Analysis Essay 2

Twitter

Mark S. Lasky

American Public University System

TWITTER

Introduction

Twitter is a community network that is based online that enables the users to send and read tweets. Tweets are messages that contain 140 characters. One has to register with the platform for them to be able to tweet that is to send and read messages. A person who has not enrolled in the platform can only read the tweets. The registered members can access the platform through their mobile phones application and on website’s interface. The platform was created in the year 2005 and launched in the year 2006. The platform has gained worldwide popularity and now has up to 100 million people who use the platform on a daily basis. The tweets that are written in a day add up to almost 340 million tweets per day. The platform is among the top ten most visited websites in the world. The platform has 500 million users of which 332 million of them are active. The platform allows the users to update their friends the celebrities use the platform to interact with their fans, politicians, and political groups use it to mobilize the masses for or against an issue and businesses use the platform to communicate with their customers (Martin, 2014).

Characteristics of the Users of the System

The users of Twitter have varying characteristics. The users are of both genders. Twenty-four percent of the users were male while twenty-one percent of the users were female. Thirty-seven percent of the users are in the age bracket of eighteen to twenty- nine years. Most of the users of Twitter are below age thirty. Most Twitter users have either some college degree or have been to college. A large number of users make between $50-75,000/year. This is a large increase from 2013 (Duggan, 2015). All of the users register on Twitter to achieve various purposes.

Features and Usage of the System

Immediately one gets into the Twitter application on the mobile phone or the website’s interface; they have to sign in or log in. If one has not registered they click on the sign- up feature where they fill in their details such as the full name and phone number or email address. They then set a password that they will use when accessing the platform. If one has already registered, they log in with their details. This allows the user to write and read tweets. One can also read twitter feeds when not logged into the platform but, they would not be able to write any tweets.

There is a tweet feature. The feature allows an individual to type their tweet. It allows the user to let his or her followers know what is they are doing or their opinion on a subject. The feature has a countdown which has a limit of 140 characters. In writing, a tweet one can use a hashtag. The hashtag to make it easy to find information. If the tweet is on a trending topic, the user uses the hashtag to make it easier for other users to get into a wide Twitter conversation. The tweet once posted can be viewed by the individuals following the user who has written the tweet.

The platform has a settings feature. The feature is an icon at the top of the page. The configuration feature allows an individual to make edit their profile to their liking. One sets their username in this section which will be visible to the public. The profile also consists of a head shot photo of the user. This step is meant to convince people to follow you. The settings feature also allows the user to change the background of their account.

The search feature is also present. It makes it easier for a user to find another user and view their profile. This also allows a new user to find the people who he or she knows and in the process follow them. A follow feature can be found at the profile of the user, and if one wants to friend the user, they click on it. The follow feature also allows a user to see what another individual has posted in their timeline if their account is public.

The timeline feature is also present. The timeline consists of a chronological order of all the public tweets that have been made. Every user has a timeline of the tweets that they tweet. The timeline allows the user to see the tweets of all the people that they are following. At the right corner, there is a feature @YourName link. The link allows the user to see all the tweets that she has been mentioned in. That is if someone wrote a tweet that they intended you to see and take note of it. Every user can see the tweets of the individuals that they are following (Grandstaff, 2015).

Another main feature of Twitter is retweeting. This is when a person repeats the tweet of someone else. The feature allows the user to send the tweet to all the people following the individual with a click of a button.

The platform also has a direct message feature. It allows an individual to send a direct message to another user of Twitter. It permits a private conversation to take place without other users getting to see the messages.

There are also the followers and the following feature. The feature allows an individual to view the number of people who follow them or the number of people the user is following. There is also a list feature. The feature allows the user to arrange the people who they are following. It allows a user to identify the tweets quickly according to interest.

Impact of the System

The use of Twitter has an impact on politics. Many politicians use the platform to rally people in support of their political goals. The politicians use the platform to engage directly with the people as well as making major announcements. Politicians use this forum as a campaign tool. People have however started misusing the platform where individuals drum up support for their causes using this platform.

Twitter also has an impact on the organizations that use the platform. The businesses use the platform to advertise their products. The organizations are also able to interact with their customers and get feedback on their products and services. This allows the team to build a client loyalty. The team can to build its brand image and popularity at a cheap cost. The platform has also had an adverse impact on the same organizations. Individuals will use these means to complain to an organization. If the complaint goes viral that is a significant number of negative tweets on the organization, can deeply embarrass an organization. The organization can be forced to change their policies because of the negative tweets (Lee, 2013).

Individuals who use the platform have been able to connect with old friends, make new friends, share ideas and content and other activities with other users. People can get involved in campaigns and activities that make the world a better place. Individuals can also get to know about breaking news on the platform. Individuals are also able to connect with the celebrities that they like.

The use of Twitter has some negative impacts. People have been cyberbullied on the platform. People attack people online recklessly. The negative tweets targeted at an individual can cause tension and distress to the individual. An example was to women who received bomb threat and violent abuse because of speaking out against some attitudes.

Organization has also identified social networks including Twitter to impact the productivity of their employees. Employees tend to get distracted and instead of working they spend a lot of time on the platform reading tweets. One should also be vigilant in that they tweet responsibly to ensure there are no repercussions. People can stalk individuals using the information on the platform (Ta, 2014). There have also been incidences where the news that has been tweeted is not correct. An example is when there were rumors that Jeff Goldblum was dead. He was forced to appear on American television to proof to people that he was alive.

Conclusion

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In conclusion, Twitter has a ton of features that make it easy for their users to communicate. The platform helps in the dissemination of information. One can get a lot of information from this platform. The platform serves not only individual who want to make friends but also people who are in business and politicians. They are a few negative impacts that have been caused by the use of the platform as discussed. Measures should be taken by individuals to ensure that they do not use the platform to bully other individuals. Individuals using the platform should also use caution to ensure they are not victim to cyber bullying and stalking. In addition I have been a Twitter user for approximately 3 months and, even though I am not computer savvy I find the features very user friendly.

References

Duggan, M., Ellison, N., Lampe, C., Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2015, January 9). Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms | Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/demographics-of-key-social-networking-platforms-2/

Grandstaff, P., (2015). Twitter Tutorial Two: 7 Important Twitter Features Explained. Retrieved from