It’s all about the Twitter followers — the little 140-character blurbs that pop up on your mobile screen and whom they belong to.The New York Times has more than 5,900,000 followers. Snoop Lion, formerly Snoop Dogg, has more than 9,999,000. Even the University of Idaho is banking in on more than 3,300.
Established in 2006, Twitter is a social networking platform that allows you to access constant updates from various musicians, cosmetic companies and grocery store chains. More importantly, you can receive instant updates from local and national news organizations of broadcast and written platforms, political candidates of every level and party, and even blogs that you regularly check up on.
As college students, we’ve long been considered “Generation Uninformed” and it needs to end. I’m just as guilty as the next person of enjoying my free time (what little free time exists between work and school), but we should also feel guilty for being so clueless about issues that are going to affect us for years to come.
How much do you know about the 2012 elections, the Empire State Building shooting, or even why gas prices are fluctuating as erratically as they do?
If we’re constantly plugged in to some electronic device, whether it is a cell phone, tablet or your computer, why not learn something from it?
If you’re interested in becoming a part of educated society, check out Twitter. That sounds ridiculous, especially considering how many tweets contain the hashtag #Bieberfever, but the social networking platform has quickly become a legitimate portal for news.
There’s no denying that the popularity of Twitter has exploded during the last two years. In 2010, the recorded number of daily tweets leapt from 50 million tweets per day in February to 65 million tweets per day in June, according to Twitter’s annual data.
The Washington Post, a leading Washington, D.C. daily newspaper, tweets roughly six times per hour. CNN tweets four times an hour and even operates separate Twitter accounts for breaking news, opinion, morning news, live-action tweets, political news and more, adding up to more than 40 tweets per hour from CNN programming.
Seriously, how uninformed do you feel now?
Here’s a quick guide on getting your Twitter on to take advantage and responsibility for the news and current events you’ve been missing. Help yourself by becoming a functioning member of society. Understand the events happening today that will shape what you see tomorrow.
So basically, if you’re the one punching in those 140 characters that makes you a Tweeter, not to be confused with Twitter-er, the minute you hit enter after composing that brilliant collection of letters and hashtags, it becomes a tweet. Your account is considered your Twitter –as in my Twitter, his Twitter, their Twitter, Snoop Lion’s Twitter. Hashtags are a quick way to categorize your tweets, and you’ll get some sweet style points for whipping out a nice hashtag.
How does that sound? Easy, right?
You tell me. Be a tweeter and send me a tweet from your Twitter @CRchloesugar.
Chloe Rambo can be reached at [email protected] or @CRchloesugar