassist Pete Wentz’s Twitter. She likes seeing his personal thoughts.
Lindsey Romain, another GVSU classmate, is following actor Rainn Wilson’s Twitter. Wilson plays Dwight on the TV show “The Office.” She said she likes being able to see updates about where he will be appearing as well as his funny observations about anything.
However, many celebrities have Twitter accounts, and they don’t even know it. Actress Tina Fey is just one of these celebrities.
According to gawker.com, Fey’s Twitter is not written by the former Saturday Night Live star and current star of the TV show “30 Rock.”
Pritchard doesn’t like the impersonators. “It pisses me off,” she said. “That’s stupid.” While it may be for fun, sometimes it’s malicious.
“It makes that person look bad even though it’s not them,” Romain said. However, Twitter isn’t just for checking up on friends and celebrities.
Kate Betka, student at Michigan State University, is using Twitter to get news from CNN Correspondent Rick Sanchez and the New York Times.
She said she has no friends that use Twitter, so she is only using it to get news updates. National Public Radio also has Twitter updates.
I found out that it’s not just celebrities, college kids and news organizations using Twitter. Politicians are using it too.
According to Oregon Live, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Twittered 22 times during President Obama’s speech in February.
I never would have thought Congressmen would be using Twitter. What is this world coming to? Do they have MySpace and Facebook accounts too?
Betka thinks Twitter is just a fad. Unless better features are added, she said Twitter will fade away. Pritchard is hoping it doesn’t get as big as MySpace or Facebook, claiming they are “going down the drain” because they are so popular.
Final verdict: I enjoy checking on celebrities’ Twitters, but unless more friends get a Twitter account, I’ll stick with Facebook.
See? I kept my promise. I didn’t break the 140-character mark again. Now back to writing as many characters as I want.
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