From humble beginnings, Twitter was ridiculed by most as a network for people to share their favourite cereal. However it has evolved to become an integral part of no only world news but also activism and an agent for change.
The idea of using twitter as a medium for activism has been met with differing attitudes and results. There are several famous events that have taken place thanks to twitter such as political activists in Egypt and China using the site to break through censorship barriers. There is even a guide about how to effectively use twitter to start a an activists movement. It certainly has come a long way from the twouble with twitter.
One of Johnsons main points is how twitter is continually being used in new and creative ways (giving the example of all the end-user applications designed for it
). An interesting idea was developed after people in New York were reading tweets about an earthquake hitting before feeling the vibrations themselves. The idea is that people use twitter as a warning system with real-time alerts and updates. This idea was used and carried out by people in Bangkok during the rioting to keep people out of areas that were filled with rioting and violence as pointed out by Ted (2011) in the lecture.
Despite some believing that online activisms and petitions are useless such as Clay Johnson from InfoVegan who said that online organizing is a great lie and does not work (Horn 2010). However I believe he is completely wrong. Although online activism seems like the easy way out, I see it as a tool to get like minded people to work together and although a lot of it is simply playing to the crowd and acting socially aware by changing your twitter page green, there are those who are willing to do more and use twitter to meet others who feel the same.
Horn, H. 2010, 'Your Online Petition Is Useless', The Atlantic Wire, 12 August, accessed 7/9/2011, http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2010/08/your-online-petition-is-useless/19146/
Johnson, S. 2009, 'How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live', Time, 5 June, accessed 10/9/2011, http://www/time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604,00.html.
Mitew, T. 2011, Citizen Journalism and New Media Audiences, DIGC202, Global Networks, University Of Wollongong, delivered 12 September.
I have to admit I was one of those that were in the group that ridiculed twitter for being just about peoples favourite cereal. It wasn’t until this class that I had a twitter account. I think because I was forced to use twitter I will always have some hatred towards it, however by reading this and participating in this class I have finally found that twitter can be useful. I really doubt that I will use twitter after this class but I can now at least have some appreciation for it.
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