Will Twitter Kill the News-Paper?

               Twitter is a collection of blogs or “tweets” written by individuals with a 140 characters or less. Its ability to get news across to individuals is so popular it may one day replace the paper edition of the news.  Many news-papers are in decline because individuals are often evolving to newer ways of receiving the news.  They are often going to online sources where the information is current and various stories are available to them without having to turn a page.  Many news organizations are setting up twitter accounts to service this need.  They are catering to individuals who want to feel connected to the news when it happens.  It also allows you to connect with your friends to share your opinions with them.  Twitter uses a feed to show you what the individuals you are following are tweeting about which allows you to customize the type of content that you are viewing.

            The main difference between Twitter and setting up a blog on the internet is the size of the message that you are able to get across to your audience.  With Twitter you are only able to write 140 characters or less which means your message will have to be cut down to the main points.  Where blogging gives you the ability to write as much as you would like to get your information across to your audience.

Twitter is useful because it allows you to connect to various news sources at the same time. For individuals who want more news information at their fingertips they can always choose to follow different news outlets Twitter accounts to get up to date information.  Many different newspapers understand how society has changed and are taking advantage of this new way of communicating with subscribers.  It can also be used as a promotional tool for organizations wanting to get new or more information out to consumers.  Using various social media sources is an excellent way to ensure that your message is received by a large audience.

                        There are many examples of misuse of Twitter with the most notable one being a tweet from the associated press which stated there had been an attack on the White House and the president was injured.  This Tweet caused a ripple effect through stock markets world-wide.  They markets recovered moments later when individuals realized the tweet was fake but the damage was already done.  The ability of a tweet to wipe out millions of dollars in assets in a couple of minutes is profound; it shows the power of social media has over aspects in our lives.  There have also been other incidents where misinformation was spread on Twitter such Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath.  There were individuals who tweeted about The New York Stock Exchange being under three feet of water which in the end proved to be untrue.

 It is really amazing how quickly information can spread over social media sites such as Twitter and how this information has the ability exponentially spread to individuals is something we should not be taking for granted.  There are some individuals who have promoted stocks on Twitter which can be construed as insider trading.  Police are often monitoring Twitter sites and some police forces are using Twitter to get information across to individuals living in their jurisdiction.  It will be interesting to watch going forward how individuals use Twitter and how the wold changes because of Twitter.