The Power of Twitter

Twitter a new global phenomenon is rapidly growing in fame and has been implemented by the public worldwide. Regardless of your status or prominence, everyone seems to be using twitter. Introduced as a new micro-blogging application, this software is so mobile that not only is it accessible on a desktop and laptop, but it can also be installed onto our mobile phones for easy access.


Because of this, the public has used twitter to post or update regarding their actions in their daily lives. With access and connections to friends so easily, one wonders how many people actually use this application. According to Murphy D. (2010) in his article for PC Mag he stated that "Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained popularity worldwide and currently has more than 175 million users." This brings us to the conclusion that we can see that twitter is now the new norm for blogging.


Presently, it is reported that in Malaysia politicians have now turned their backs and blogging and have followed the crowd into using Twitter. This scenario was said to have begun during Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy trial. Observers saw that the 62-year old de facto leader has been using twitter as an alternative media to counter the ruling coalition's alleged attempt to bring him down through the government's main media. From this, other politicians have started to use twitter to not only promote but also discuss issues regarding the political landscape of Malaysia. This is supported by Syed Jaymal Zahiid from The Malaysian Insider who said that "a microblogging site like Twitter allows political leaders like Anwar, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang and Umno maverick Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to send short instant updates, ideas and thoughts on current affairs instead of long personal journals."


Therefore, we can clearly observe and see that twitter has been used for various reasons other than the main objective of blogging short updates of your daily lives. Justin Pot wrote in his article for MakeUseOf.com that the other famous uses of twitter rather than just posting up updates are also as a "real-time search engine", "updates on upcoming events", "RSS Feeds" and other useful exploits. Hence, we can conclude by saying that twitter has affected the public and caught their attention by its simplicity but also its versatility. Presently, public figures have also used this application to reach out to their fans and supporters as well as a form of promotion.


Reference


Murphy, D. 2010, "Twitter: On-Track for 200 Million Users by Year End", PCmag.com, viewed 14 November 2010, (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2371826,00.asp).


Zahid, S. J. 2010, "Blogging is so yesterday, politicians turn to Twitter", TheMalaysianInsider.com, viewed 14 November 2010, (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/Blogging-is-so-yesterday-politicians-turn-to-Twitter/).


Pot, J. 2010, "4 Creative Uses for Twitter for People who think Twitter is Useless", Make UseOf.com, viewed 14 November 2010, (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-creative-uses-for-twitter-people-twitter-useless/)