Twitter Life
Oh what an experience it has been learning the various functionalities of Twitter and social media as a whole. I have learned a lot from taking a class on how digital media has chagned our world, and Twitter has truly shaped my view of the world in the past two months. The truth is, social media is a relatively new concept, but it is here to stay and has a bright future. Who knows what is in store for social media and Twitter? This blog, however, is not going to be focused on how astonished I am by Twitter and the social network, but rather, will be a reflection on my own time spent on Twitter in addition to an alalysis of the Twitter account of a fellow football player — Liam McCullough the longsnapper for the Ohio State football team.
My last blog was about the dangers of social media. I consider myself to be someone who falls into the category of someone who is very careful about what they post on the internet. Thus, I began my Twitter journey (on my other account) as a user who would only retweet things that I thought were interesting and read the various tweets and and retweets of those who I followed. I enjoyed hiding behind the shroud of an online profile where I could simply observe, but was not obliged to personally produce any tweets. More recently, I have become less shy and now strive to make my presence known on Twitter. I seek to make my convictions known to the Twitter network by tweeting about various class readings, my own personal thoughts and by retweeting every article that interests me.
Like most other millennials I was exposed to Twitter’s competitor, Facebook, before I even considered creating a Twitter account. Twitter seemed odd. I appreciated how Facebook allowed users to share photos and tag their friends in them. After I learned more about the Twitter platform, however, I began to realize that it is a better platform to connect with the world. Through this course, I discovered features like “Tweet Deck,” which was an entirely new concept to me. Kevin Rothrock’s discussion about this feature, truly revolutionized my own experience. Tweet Deck allows users to add multiple columns to view multiple panels containing various subjects. Ultimately, it broadens one’s Twitter experience. Another feature that interest me, which I was unaware of was the ability to create lists in order to stay in close contact with your closest followers. As a user’s profile gains more popularity it can be hard to maintain relationships on the social network, and the easiest way to do so it through lists. When two or more users join a list, the newsfeed will show only the tweets, retweets, likes, and replies from the users within the list. Lastly, I was genuinely surprised when I realized that Twitter has an online platform enabling usage from a computer. Beforehand I was under the impression that Twitter solely a mobile app.
What I find most compelling about Twitter is the challenge of having to express one’s thoughts within a 140 character limit. Crafting the perfect tweet, one that is both concise and powerful, has become almost an art form. To express one’s thoughts with such conviction is powerful. Without room for explanation, users are forced to take a stand.
On the other hand, the media experience on Twitter seems inferior to that of platforms like Facebook and Instagram. While Facebook uses photographs and videos as a form of thought sharing, the Twitter platform is more focused on the rapid diffusion of ideas. As such, its platform for media has not developed at well as those of other social media sites.Nevertheless, will part of my near future. After graduation, I plan on going into marketing, specifically sports and entertainment marketing. Twitter and social media is an excellent medium where individual users and companies are enabled to clearly market a targeted audience. Therefore, learning how to use Twitter has helped accentuate the skills needed to go into the field of marketing.
What I’ll miss most about this class is the close interactions we all had with each other using Twitter as our medium. While we engaged in discussion over the various readings through out the term, we also tweeted/retweeted whatever we wanted to.
My favorite tweet, which I retweeted, was from @no_name_spee26. He posted a photo of myself presenting a my piece on how social media can ruin your life (if you’re no careful.) It’s ironic that it I presented this topic, posted it on social media, and then it was recirculated through a follower’s social media.
And then of course here a couple of snapshots of my various rants I went on about the readings and there implications, in addition to my most retweeted subject politics.
In general I enjoyed my experience on Twitter. It has broadened my digital horizons, and I have sharpen the skills needed to be successful in both the social and professional environments which are both shifting towards being digitized even more
Now I would like to turn towards another user’s profile, and analyze his Twitter journey. When picking a profile I wanted to choose someone who I could relate too. I do not know the individual personally, but we are very similar in a sense.
As a football player I wanted to follow and observe someone who knows what it is like to play a college sport. Liam is the long snapper for The Ohio State University, and resides from Worthington Ohio. Before I moved to Minnesota, I was originally from this hometown and would’ve gone to the same high school (Worthington Kilbourne). Thus, he was the perfect candidate to follow.
While scrolling through his feed it is evident that his main focus consists of two objective. First, he wants to make it known that he is a member of the football team. He retweeted a video of him helping out at a phone-a-phon. During the video he clearly states that he’s from central Ohio (Worthington) and that it was his childhood dream to play at Ohio State, a dream I myself shared. Therefore, by tweeting and retweeting virtually everything OSU football related, he is trying to portray his online image as a member of the team, and clearly its working . In the state of Ohio, the football program and its players are kings. He has 2066 followers, which may not be a lot in comparison to the other players, but in my opinion, that is a huge following for a college student-athlete.
Liam is very active on Twitter, with his various posts about his team and lifestyle, and thought it was appropriate to apologize to his loyal followers for his lack of participation. When I first read this, I thought that he may have not been active for a couple of months or so. However, accordig to his timeline his inactivity only lasted about a week. Thus, he is usually extremely active by tweeting or retweeting at least five times a day.
In analyzing his profile, it is safe to say he lives and breathes Ohio State football, and it is the theme he is trying to display online. As mentioned everything is football or OSU related. However, it began to annoy me as I continiously scrolled through his timeline and did not see anything related to politics or other interests. Twitter enables the user to discuss and share a variety of interests, but he fails to do so. It provides great insight into the type of person he is. Clearly there is nothing wrong about only sharing football related posts, but it would be nice to see a little diversity in his timeline.
As I finished my analysis on Liam I conclude that we have similar interests, that being we play football and are from the same hometown. However, the similarities stop there. In comparison to my timeline, I shared more articles about politics and current events. Even though I do share about football and sports in general, there is a clear difference in what Liam and I aim to portray to our audiences. Evidently, our rhetoric both procedural and verbal are distinct from one another.
Twitter has indeed shaped digital world. The networking platform has made its impact in a massive amount of peoples social lives, including my own. I sincerely believe social networking accentuates many skills that will be beneficial to anyone in a professional and social setting.Twitter is only ten years old, but I am excited to see where it will go, and what social media will look like in the next ten years.
Until next time,
Michael Warren — Dartmouth’17
