Twitter: A Multipurpose Platform That Is More Than "Social Media"

 Twitter is a popular social media platform, mainly for just that, being social. But, what most people do not realize is that it can be used for so much more than just posting updates about someones life. It can be used to market ideas and products. It can be used for political purposes, and for instant news purposes. It can be used to bring awareness to a pressing issue. The uses are abundant and versatile, more-so than most other social media platforms. 

    For example, Twitter was constantly used during the Boston Marathon explosion that happened in 2013. With the use of Twitter, families and friends were able to search for loved ones that they could not find, essential workers like police and firefighters were able to tweet out updates to the rest of the world so everyone was kept up to date on the extensive impact of the bombing, and it allowed people to unite and share condolences and feel sad with each other over the tragic event.

    In more current events, Twitter was a major tool in updating America, and the world for that matter, on the recent presidential election. It was a long week waiting for the results, but on Saturday November 7, almost everyone across the world knew at the same time that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had won. And that is in huge part due to Twitter. Almost simultaneously, the major news networks, starting with the Associated Press, posted that Biden and Harris had reached over 270 electoral votes, and the rest followed. Then smaller networks, and magazines and celebrities were posting about the results, and in seconds, the whole world knew the outcome of an event happening in the United States. 

    Twitter can also be used for organizational purposes. For instance, the Black Lives Matter movement has protests, but most of those events are unknown until the very last minute, so they use platforms like Twitter to announce when and where the protests or rallies will be held. Twitter works that instantaneously. 

    The focus of this Twitter project was to bring awareness to the carbon-footprint all humans leave on the Earth, and sharing ways to reduce that footprint. Following accounts like Darin Olien, and HuffPost Green, and sharing their posts, insights, and expertise on sustainable living and using what the Earth provides helped further followers understanding of the environmental issues. And following accounts like the clothing brand Free People, a brand that looks and costs as much as a sustainable clothing brand would, but is actually fast fashion, gave an alternative perspective to issues. It showed some good and bad initiatives and incentives of fast fashion brands, and taught readers how to be aware of sustainable fashion look-alikes.

    Overall, this project was very eye-opening. Turns out, Twitter is not that bad, and quite easy to use once the use of it is understood. Twitter is not like normal social media platforms. It is not as surface level as other social medias. It is a powerful tool that needs to be used carefully and responsibly by all users. It is very easy to share misinformation on Twitter, and spread that false information rapidly, so it needs to be used with caution. But if used correctly, the limited word count and rapid spread of information is a vital tool to stay up to date in today's fast-paced and changing world.