Our debate topic is twitter, and whether it is a valuable tool or whether it is a hype.
By stating it is a hype, we are saying that it is big right now and will eventually go out of style, but what people seem to be missing is that even though not everyone uses it, everyone who uses the web or watches the news, knows about it; it is already integrated in the way newscasters report the news, how pr agents think about getting products under public attention and how celebrities connect with their fans. It’s also a great way to communicate a thought with everyone in your “following”, your contact list.
CNN newscasters and presenters like Larry King use their twitter page as a tool to gain information from new and usually unavailable sources, say in the form of “citizen news writing”. They also use it to get people to react to the news as it happens, as a form to show where the focus lies and what they might be missing, and a broad variety of opinions from viewers on various actual topics.
More and more people are finding Twitter to be a handy and entertaining way to stay ahead of the curve. The trick is to weed out the useless information, like the hypochondriac updating their latest health problems, or the negative reactions and swearing to a badly phrased statement by some celebrity. As long as people were to use it wisely and safely, and do not get too personal (it takes a lot of previous self exposure before you can ‘invade someones private life’ on the web), it could be a great tool for direct interaction with wide group of people for a greater cause.
Check Out;
www.be-a-magpie.com, a Twitter advertising campaign for young people to promote and test products via control groups on the site. Login required.
www.twitcause.com, an online community focused on sharing your experiences with charity work with others, mainly through Twitter and blogs.
