2. What is Twitter?
Twitter is an online social
networking service that enables
users to send and read short 140-
character messages called “tweets”
Registered users can read and post
tweets from their accounts
Friends, family, and coworkers can
communicate and stay connected
through the exchange of quick,
frequent messages
Tweets can contain words, photos,
videos and links
3. Twitter Terminology
Retweet: a tweet that you forward to your followers
that always retains original attribution
@: the @ sign is used to call out usernames in
tweets
#: any word or phrase immediately preceded by the
# symbol. By clicking a hashtag you can see other
tweets containing the same keyword or topic
Follower: another person who receives your tweets
on their Home stream
Direct Messages: private messages sent from one
Twitter user to another. It can also be used in groups.
Home: timeline displaying a stream of tweets from
accounts you have chosen to follow
4.
5. Twitter: Then vs. Now
March 2006: Twitter launches as a product of parent
company Odeo. Twitter (then spelled twttr) is
officially set up and Jack Dorsey, one of the creators,
sends out the first tweet
April 2007: Twitter spins off into its own company
August 2007: The hashtag (#) is proposed by a user
and debuts on Twitter
January 2009: US Airways plane crash in NYC is
shared on Twitter as the first photo from the scene
April 2010: Twitter announces it will start allowing
advertising in the form of promoted tweets
September 2011: Twitter allows mobile users to
share photos
December 2011: In addition to the “Home” tab, the
“Connect” and “Discover” tabs are introduced as well
a new redesigned profile and timeline of Tweets
6. August 2015: Direct Messages
are no longer limited to 140
characters
October 2015: Twitter
launches Moments and Polls
November 2015:Twitter
switches Favorites from stars
to hearts and now calls it Likes
December 2012: Twitter announces that
is has 140 million users and see 340
million tweets per day
June 2012: A new logo is released
October 2012: Twitter releases Vine, an
app to share short video clips
April 2013: Twitter launches a music
app called Twitter Music for the iPhone
April 2014: Twitter launches new web
profiles
November 2014: Twitter announces
“Instant Timeline”
January 2015: Twitter launches it’s
“While You Were Away” feature, Direct
Messages, and mobile video
April 2015: Twitter launches Highlights,
a fast and simple summary of the best
of Twitter
July 2015: Twitter launches birthday
features on profiles
7. Strengths
Notifications allow you to always see
when you are tagged in a tweet or
someone interacts with your tweet
Hashtags make it easy to see trending
topics and things occurring around the
world
It is quick and easy to post a tweet
Can reach both local and global
audiences
Allows for easy interaction for both
personal and business use
Helps promote ideas and stories all over
the globe easily
8. Tweets are often shared and
viewed both when the
content is originally posted
and even months after it is
posted. Twitter allows for
interaction on tweets long
after it is published unlike
other social media sites
where most content
eventually expires.
9. Weaknesses
Engagement is limited to 140
characters
It’s fast paced nature can make
keeping up with stories and reaching
large audiences difficult
High incidence of spam
Little structure
Overwhelming at times
10. Using Twitter for News
Twitter can be used by journalists or by every day people to
report on what is occurring in the world around them at any
given moment
Twitter is used to report emergencies, announcements, news
on elections, weather, and any other content you wish to seek
In particular, Twitter has been used to report:
- The Royal Wedding announcement
- The earthquake in China in 2008
- The death of Whitney Houston
- Newt Gingrich’s Presidential race announcement
- The Osama Bin Laden raid
- The Boston Marathon Bombings
- The Hudson Rive plane crash
- The Virginia Earthquake
11. Critique
I think Twitter is an extremely beneficial
app to every person who uses it. It can help
benefit businesses and politicians as well
as facilitate communication between
people in their everyday lives. I personally
use Twitter every single day as both a
source of news and entertainment. It brings
both to the same platform making it easy to
gain information that normally would not be
available at the click of a button. It is easy
to use and allows for people like me to
quickly check it throughout the course of
our busy days and gain information quickly
and effectively.
