Tweet, twit, twitter, twittered…

Apparently, if you don’t tweet then you’re not in the game, so I decided to join the new age and log on to Twitter. The social micro blogging network was created in 2006 by the young Jack Dorsey and has not stopped expanding since; A-list and B-list celebrities, news networks, business companies, politicians, and people like you and me, are using it. But to what purpose? Over the last month I have followed 23 people on Twitter, ranging from Paris Hilton (yes I know, I know) to BBC News, and a kind of pattern has emerged. The likes of Paris Hilton and Stephen Fry tweet about their day to day activities and the likes of Raindance Film Festival and other companies, use the medium to promote themselves. So, it seems to me, that the purpose of Twitter is to let the world know what you’re doing, be it mundane or exciting.

Day One: I went to the Twitter page, signed up, chose a username, chose my password and then… nothing. I was stuck. I didn’t know who to follow, where to get inspiration, or how to follow them. Twitter must think it’s so obvious that no explanation is needed. Luckily, a few suggestions came up like Barak Obama – now that could be fun, having the President of the US of A telling me what he’s been doing with his day, I thought. To be honest, it was all very formal and perhaps even a little preachy. Anyway, I struggled on and decided to go with the obvious ones like the BBC, CNN, AP, The Economist and even the Conservatives party. But still, it wasn’t the mad rush I was expecting and all that the hype had lead me to believe.

Day Two: I felt invigorated and ready to tackle the tweet world again; but for some reason a message saying ‘Twitter is over capacity’, came up, illustrated by a whale being carried by – what can only be described as – tweety birds! This is also known as the ‘fail whale’ in the Twitter world.

One Week Later:        Honestly where does all this hype come from? I was seriously beginning to wonder how tabloids manage to get all this sensational information just by following people on Twitter. Then it hit it me, those who do the least are those who talk the most! And who fits that category better than Paris Hilton? Yes, I’ve said it, I’m following Paris Hilton on Twitter, and she is a gold mine. She has understood how it works: ‘Landed in Egypt’, ‘Had such an incredible day! Saw the mummy’s [sic] and tombs at The Egyptian Museum. Went in the Pyramids. Saw the Sphynx and rode Camels. So Fun!’ – to give just a few examples. She has over 4,600 tweets (and counting) and over 2,000,000 followers!!

Several Days Later: I’m now following 21 people on Twitter including Stephen Fry, who tweets even more than Paris Hilton does, and Raindance Independent Film Festival, as well a couple of artists. Apart from Paris Hilton and Stephen Fry the rest of them are mainly promoting themselves and the news tweets are – as you would expect – rolling news. Lately Mr Fry has been updating us on his trip to Kenya and on his views of the World Cup. For example: ‘Oh my! A brief window of reception here in Swaziland. All going well. Been darting a roan antelope. Elephants, zebra, rhino. Kenya tomorrow’. The most amusing thing by far on Mr Fry’s Twitter page though was from one of his fellow followers: ‘This world cup is like WWII: The French surrendered early the Americans turned up late, leaving England to fight the Germans’.

As simple as Twitter may seem there’s an extricate world and jargon to it. You tweet when you update your status and you have followers while you’re following other people. There are different sections within Twitter, such as mom-bo ‘where every tweet is a movie critic’, by clicking on that you get sent to another page dedicated to tweets on movies; or Hype-Machine ‘a way to discover the most popular songs on Twitter’. It is networks within a network. Tweets become old news very quickly on the network since, in the space of an hour, a huge number of tweets will have been generated. You need to be a very dedicated tweeterer to get the most out of the network. I’m not sure my time on Twitter has converted me yet but I do now understand the appeal. Twitter offers us the opportunity to instantly connect to a massive network of information, whether this information is of any use or even interest, is up to each user to decide.

However mundane it may seem on an individual basis though; Twitter, and its potential to combine the voices of millions, can affect a massive influence on the largest of corporations. The Trafigura / Carter-Ruck scandal last year was a case in point. This victory for freedom of speech was won by Twitter, in a campaign headed by Stephen Fry. On finding out that Carter-Ruck, Trafigura’s legal representation, had placed a gagging order over The Guardian to stop them printing information about their illegal activities, dumping toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, Twitter went into overload as bloggers alerted fellow tweeters to the scandal and linked them to sites where first hand information was to be found. The gagging order was almost immediately revoked in response and the freedom of the press, restored.

If you still don’t understand, take a look at this short video by Mike Booth feature Graham Murkett:

Claire Charras