Bitter about Twitter

Many people have claimed that "Twitter is the new Facebook." At the same time, I have run into various friends, family and co-workers who claim they would never be caught dead tweeting.

When I worked as a marketing intern this past summer, I immediately became interested in the world of social media. After a few weeks, I was motivated to share the benefits of the new ways of social media that we could use within our business. I started brainstorming on how our company could use Twitter to draw more fan interaction.

When presenting the idea to the president of our company, I learned that many people thought that Twitter was stupid, and simply a waste of time. After I explained that Twitter would eventually help our business strategy, more and more people were interested in trying out this new social media tool. However, several people wanted to know how Twitter differed from Facebook and why so many people used it in their daily lives.

Because many of these people in the presentation were older and unfamiliar with emerging new technologies, I took it upon myself to explain my personal usage with Facebook and Twitter. I explained that my generation is very hands on. We grew up with everything at our fingertips. Our daily communication consists of e-mailing, texting, Facebooking, skyping, etc. Twitter is just another way of staying in touch with those that we cannot see everyday. Following famous celebrities, organizations and businesses also fascinates us. Twitter was introduced to me by a friend from one of my Communication courses at Purdue. After joining Twitter, I was immediately addicted. I update my status a few times a day, as more of a habit than anything. I have noticed that my friends who are active on their Twitter accounts, seem to have less of a presence on Facebook. I know that my statuses on Facebook have largely decreased. What is the point of telling people what you are doing twice? I tend to use Twitter solely for updates and occasionally to upload a Twitpic. However, Facebook mainly serves as my network to share my most recent pictures with my friends.

From my personal experience, it seems that many people are hesitant to adapt to emerging new technologies. Personally, if I have an interest in an emerging technology that I could see as potentially useful to my social or professional business network, I will check it out. After my presentation on Twitter, I found that a few more people were open to the idea of tweeting for professional reasons.

iPhone

Throughout the past year, I have been through several cell phones. I never invested much money in any because I always tend to drop or lose them. When, I received an iPhone as a gift from my parents, I definitely had more of an incentive to take better care of it since it was so expensive. Within the iPhone, the E-mail service, Mapquest and the Notes application has made my personal life a lot easier.

Prior to my iPhone, I always made a point to stop on campus to check my e-mail or go all the way back to my apartment in order to check for important e-mails. When I realized that my iPhone offered the internet and an e-mail service on my own hand-held device, I was ecstatic. With my iPhone, I can now e-mail friends, family, group members or potential employers in a timely manner.

In addition to saving a ton of time with having my e-mail with me at all times, the iPhone provided me with another very helpful feature. I have never had a very good sense of direction, so the Mapquest app available on the iPhone truly did make my life a lot easier. Even when driving within 15 miles of my hometown, I can get lost. Being able to plug in my destination address or even street names was very beneficial. With this particular app on my phone, I am a much more confident driver.

Finally, the Notes app has been very helpful to me, especially as I am working my way into the business world. This past summer, my internship led me to Dallas, Texas. When visiting with co-workers and upper management over meals, meetings, etc., I did not always have my binder by my side. However, the Notes app, conveniently on my phone was always readily available for me to jot down a to-do list or important things to remember.

These are just a few features that I love on my iPhone. More to come...