The Next BIG Thing

      Social networking sites are an ingenious tool—people are staying connected and sharing ideas, stories, and memories.  Before my Ust11 seminar about social networking sits, I did not realize that so many existed and just how useful they are.   Using Twitter for the last week has been a different experience.  Although I find myself scrolling through people’s Facebook pages on a daily basis, Twitter may now be a more frequent way of staying connected.

      Twitter is a great tool to use to keep up with not only people, but with other organizations, business, programs, and groups.  Unlike Facebook, MySpace, and other friend based networking sites, Twitter allows you to follow any entity that has an account.  Twitter is not about who you know, but connects you with people or organizations that you want to know more about; for example following celebrities, newspapers, or clubs.  I really liked twitter because I could log on and all of the news that I need for the day is right there.  I started following a lot of different news sites, and it has helped me to keep up with the world.  Since I moved to Ames, I haven’t watched much television and Twitter has taken over the role of informing me of the world affairs. 

      Learning to use Twitter was not difficult at all.  The informational websites on using Twitter made it super easy to absorb all of the techniques the networking site has.  The website, http://www.commcognition.com/blog/college-students-guide-twitter-101/, is very educational with ways to make your profile the best and how to use tweets, retweets and replies.  Another site that was interesting was http://www.balkhis.com/twitter/25-reasons-why-someone-should-join-twitter/.  This site lists 25 detailed reasons for people to join Twitter.

      After using this social networking site for a while, I am now convinced to continue to use my account.  Twitter is going to help me to share my knowledge, keep up with the rest of the world, stay connected, and even vent a little.  View my full profile at http://twitter.com/#!/dlbohner and create your own profile today—after all Twitter is the next BIG thing.