Anna Baynham
Staff Writer
Twitter launched in 2006 and made its incredible come up in the social media world in January of 2009. Leaving the top social media site, also known as Facebook, up to the “old folk,” a majority of high school and college students and celebrities slowly but surely made their way to Twitter.
I personally, did not make a Twitter page until August of 2010 and so far have over 40,000 tweets! With 140 billion tweets per day and 6,939 tweets per second it is safe to say that Twitter is always being used. No matter what time of day or night, it is guaranteed at least one person is actively tweeting on your timeline.
Evan Thomas, a junior business management major from Kansas City, Mo., said, “Twitter is full of entertainment and I like it because it lets me vent all day everyday about any and everything.”
Just as Facebook, Twitter has its ups and downs. The number one down would be it is a distraction of course. Studies show that Thursday and Friday nights are when most of the Tweeples actively tweet. It’s Thursday night, and you know you have homework, but you also know that your timeline is probably doing numbers. Caching over 100 tweets per refresh and with a good trending topic for the night, helplessly you may feel obligated to join in.
Of course some people have the will power to log off of Twitter. So the big question that comes to mind is who is distracted more by Twitter, males or females? It is statistically shown that 52% of people on Twitter are women. I do believe females are more distracted by Twitter. Why, I do not know. But I know I am a tweetaholic.
Rochelle Murray, a sophomore biology major from Forest, Miss., said, “Twitter is just a way for people to vent and for some to pretend that they have stuff but really don’t.”
A big debate is whether or not social media is the ruiner of relationships. Some agree and others disagree. I play both sides of the fence. First it was thought that Facebook ruined relationships. Now of course, Twitter has to take the blame. Social networks are just a show. When the show is about you or involves you, then of course, it becomes personal.
Females more than males, are more likely to get upset about a tweet made or about someone of the opposite sex being tweeted by their insignificant other.
No I am not saying that males don’t get mad; they do too, just not as much. Saying that Twitter messes up relationships is like blaming a pen for your misspelled words. Followers only know what the tweeter tells them. Yes, it is easier said than done, but if your relationship is not strong enough to last on a social network, it probably wasn’t strong to begin with. If you do not want anyone in your business don’t tweet it for the world to see.
Jamila Paillet, a sophomore biology major from Atlanta, Georgia, said, “Twitter is a big relationship killer. People read too much into their boyfriend or girlfriend’s tweets.”
Twitter has made its way through the social media scene but still is not the number one site used. African Americans are the second leading ethnicity Twitter; Caucasians being the leading ethnicity. Sadly stated, no matter how much we hate our addictions to Twitter, even if we don’t feel like tweeting, lurking is still an option. Nothing upsets people more than those followers who don’t actual tweet but just read their timeline. It’s okay to lurk sometimes, but all the time? You might as well go read Facebook statuses! Just like Black Planet and Facebook, Twitter too will soon be replaced by another social network. Until then I will continue tweeting. So follow me on twitter @_GUCCIMAE !
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