I was doing my homework the other day for a News Writing class. It’s a difficult task to write good news stories because in order for your story to be good, it must be/have:
• Accurate facts and details
• Be in chronological order
• Have context and perspective
• Good quotes
• And create a solid relationship between the people and events.
There’re many more rules and guidelines about news writing... but I’m not a teacher, and this is not a classroom.
I started thinking to myself, “blogs are really great because you can write a silly sentence and link one of the words to a web page and people will know exactly I’m talking about.”
And then I updated my livejournal. <3
But when I open my Twitter and try to update... I can’t figure out how anyone understands what I’m talking about. You only get 140 characters.
In General, you are supposed to answer the question “What are you doing right now,” but you can also post a link, express an opinion or reaction, or ask a question.
Twitter has a video on their website that gives a general overview of Twitter, how to use it and why it’s used.
They say it has the “potential to reach millions of users instantly, use it to Issues public safely alerts, broadcast real time news developments, inform constituents, or solicit feedback.”
This brings us back to the fact that you can’t only update 140 characters at a time. What are supposed to say in case of emergency? How would you feel if you found out about the World Trade Center tragedy through Twitter? 140 characters can't even come close.
I’m not the only one who feels like this. Read Tweets, Blogs And Brains.
I hope people realize how fruitless Twitter is and that it soon becomes obsolete.
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ReplyDeleteMesseau, I completely agree about Twitter being useless. Twitter blows my mind even more since we had to create an account for class. I have trouble understanding what other people's tweets even mean unless I try and go back to find where it came from. It has me all confused with the special lingo and symbols you have to attempt to use properly to get your messages across. 140 characters is definitely not enough to give others a half-decent understanding of what you are trying to say. Sending a text message on my cell phone is also limited to 140 characters... does this mean that Twitter is like an online replacement? An online replacement that people use on their blackberries?
ReplyDeleteJust send a text message, eliminate the middle man. That's what I say.
I did like changing my background on Twitter though.
I disagree with you both. I am a busy man and my fans want to know what I am up to and what I have to think about what is going on in the world. Sometimes I only have time for 140 characters so this works out perfectly for me. The collective attention span of our society is getting shorter and shorter. Whether this is a good or bad thing, I don't know, but in the P.R world we have to adjust to this trend. I say, get with the times or get out. Peace!
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