What We Love & Hate About Twitter
What would be our web culture be like without Twitter? Ever since Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey sent his tweet eleven years ago, this online social networking service had changed social media and will continue to change the way we communicate.
Dubbed as the SMS of the Internet, users send and read short 140-character messages called “tweets”. However, Twitter is also a double-edged sword that comes with good and bad traits. Here are the things we probably love AND hate about Twitter:
1. Instant news in real-time
Many people don’t understand Twitter’s purpose and appeal. We categorize Twitter as social media but it is not like Facebook. It works rather like a news feed that delivers information that matches up with our own interests. Twitter has made the world smaller because we get to know what’s happening around the world in real-time, regardless of what time zone we’re in. Also, it is helpful during some critical moments when we need to watch the weather or ongoing events for updates.
2. 140 characters
Everyone on Earth has to deal with the 140-character limit. No favorites, no biases. Also, the limit forces us to think and write concisely. It’s like writing a haiku without the restrictions of measurment. A good training for copy writing, perhaps?
3. URL shortening
Twitter has introduced us to URL shortening and not sharing long strings of links. Not only they make URLs look clean, it also help software developers to a create, enhance, and/or incorporate a tool like this.
4. @ and #
The at sign (@) is used for mentioning or replying on Twitter, while the hashtag (#) is used to tag a topic that will help group related tweets together making it more searchable online. It has become our way of writing on social media.
5. Connected to everyone, everywhere
As mentioned in number 1, Twitter had made the world smaller because of the information it feeds. It increased the news-cycle speed to unimaginable levels. News emerges, it spreads, we react, and within minutes, the story is widely disseminated and analyzed by someone somewhere or probably on a blog. This has made the word “trending” popular. It is also on Twitter that fans meet their favorite celebrities. It is also on Twitter that we see the smartest and the dumbest people on Earth.
But everyone has its dark side, and so is Twitter. Here are the things we hate about it:
1. Fast tweets
A single tweet could get lost in the Twitterverse. With so many users around the globe, and the news feeds, plus other social chatter coming from all over, it’s no wonder that tweets comes in every second. Everyone had experienced tweeting something and leaving for a few minutes only to come back with a hundred of tweets waiting to be viewed. And it only meant scrolling down just to read them, and by the time we’re done, another set of tweets came in again. It could be frustrating sometimes.
2. Twitter wars
Twitter fans claim that they could say what they feel on the social platform without fear. It could be cathartic for them. However, it became a platform where users can scream at each other as we had witnessed Twitter wars between celebrities and it was awkward.
3. Cyber-bullying and harassment
Users had seen word wars of all sorts on Twitter. But the most traumatic could be being bullied or harassed on Twitter. I, personally, haven’t experienced this myself but I felt it for an acquaintance. I could feel her “me against the world” situation and Twitter was not even acting as the referee.
4. Phony Twitter handles
Signing up for an account on any social networking sites is free, Twitter included. So it’s no wonder if phony accounts mushroomed and become trolls online. Scary because they could be stalkers, or agents of spam mails, malware, etc. They keep on following but beware of following them back.
5. Source of distraction
Let’s face it, Twitter could be addicting that everyone can be easily distracted with the tweets. No wonder it took me hours to finish this.
Do you agree with my list? Let me know your comments by writing them below.