Social
media, in this case Twitter, has grown into a platform that is more than just
posting pictures or funny statuses. It’s now also being used to raise awareness
and spread information to thousands of people at once. An example of this was
the revolution in Egypt, the article Egypt five years on: was it ever a 'social
media revolution'? highlights how the Egyptians used social media to get rid of
their president, Hosni Mubarak. Once Egypt was able to get their president to
step down it influenced more change throughout the Middle East and North
Africa, this is referred to as the Arab Spring. As this information became
accessible to the western world they began to call it “Twitter uprising” and
“Facebook revolution” focusing more on the social media aspect instead of the
revolution itself. Even though Twitter did play a big role in planning and
executing the revolution it was more of just a tool to get information out to a
large amount of people. They used Twitter and Facebook to organize protests and
create a sense of community between those who wanted a change in their country.
Another time Twitter was used more than just a social website was during the
hurricane in Houston. People used Twitter to post updates on what was happening
and to ask for help. With phones and televisions not working, the people of
Houston turned to Twitter to get their message out, whether it was the police
keeping the people updated or the people tweeting the police and others for
assistance. But the downside to Twitter was apparent during the Boston attacks,
at first, it’s a good thing because information is being spread out as soon as
something happens. But Twitter also gives people a platform to spread false
information, intentionally or not. Spreading fake news makes it difficult for
those that use Twitter to get their news and stay up to date with whatever is
happening. Twitter became something much bigger than just a social media page,
it’s used to spread news, unify groups of people, politicians can post their
messages to the people and much more.
There
were other times where Twitter was used as a communicator of important events.
One of those was the #MeToo movement, this movement became “popular” once
Alyssa Milano tweeted using the hashtag. Since then thousands of women have
come forward about their sexual harassment stories, and it also brought to
light famous men who were taking advantage of women. Men like Harvey Weinstein,
Brett Kavanaugh, Bill Cosby where called out for their behavior because of the
#MeToo movement and where forced to deal with their bad decisions. When rapper
Nipsey Hussle passed away recently, Twitter was the main place for people to
not only share their condolences but also remind people what Nipsey Hussle was
about and how much he did for his community. Instead of it being another story
about gun violence it was made into something to motivate people to pick up
where he left off.
For
this Twitter project I decided to follow Trend Mood, The New York Times, and
ESPN. Trend Mood is a makeup page that shows sneak peeks of new releases,
shares discount codes for different makeup brands/websites and updates you on
what are the new launches. I already follow their page on Instagram and I enjoy
their content so it was a no-brainer for me to follow them on Twitter for this
project too. The New York Times is a well-known news outlet that not only has
stories that are based in New York but they also cover national and
international news. Besides my local news website, The New York Times is a news
source that I visit the most to get all my updates and to see what’s going on
that day. I decided to follow them because it’s a well-rounded news
website that has a little something for everybody; whatever type of news you
like you’ll be able to find it there. The last page was ESPN, I don’t consider
myself a sports fan of any kind so it was a little out of my comfort zone to
retweet and read some of the articles they shared. But the more I read and went
through their page I realized that it was more than just which team won what
game, they also had inspirational and feel-good stories. Using Twitter is very
different, coming from someone who uses Instagram and Facebook. First having to
keep my thoughts down to 280 characters was challenging, when you’re on a
regular blog or any other social media sites there isn’t a limit on how much
you can say. Also, I used Twitter in this project to inform my classmates about
cruelty-free and vegan makeup. Usually on my personal social media accounts
they’re just for jokes but this project forced me to do something different.
