I made some real progress on my topic. I found two books, “Twitter Power” and “Interviews with Web 2.0 Heros,” which have served as great sources. While I am learning quite a bit about Twitter, I am still not convinced of its usefulness. (I also have not gotten a grasp on the Twitter account that I recently activated.) I was reading an article in New York Magazine that brought up the dot.com bust that happened in the late 90s. I don’t know much about this, but I want to look into it. From what I read in that article, it sounds like everyone at the time thought that what they were doing with the internet and Web sites was going to last. And it didn’t. I want to see if the same thing could happen with Twitter. (I’m not trying to be a pessimist, but I’m really just curious and felt this was an interesting comparison.)
Another interesting fact that I have been reading about is that it seems like Twitter is stumped as to how to turn their popularity into profit. They won’t come out and say that in any of the articles, but they seem to be looking for a solid business model just like print and broadcast are. It almost seems like everyone is in the same boat in that respect.
While I’ve gotten quite a bit done on this project, I really want to find an article that discusses the longevity of Twitter. What is going to make this more than a fad? I can make assumptions from what I read (and I have my own opinions about it of course), but I haven’t come across anything yet that predicts what is going to happen with Twitter in the future. That is what I want to find out. Is this something journalists need to be nervous about in the long run?
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Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI love this topic. Your questions and thoughts seem to be so essential, especially because everyone is so quick to jump on the Twitter bandwagon without question. So, why do we question the usefulness and utility of some things and not others. Pure popularity? Or, does twitter have some intrinsic value that taps into a human need to communicate....constantly with others? To think about the longevity of Twitter, you might muse yourself (if you can't find anyone else doing it) by considering what niche it does fulfill for society and if those qualities are replicative of other technology that has survived the booms and busts of fads.
I don't know if Twitter will ever be something journalists need to be "nervous" about, but it really wouldn't surprise me if it turns out to be a fad. I mean, I doubt my kids will be using Facebook either. It's certainly the hot thing right now, though. Did you see that Pizza Hut wants to hire a "twintern" whose exclusive job it will be to run the Twitter and Facebook? Sounds crazy to me.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the question isn't really whether twitter is a fad or whether it's useful, but rather does the rise of twitter signal something about how we should disseminate news? I mean, the shortest of stories that tend to run (6-inch briefs) are 1080 characters long, but twitter only gives us 140.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm just wondering aloud whether "the future" of journalism is bite-sized portions of stories, not the full real deal. What implications does that have for accountability reporting? It's impossible to condense a real investigative story into that 6-inch brief, let alone 140 characters.
Summary: Maybe twitter itself doesn't matter. Maybe it just says something about what people want.