assignment 3:: twitter

During the 2009 hurricane season (I think) I really wanted the weather underground's "wunder radio" app for the blackberry. Their website always said coming soon, but it had a Twitter link underneath it. I was curious and I clicked it and immediately saw an "insider's" update on the progress of the app. I immediately signed up for Twitter. I found all kind of things that I could "follow." Adobe, Flash, Nintendo, NASA, NASA pictures, NASA Stennis, and so on...  It turns out that app didn't release for my blackberry but I found Twitter to be a valuable find regardless.

Some people use Twitter to update for everything, but that was precisely the reason I rebelled against Facebook. I had no desire to tell everyone everything that was happening. I instead use Twitter for news updates, interesting articles/videos from companies of interest, updates from bands, devotionals and updates from some Christian organizations. Every now and then I'll find something that I want to "retweet" or will see something meaningful that I'll want to tweet, but it is not very often. 

I have recently gotten a Facebook and found it to be simply an extensive Twitter. I don't necessarily get into updating my status or commenting on others' statuses for every little thing, but I do love being able to keep up with the information that I'm looking for.  These social networks can be used for friends keeping up with each other, but I really enjoy the news aspect of it. Twitter was used as a major factor during the Iranian elections and helped in some major revolts. This is not the mark of a tween's tool but the mark of a very powerful web application that can be used both for social means, news/information transmission, and educational purposes.

I see instructors being able to use this group tweet thing in their classes for updates and calendar announcements, though Blackboard has this feature built in. Blackboard 9.1 is going to use many mobile devices and external social networks like Facebook rather than the internal notification processes. This has been met with some skepticism and excitement alike. We'll see about this as the verdict is still out.

Call me a creeper or just an information vacuum, but I enjoy the quick, insider's updates that are specifically designed for my interests. I'm especially enjoying Adobe TV, Wired Science, and Showbread right now.

Have a great night,

don't panic

mt