The Real of Twitter

Commonly mistaken as a social networking site, Twitter's real potential is as a media/marketing tool. It allows for simple communication between people, organizations, companies, businesses and publications. The best way for Twitter to be used positively is to connect users through access and information on topics that they each want to know about.

In just 140 individual characters, tweets can provide a surprising amount of information and opinions, especially when combined with a link, which is one of the most appealing aspects of the site. For example, when a journalist has access to a sporting event or sources that the majority of the public does not, that professional can provide much needed and wanted tidbits through Twitter.

And if the public wants to know more, simply clicking a link can take them to a place where more detail is allowed. This allows users to control how much information they want to consume, almost navigating Twitter like they would an RSS feed. Being able to personalize and customize one's Twitter account is the key to successful.

As far as the media's responsibility of utilizing Twitter, it also needs to be responsible for what it decides to post. The main controversey of the site is that it supports speed over accuracy to accomodate the today's increasingly fast-paced, no-time-to-waste society. That is a major problem, considering the #1 goal of journalism is to always be accurate.

Some readers may enjoy using Twitter to find quick and easy nuggets of information, while others may use Twitter as only the first step in their search. When readers confuse gossip for genuine reporting, though, that is when problems can occur. The media's job is to ensure that users can tell the difference between these two types of information sharing. To combat confusion, media should pay extra attention to editing and fact checking itsTwitter feeds just as it would do to its main publication or Web site.