Tweet Tweet

Twitter, blogging, Facebook--social media is everywhere and everyone wants to be a part of it. Well almost everyone.

I had an assignment this past week to update my twitter status at least five times a day. This is a big increase considering it typically took me three days to tweet five things. Now don't get me wrong: I check my twitter account multiple times a day. I enjoy seeing what my friends are saying and catching up on the latest news updates and celebrity gossip. I just kept my tweets to a minimum.

During my lunch break at work, I was brainstorming my next tweet with my friends, and they told me it was absurd that tweeting is a class assignment. I then got incredibly defensive about twitter. I told my friends that twitter was the fastest way to get news updates, contact professors, and even look for internships. I realized I had a little soft-spot for this social media thing.

Later that day, I went to get ice cream in a shopping center near Little Five Points in Atlanta. While my friend and I were talking about our weekends, we noticed a police officer was roping off the turning lanes of the shopping center with caution tape. Strange, we both thought, then continued chatting. We finished our ice cream, walked to our cars, said goodbye, and left.

The way I need to go was blocked off though. I was a bit agitated as I waited at the red light to turn the opposite direction I needed to be headed, so I decided to tweet about it. Who doesn't love Atlanta traffic updates?

Before I wrote my tweet, I noticed that @ajc had posted a new tweet about possible gun fire at the Edgewood shopping center Kroger. I was looking at that Kroger. The tweet included a link to a brief article, which said the gunman had run away and police were searching for him.

Now I am sure the police would have told the employees at the ice cream shop if we were actually in danger, but I am impressed with the speed of twitter. I was in the midst of a breaking news story, and the only way I knew about it was because of twitter.

Back to my work friends' arguments: twitter is fast if you have an iPhone. They do not have an application to update twitter on their cell phone, so they would not have seen the AJC article until they got home. They have a valid point. Yet, I was able to know the slight danger I was in and avoid the back ways through the Kroger parking lot.

I like twitter because it is fast, and it is fun. I have definitely seen the professional side of getting news out fast, but I am still not sure I need to be tweeting five times a day. My tweets are not always that important. Some days I tweet more, and some days I tweet less. I just want to be a meaningful tweeter however often it occurs.