Does Twitter make sense?
To begin with, I have to say, I am not a Twitter user. I have signed up for an account but have not used it at all. I, personally, prefer tools such as Skype. But still, I am willing to be convinced that it does bring an advantage for personal use. I imagine it can be very useful, though, so far, it seems to me another ‘great time consuming application.’ I wonder whether it is really an advantage to be hyperconnected. “Like any good pusher, services like Twitter don’t answer existing needs; they create new ones and then fill them. (Times)” I sense it speeds up the anyway fast communication and information sharing through the web. However, I also imagine it can be an application for new senseful forms of communication, activism and networking, especially with its connection to the mobile phone.
Given that assumption, I collected the following links about twitter:
- Mexico City’s Earthquake, reported on Twitter first
- The Potential of Twitter in Africa and map of Twitter in Africa
- “So the launching of Twitter provides a good alternative considering that the use of mobile phones is much higher than that of computers. In Malawi for example, there are about 50,000 Internet users against about 700,000 mobile phone users out of a population of about 12 million.
- Africa moves on: Twitter is just the beginning
- Twitter in an organization or company: Internal Twittering
- Emergency 2.0: Twitter helps public services speed up ahead the government in crisis situations
“Twitter might play a substantive role in emergency response because of its ability to share location-based, real-time information among social networks.” - Activism: Urgent Action IM Bots and Twitter for Darfur
“But to me the critical thing about Twitter is the way it can be updated (and read) via mobile, and how that can reach in to urgent areas or situations in a way the internet can’t (yet).” - Human rights: Global Voices is now on Twitter
- How human rights activists use Twitter
“My favorite example of repurposing recently is my friend Alaa’s use of Twitter to coordinate activities of activists in Egypt.”
These articles show how Twitter can be used in all sorts of ways, such as to allow fast messaging and alert a network. It seems good to give notice and to feel connected. It can be an important tool for activism because it pings every member of a network and it is more personal and directed than blogs. I imagine also twittervision version for human rights worldwide or environmental violations in a region.
Possibly related posts:
- 10 reasons why statuses and tweets are a key for social networks
- How Can Nonprofits Use Twitter? Should They Even Bother?
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crisscrossed
Crisscrossed Feed- Twitter: ckreutz: @soloride I know some bloggers from Africa but not from Angola. I am sure @whiteafrican will know someone
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- Twitter: ckreutz: smiles that reuters writes about Zimbabwe: New Technologies in Fight for Democracy http://tinyurl.com/6a7nh9
- delicious: Toll-Free Mobile Service Gives Rural Africa Access to Medics | NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise
- Twitter: ckreutz: to all fans of gapminder.org. Google spreadsheets has his gadgets now included. Easy and nice way to make fascinating simulations.
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About this blog
This blog aims to explore and develop social changes through communication.
It focuses on tools such as internet — it's impact, potential and challenges it faces within different cultures around the world. It also approaches network learning and highlights knowledge management for development. more > - ckreutz in 6 innovative grassroot mashups for transparency: Hi David thanks for your comment. I have not heard
- David wilcox in 6 innovative grassroot mashups for transparency: Thanks Chris for examples of what individuals can do -
- Let’s not be e-wasteful « Mobbed by Mobile Media in Blog action day: E-waste, the downside of the growing web: […] environmental standards so that the waste can be processed.
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I agree, the interesting thing about Twitter is the structure behind it and how new messages are spread.
Maybe they should rename twitter into Buschtrommel.
[…] Nonetheless, I’m still not a Twitter user. Maybe I’m loosing benefits, but I wasn’t convinced yet (and I’m not the only one). […]
[…] crisscrossed: Does Twitter make sense? […]