TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!With more than 119 million account 85 million of which have at least one follower people are flocking to Twitter to express themselves along with seeing what others have to tweet. Twitter is a pretty sweet setup and if your tweet is really sweet it will probably get re-tweeted (tweeted again on someone else's Twitter page). You can view everything on Twitter from what someone is doing, what they've done, what they plan to do, thoughts, opinions, and even political activism. Twitter is one information superhighway in the cyber sky that has more than the average social media user singing like a bird. Special interest groups are voicing their cause, businesses and entrepreneurs are pushing their products and services, journalists are reporting news, celebrities are hyping up fans, and politicians are campaigning through the medium of social media. Imagine the ripples that come from a single drop of water or the splash from a bird's wing in a birdbath. Now imagine over one million birds diving into a huge lake all at once.
The use of social media is creating perpetual waves when it comes to political influence and public opinion. Even those who don't trouble the water see and feel the effects of the ripples. This is one way that social media influences politics and public opinion. Many of the thoughts and opinionated expressions shared are embraced by those who they are shared with, and this can influence what people believe, who they admire and despise, what they support, and in some cases it even affects how they will vote. Twitter is a part of the social media revolution that is stirring up media and public affairs as both the common and uncommon become avid content creators of communications that are shared with the global online community. Below I've shared six tweets I pulled off Twitter to show you how they each individually relate to something I've learned in my media and public affairs class. Twitter is social media where the affairs of the public are aired so I've come up with the "Golden Rule of Tweeting". "Tweet unto others as you would have them tweet unto you." ~ Deneene A. Collins
Tweet! Tweet!
- Congressman Barney Frank announced his retirement Monday. On Overtime, watch Lesley Stahl’s 2008 interview with Frank:bit.ly/tlDf7Z
This tweet tweeted by 60Minutes announces the retirement of a congressman and links to the full article on www.cbsnews.com. This relates to lessons learned in my media and public affairs class because it shows how the news media is leveraging social media to further broadcast their news stories. Furthermore, this is political news and that is largely what media and public affairs is about. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also tweeted about Barney Frank's retirement with 100 re-tweets as of Tuesday, November 29, 2011 at 3:18 PM Arizona Mountain Time: dccc DCCC (100 Retweets) Barney Frank is retiring and we're going to miss him. Send him a personal thank you message right now: dccc.org/Barney
- Katie Pavlich: Ann Coulter Censored for Calling John McCain the "D" Word on Television: If you're an Ann Coulter... tinyurl.com/cbeww29
Townhall.com which is a conservative website with political commentary that over 100 columnists and millions of grassroots conservatives contribute to tweeted the above tweet which also links to a full article. MSNBC bleeped out/censored a comment best-selling author Ann Coulter made about John McCain. This tweet obviously relates to what I learned in media and public affairs about media influence and how what a person, especially a well-know respected person with fans can shape people's views of political figures by what they say. This also relates to a topic we covered on media bias and how certain networks tend to favor with conservatives or liberals what stories they air and how they air them.
- Florida attorney general co-host presidential forum on Fox News.bit.ly/syKxh9
President Election 2012 News tweeted about this forum that will be broadcast on Fox News. The tweet links to an article on www.washingtonindependent.com that states several GOP and democratic presidential candidates are confirmed for the event. Since a large portion of my media and public affairs class dealt with presidential elections and campaigning the relevance of this tweet to the class is obvious. This is political news about a political media event that can influence the candidates' campaigns. Social media is being used here to inform and advertise. The article this tweet links to also contributes to the cloud hanging over Herman Cain's head as it states that they are not sure if he will be a part of this forum while mentioning the negative issues he is dealing with in regards to accusations of his longtime affair with a Georgia woman. The article also calls Cain a one-time (meaning former) front-runner. I wonder how many mental seeds Johnny Appleseed could have planted if he had Twitter at his fingertips?
- Stmt on overwhelming bipartisan 61-37 vote supporting detainee provisions in
#NDAA mccain.senate.gov/public/index.c…
This tweet by US Senator John McCain voices a statement he made in a press release regarding bipartisan support for the Defense Authorization bill. One way social media is being used here is to inform the public on public policy and show how joint party support is working to pass laws that are much needed and beneficial to the nation's security. This tweet relates to topics in my media and public affairs class that discussed foreign policy, how politicians represent the interests of the American society, and how social media is being used to keep people informed about what is going on behind the walls of Congress.
- Trump: I could enter presidential race in May: bit.ly/s7Bh8R
CBS News strikes again on my Twitter Six List. CBS seems to be consistent in reporting political news on Twitter. The word on the street is that Trump may enter the presidential race as an independent in May 2012. This tweet relates to my class on media and public affairs as it presents a possible new competitor for the 2012 presidential election. This could be a Game Change if Donald Trump resurrects himself back into the race. In my course the topic of what candidates have to deal with and do to overcome their competitors was visited. With this tweet the current presidential candidates have been put on alert that they may end up facing more than what's in their faces right now.
- Don't Let Them Censor the Internet: Urge your senator to stand up against online censorship, & against
#PIPA: ow.ly/7J0Hr#SOPA
Working to reform the U.S. media the national nonpartisan, nonprofit Free Press has name that comes directly from the first amendment. Their micro-blog entry on Twitter posted above is about preventing large corporations from censoring websites at will. One of the things we went over in my media and public affairs class was Internet freedom. This tweet is chirping to the song of freedom. What regulations should be placed on Internet freedom? Should the voice of online text regarding public policy be muffled or hushed? Does social media enhance the essence of a democracy and how should it be monitored? These are all valid questions relating to Internet freedom and the answers are still being sought after. This tweet is an example of sounding off for a cause that seeks to rally support in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
For some reason I've never been a huge fan of Twitter. Nevertheless, it is a power medium of social exchange, and I know the world would not be the same without it. I do like to tweet from time to time, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all of the information that is coming at me. I think that for a person to gain the full benefits that Twitter offers they need to check it multiple times a day to see what is being said. Even so, so many people are tweeting so often that it is easy to miss something you may have wanted to see if you don't scroll down to see what has been tweeted when you were offline. I will keep tweeting and I will continue to catch a chirp here and there. Until I fly in the Twitter sky a little more often I'd like to send out a shout to all the little birdies on Twitter street that love to hear Deneene Collins go tweet, tweet, tweet. I'll keep micro-blogging in a macro world, and I hope you keep reading Deneene Says...You can follow me on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/
How tweet it is to be blogged by you!
How tweet it is to be blogged by you!
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