I was introduced to the world of Twitter only a couple of weeks ago. I know, I’m a late bloomer and this wasn’t a voluntary decision either. My online journalism tutor encouraged me to enter the world of twitter sphere. I’ve now been a member of the craze for just over two weeks and look back and think, gee I must have been living in a hole.
I am now constantly checking morning, lunch and night. I’m following all the major news reporters, stations and sites and manage to find out breaking news BEFORE it hits the news sites on the internet. That’s right BEFORE! I must admit I have been oblivious to the power of tweeting. I would first hear of any breaking news either on television or news sites in which the information would state that it was discovered on twitter. I am now one of the people that discover breaking news the same time as news reporters do!
Talk about power of online journalism.
My lecturer stated this week that, ‘you are what you tweet’. These are words which I have found to be very wise.
The people that I follow (majority are celebrities) I have discovered things about them that 1) I didn’t know and 2) I didn’t want to know. For example, Rihanna – a celebrity that I once admired and found inspiring, but after following her on twitter, my perception has somewhat changed.
One of her recent posts: ‘So much dick riding that my cock hurt!’, ‘Suck my cockine’ and ‘My bitch thick az phuck’ (http://twitter.com/rihanna). Tweets that have been seen by all of her 24,000,000 twitter followers. Now I don’t know about them, but I can sure say that I do not understand any of these and do not enjoy reading them. It is because of these tweets that my perception of the superstar Rihanna has now changed.
This however is the total opposite for A-list celebrity Mila Kunis. I didn’t think too much of the actress until I decided to follow her on twitter. Her tweets are inspiring, feel good tweets that have the power to change your mood. Some of her tweets: ‘It’s ok to have flaws, that’s what makes you real’, ‘Live without boundaries, experience it all’ and ‘Fight for today, live for tomorrow’ (http://twitter.com/MilaKunisOnline) . These tweets have totally changed my perception of the actress to a more positive one.
This illustrates the power of online journalism, not just in the way of the perception of celebrities, but also the reputation of politicians, news sites, stations and reporters. Their credibility is on the line every time they tweet. Their reputation is on the line every time they tweet. How people perceive them is on the line every time they tweet.
It is true - you are what you tweet.
No comments:
Post a Comment