Thursday, September 10, 2009 » Twitter may be the fastest growing social media, increasing 1,382 percent in unique visitors this past year, but many Indiana Wesleyan students are still not impressed.
Twitter is a micro-blog social media, similar to the Facebook "status." Members can �follow� other members, receiving new �tweets� (statuses) as they are updated. Members can reply to tweets made by members and �re-tweet� a status they like.
Aaron Mocherman (jr) signed up for Twitter because he was bored, the service was free and the trend was growing. Though he updates his Twitter account, Mocherman still finds the media worthless, he said.
Twitter gives individuals another outlet to tell the world �what you are doing,� with the assumption that the rest of their followers care one way or another. Some IWU students, like Mocherman, agree that Twitter is just another way to feed our generation�s narcissism.
�I saw someone�s [Twitter status] just a few minutes ago that said, �Waiting in the drive through at a pharmacy,�� Mocherman said. �It was really one of those existential moments where you think, �What am I doing with my life, reading this? Why is she writing that? Why do I care?��
In a recent issue of RELEVANT magazine, Brent McCracken wrote, �[Twitter] creates a new frontier of self-entitlement for a generation that is already way too self-entitled.� He goes on to say that Twitter gives individuals the ability to be (or seem to be) whoever they want to be. He said the Internet becomes a stage on which we can perform in front of an audience, our peers.
�[Twitter] increases the number of people who think that their personal fable is more important than anyone else�s,� Mocherman said.
However, individuals are not the only ones using Twitter. Businesses have begun using the social media as a means of marketing, according to Jon Swartz from the USA Today.
Dr. Mark Perry, professor of Communication Arts, requires his production team to update the WIWU Radio Twitter. There�s merit to organizations like WIWU using Twitter, rather than individuals, Perry said.
�My gut feeling is long term, [individual use of Twitter] is going to die,� said Perry. �Like any other form of communication, if your content is solid and is useful for people, you will do well. If it�s inane, I think it�s going to be short-lived.�
Still, to some students like Angela Hobson (so), Twitter is an easy way to stay connected with her friends and church back home. Hobson�s home church, Fellowship Christian Church, uses Twitter to inform about upcoming events, she said.
Though she occasionally tweets, Hobson mostly uses the Web site to follow her friends and some celebrities. Hobson said she decided to sign up for Twitter when she learned that celebrities were the ones updating their statuses, not a marketing team or imposter.
�Back when Myspace was really big, you didn�t know if it was really celebrities or bands [updating the page],� Hobson said.
Hobson understands the criticism behind Twitter, and hears many of her friends question, �What�s the point?� She too has a hard time understanding why some people choose to follow her page at all, she said.
�My updates protected, so I know when people want to follow me,� said Hobson. �So when I get on there and I have new follower requests from people I don�t even know, [I think], �Why do you want to know what I am saying?��
Twitter may be growing over 1000 percent in new users, but college students are in the minority, according to Nielsen Online. Most Twitter users are between the ages of 35 and 49, it said. As of now, Indiana Wesleyan students seem to be following this trend.