How useful is Twitter?

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

SOCIAL networking has become a real force in our lives over the past five years.  In fact, it is difficult for many to imagine their lives without any force of connectively to the outside world, expressing your feelings worldwide.  However, some guy from the Netherlands doesn’t want to know if you are about to have a ham sandwich! 

     I, myself, had three social networking options, before deleting my MySpace account last summer.  I had only used it once after leaving college, which was the primary reason why I had one in the first place.  When I went to college in 2007, I was encouraged to join MySpace; just as the Facebook revolution was beginning (I had joined Facebook in July 2007.)  I wanted to convert everyone to the Facebook way of thinking and with mission accomplished at the end of my two years studying media production, I felt quite satisfied.  Despite the recent takeover by Justin Timberlake, don’t expect MySpace to be popular.  In fact, I’d rather read The Sun newspaper, and those who know me know how much I despise that newspaper.

      Facebook may have an integral part in how we go about life, though I’m not one of those who will meet someone new in a bar; then go ‘I’ll Facebook you!’  What is going on with today’s English language system when that is said.  The stupid people could think, ‘oh yay, my face will appear in a book!’  It’s a ridiculous term!  Plus, why do you need to poke people.  Who wants to do that?

     I used to really not get the point of Twitter, which is the other social network that really has taken off in the past four years.  Since its launch in 2006, it is gradually drawing alongside Facebook in popularity.  TV programmes and presenters certainly seem to prefer the ‘tweet’ indicator and understandable, when you have to round it off in 140 characters.  A Facebook status could simply turn into a lengthy, waffle essay.  I’d prefer to eat my Birds Eye Potato Waffles rather than read waffle, but I guess people have their differences of opinion.  I reluctantly joined Twitter as part of an assignment I had to do in my first year at the University of Northampton (2009/10).  I didn’t want to; in fact, I couldn’t see much point in it.  My first thought of Twitter was; “Another place to go and stalk those celebrities.”  Why don’t you get posters and lick them, at least you could kiss them, can’t really do that with a computer screen!  Actually, as it turns out, I’m finding Twitter to be such a useful source of information.

      Having used it sporadically to keep an eye on the 2010 General Election in this country, I have grown into using it every day, tweeting on a regular basis and moving my website updates from FB onto Twitter.  It might be a narrower audience, but more people might be more interested in what you are blogging about.  Some people on my University course are like me; they love using it.  Others don’t get the point of it and do not bother and some don’t tweet, but still find it very newsworthy at least.  I’d say at least 60 per cent of the 115 people I follow are news organisations, magazines or significant leading figures in journalism.  Of course, there is the odd celebrity you want to keep a check on; such as Jimmy Carr, Nicole Scherzinger, Barack Obama, Katy Perry, Jake Humphrey and Fearne Cotton, who are some of the people I follow.  Even I have 51 followers, including ITV Anglia the topical news show 10 O’clock Live and Nick Clegg!  That last one is embarrassing, so I save my Clegg opinions for the dartboard; to be released in some year around Christmas time. 

Twitter has become an invaluable source and gives you an interesting uptake in life, so for me, it’s valuable and very useful.  I predict its popularity will just continue to increase and as far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/#!/HappyDude88

SOME TWEETS I HAVE PRODUCED IN THE LAST MONTH;

“why do people explode over X-Factor, it's just a TV show - nobody died....”

“is expecting a lot, but feels it will deliver very little.”

“a beer and MOTD. Good times!”

“actions speak louder than words.”

“oh dear, looks like he missed a 'Nando!' Don't mean the restaurant either lol!”

“and the worst miss in Prem history goes to Nando. El Nino shud hav scored with his eyes shut: at least he will hav somethin named for him.”

“thoughts are with the families of the miners who have lost their lives in Wales. Such a tragic story.”

“this is the point where I wished money grew on trees. . .”

“10 years on today from USA's darkest day. My thoughts are with the families who lost their loved ones on this poignant day. RIP”

News Corp sells MySpace to Timberlake

STAR of one of the hit films in 2010, Justin Timberlake now has his own Social Network.  The actor and singer, who featured heavily in the film about the birth of Facebook, now own MySpace, alongside another US advertising agency.

     News Corporation have decided to sell the social networking site, which in recent years, has really struggled to keep up in the social network world, largely thanks to Facebook’s domination and the rise of Twitter.  The deal is thought to be around £22million, but falls well short of the £60million that News Corporation wanted for the company.

     With Timberlake’s help, the new owners are hoping to be able to revive MySpace’s fortunes.  Understandably, Timberlake is delighted and sees some promising opportunities for his new venture;

“I’m excited to help revitalise MySpace by using its social media platform to bring artists and fans together.”

     Under the deal, News Corp will retain a minor five per cent stake in MySpace, and now has holdings in the US firm that has teamed up with Timberlake to thrash out the deal, believed to be Specific Media. 

UNPOPULAR: Can Timberlake turn around the fortunes of MySpace?

     MySpace has been around on computers, phones and various networks since 2003.  News Corp has owned MySpace since 2005 but in the last three years, it has simply failed to cope with the excessive craze people have for Facebook.  I know this personally, having had a MySpace account myself in 2007, but deleted it last year, due to the lack of use of the site.  The early plans for the change in MySpace will be to boost its content of music videos, blogging and original TV shows.

     It is a brave move from Justin Timberlake to enter into the social networking world and he will need to spend a lot of time to eclipse Facebook and turn MySpace into a worthy and strong challenger again in this particular genre.

Twitter vs Facebook - The Facts & Milestones

The debate is bound to rage on: Which social networking giant is really the best?  Some will prefer to Tweet, others prefer Farmville; tastes will depend on whoever you associated yourself with.  However, with Twitter having recently celebrated its 20^th billionth tweet – just days after Facebook notched up its 500^th millionth member, here are some interesting facts about the two dominant leaders in social networking.

Facebook

Facebook was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerburg – whilst he was studying a Psychology course at Harvard University.  In 2006, Zuckerburg rejected a $1billion takeover offer from Yahoo.  One year later, he sold a 1.6% stake to Microsoft for £117million.  This year, figures suggest that Facebook is estimated to make $1billion.  Users post videos, pictures, status updates and pictures on their own personal profiles.  They connect with their friends via Facebook Chat and can have total control on who has access to personal information.  Facebook makes most of its money by targeting advertising to certain individual’s likes and dislikes.  Statistics suggest that Facebook users will spend around eight billion minutes on the site every day, and they send about a billion messages via Facebook chat.  It is almost impossible to tell whether famous people are using the site – fan pages are more likely to pop up.  Recently, a tribute page to the UK’s most wanted man, Raoul Moat was set-up.  ‘RIP Raoul Moat You Legend!’ attracted 30,000 fans and received serious condemnation from David Cameron.  It has since been removed.  A campaign to get the 1992 song ‘Killing in the Name’ by Rage against the Machine was successful in December 2009 for the coveted prize of Christmas No.1.  It beat ‘The Climb,’ by UK X-Factor winner Joe McElderry, in a bid to put an end to Simon Cowell’s domination of the Xmas No.1.

MY VIEW OF FACEBOOK: I joined Facebook back in July 2007, after being sent a friend recommendation.  Honestly, I didn’t think it would catch on, I hadn’t even heard of it before then.  However, I spend a load of time on Facebook and despite receiving some criticism of late – some of it deserved, it will remain king of the social networking world in my view.

Twitter

Twitter was created in 2006 by work buddies Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey.  It started initially as a side project to a blogging website.  There is no source of revenue so far for Twitter, with many waiting to see how it will generate profit.  People write short updates called ‘Tweets,’ of 140 characters or less.  These are posted to your profile/blog and sent to all of your followers.  In 2007, about 5,000 tweets were sent a day, with that increasing to 300,000 messages per day in 2008.  Famous celebrities who regularly tweet for their millions of fans include Jamie Olivier, Alan Carr, Dannii Minogue, Amanda Holden, Tony Blair, Kaya Scodelario, Stephen Fry, Lily Allen and Barack Obama.

MY VIEW OF TWITTER: I joined Twitter last October, as it was an expected requirement of my first year Journalism course at The University of Northampton.  To be honest, I rarely use it, although I will pop on from time-to-time to see what my friends and celebrities I’m following, and post the occasional updates, normally about this website.  Twitter is not my favourite site, but is a nice back-up to have, should I require it and it is one hundred times better than my MySpace account, which I closed down this summer due to lack of activity.   

Facebook Reaches The 500 Million Mark

On Wednesday, the king of the social networking battle, Facebook announced that it had reached the milestone of having 500million members on its site, just six years after it was set-up in a University room.  This means that nearly 10% of the worldwide population have Facebook available to them.  Last January, it still had only 150million members, so it has had a massive increase in the last eighteen months.  This is despite the rise to the fore of Twitter, though the almost complete dismantlement of Bebo and MySpace must have helped Facebook’s healthy figures.

The inventor of Facebook back in February 2004, Mark Zuckerburg believes that Facebook will have one billion users worldwide within the next five years.  Despite increasing concerns about the publication of personal information and complaints from some over the lack of privacy settings, Facebook’s popularity continues to soar.  The advanced competition continues to give Facebook many more challenges to overcome in the future.  Its delay in placing a child panic button on the site has received a lot of criticism, but that still seems not to be putting people off signing up for the fun features Facebook provides, such as Farmville, SuperPoke, Social Interview and Facebook Chat. 

Recent figures also have come out; suggest that Facebook is now getting more web visits on a daily basis, than the No.1 search provider, Google.  This could provide a major headache for advertisers looking to sell their products, now that Google is being outdone at its own game.  There is continued talk that Google are planning to break onto the social networking craze, though they refuse to comment on such frenzied speculation.    

Despite some who have their fears, Facebook continues to rule the networking area in the world and it is going to have to take something really special to knock it off its perch as top of the class.

Can Google Break The Domination?

This blog was first published on February 12th at http://happydude88.livejournal.com/

         

On Wednesday, Google launched its new social networking service, in a bid to break the domination of Facebook and Twitter.

Google Buzz will allow users to share personal updates, videos and photos and anyone who has a Google Mail account has already been automatically signed up to the website. However, can Google break the domination that Facebook and Twitter have enjoyed of recent times?

Last week, Facebook celebrated its 6th birthday and announced that it has over 400million users, a staggering statistic from when it took off in February 2004 and everyone said it would be a horrific flop. In the last 18 months, Twitter has joined in by becoming a hotbed for celebrities to tweet messages on their whereabouts to obsessive fans.

Honestly, I can’t see how Google is going to be able to keep up with these two powerhouses. Both Bebo and MySpace have basically been seen off by Twitter and Facebook and as far as I’m concerned, these two social networking sites were in a far stronger position than what Google Buzz is. I would actually say that it’s a desperate move by Google, in an effort to keep some of its consumers satisfied. Facebook has certainly raised its concerns over whether this attempt will be a success and have retaliated, by updating its messaging service and giving everyone an easier-to-use homepage.

I think Google Buzz is another shortcut version of social networking and I can see the idea fizzling out within months. It will have to take something to overcome the Facebook/Twitter craze and this isn’t it. Buzz basically does exactly the same Facebook does – only maybe slightly easier. However, with less information and applications around, then what benefit is it going to be? Possibly, to people who haven’t decided that social networking is for them yet, but I do urge people not to ditch Twitter or Facebook or Buzz, otherwise you would be making a mistake. Despite being the most visited website, thanks to its outstanding search engine, and with one of the fastest web browsers around today, I think this is going to be, strategically a gamble for Google that isn’t going to work. The Facebook/Twitter domination will be around for some time to come.