From the inception of the internet, to the time of chat room, through the growth of instant messages, we are constantly looking for ways to communicate with others. Today’s instant communication aggregator is Twitter. The rise of the Twitterverse has made an enormous impact on people’s social interaction. The immediate nature of the service gives users the ability to interact with people from around the globe, for free, directly from their homes or smart phones. Obviously, Egypt is a perfect example of how powerful Twitter is. So much so, that the country had to cut off the internet to its citizens. Global communication is so powerful that now we no longer sympathize for these people, we actually empathize for them. Reading firsthand accounts of what is happening makes you immersed in the ongoing struggle and you feel a personal connection to the citizens of Egypt.
Just as recently as four years ago, people were meeting on message boards to communicate about a specific topic. While working at XM Radio, we would communicate with our fans through our website and through message boards that they had created. As of today, those message boards have either become dormant or taken down. People now follow the show’s official twitter. The interaction between fans and celebrities has grown tremendously through Twitter. I personally have spoken with Jim Carey, Carl Weather, and Jeremey Shockey. Celebrities are communicating new projects, appearances, and endorsements through Twitter. They have turned into their own publicists. Recently, 50 Cent promoted a marketing company on Twitter and encouraged people to invest in the company. At the close of business that day, the penny stock gained 240% and 50 Cent had made $9,000,000 in one day!
Another impact that Twitter has had socially is the way we shop. Companies are starting Twitter accounts to announce exclusive deals and sales that are ongoing. Amazon’s music store has a Twitter account (@amazonmp3) that updates followers on daily deals on music. Not only does this help the consumer who wants to save a few bucks, it also is great social media marketing for the artist. I feel more people will give a band a shot if they have to pay 5 bucks for an album as opposed to ten. Now the artist might take a hit on album sales for that day, but it will expose more people to the back catalog and in theory, they will make more money in the long run.
Twitter has also changed the way news is covered and how news breaks. When Jay Cutler was taken out of the NFC Championship game due to a knee injury, the Twitterverse exploded with people ripping him. Not only did fans and pundits have something to say, but former players were ripping him for not going back into the game. Deion Sanders was one of Cutler’s harshest critics through his Twitter account. Deion wrote “…Folks I never question a players injury but I do question a players heart” (http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110124/NEWS/110129722/1057/SPORTS0908?p=all&tc=pgall) Deion is a lead analyst on NFL Network. He already has a platform to vent his frustrations and criticize players. But, through the power of Twitter, once that thought popped into his head, it was on the internet for anyone to read. I will delve deeper into this issue in my next paper about the ethical issues dealing with this matter.
“Social network use has already eclipsed e-mail use. People started spending more time on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace back in 2007; in 2009, there were more users on social networks than users of e-mail.” (http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/mobile-web-stats/) As of today, only 30% of Americans own smart phones. A developer understood how many people are not using that technology and created a Twitter client for regular mobile phones. Twitterfone lets update their Twitter feed using their voice from any mobile device. This gives people who are not tech savvy the ability to get their ideas and feelings out to the world. It’s basically a vocal blog.
The impact Twitter has had on us socially has stretched across many different aspects of everyday life. News, entertainment, commerce and personal interaction are just some of the influences Twitter has had. The question remains, where will it go from here? Now that corporate America has embraced social media, my estimation is that it will continue to grow exponentially.
