Whilst reading ‘Chapter Eight - Conclusion’ I came to my own conclusion that twitter plays a huge part in people’s day to day lives. I myself have a twitter account and although I don’t post many tweets, I find myself continuously scrolling up and down the timeline. I think this is due to the fact that people nowadays constantly have their smartphone glued to their hand and so feel the need to explore the endless social abyss that is twitter. There definitely is an innate need in human beings to be noticed and included so I think we then convert this need onto twitter. Although i’d like to say I’m not bothered about how many followers I have, when I get a new follower there is a small buzz of excitement that makes me feel slightly more accomplished.
The chapter asks the question if people can tweet questions like “thinking about going to dinner tonight… anyone want to join?” and although this is a perfectly normal question, as soon as it is tweeted, the tweeter is automatically more aware of himself and whether or not he gets an answer. This is due to the fact that everyone that follows him can see this tweet and can see if anyone replies. It all becomes about social status. On twitter you are simply judged by how many followers you have, how many retweets you get and who favourites your tweets.
I think twitter has strengthened communities. I live in Crouch End in North London and Crouch End has it’s own twitter page, updating followers with events going on in the area. If it wasn’t for the twitter page, many people wouldn’t be aware of what was happening in the area. Although e-mail was a way of getting word a while ago, Twitter is instantaneous and so makes it automatically accessible to everyone.
‘Is the intimacy and immediacy of Twitter less favourable to the star system of television and film?’ I think that although celebrities seem more desired and mysterious as they are less accessible on TV and film, the use of twitter makes them seem more like real people. Following celebrities allows the everyday, average person to tweet these famous people and in the rare cases, get a response. It allows you to feel more connected to these people. I was followed by Barack Obama and I got overly excited, despite the fact i was aware he probably has his own twitter-operator that bulk follows people.
Despite this, twitter can also be used in a less shallow way that benefits society. Twitter can have a society-centric focus as well as a me-centric focus. The society-centric focus usually appears when a disaster happens. In 140 characters, many tweeters post informative, useful tweets that allow users to understand what’s going on. And with hashtags and trends, these updates are easily accessible.
Due to the constant flow of thousands of tweets a minute, it is impossible for tweets to be monitored and censored. People might not always like what they see but that’s twitter for you. It’s sole purpose is to allow people to express themselves. In all, twitter is used for all purposes and as the chapter says, it will probably be eclipsed at some point but for now, it’s egocentric Twitterverse is very much in use.
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