Category: Twitter

The situation for the Congressman could be resolved in several ways. First, the congressman should seek the help of the authorities if he suspects his twitter account was hacked. The congressman should report the case to the police or the federal bureau of investigations (FBI) for further checks on the issue.

To curb further suspected infiltration of his twitter account, the congressman should consider changing passwords and privacy settings of his twitter and facebook accounts.

In addition, the congressman should seek audience with the conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart and ascertain the sources of his allegations and if the allegations are true or false. In addition, with the help of the authorities, the congressman should, ascertain if there is the possibility of a hidden motive behind the allegations of the conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart.

This is of importance to ascertain the reasons behind such allegations and deeds as it may be a game of political hoodwinking as the congress claims. Since the blogger has in the past been involved in questionable deeds, there is a need for extensive investigations to rule out any hidden agendas from the conservative blogger or his associations.

The congressman in conjunction with the relevant authorities should go ahead and ascertain the claims made by the college student Gennette Nicole Cordova, to determine if they hold any water. The claims of persistent harassment of the lady should also be looked into to determine if truly the congressman’s account was infiltrated or if the congressman is anonymously sending tweets to the lady and hoodwinks the public into believing that his account was hacked into.

Forensic investigations should be initiated to determine the validity of the lewd photos purportedly sent from the congressman’s twitter account. Twitter should be contacted to verify the hacking claims made by the congressman to rule out any foul play on part of the congressman and any other parties involved in the scandal. In addition, the congressman should furnish the authorities with relevant information to facilitate expedited resolution of the issue and to identify the source and intent of the scandal.

If at all the congressman is trying to fake a hack on his account in order to conceal the truth, he should relinquish his claims and come forward and declare that he sent the lewd photos himself. This is crucial for the congressman as it absolves any party involved in the scandal.

Furthermore, the proclamation of the truth may earn the senator respect among his constituents and the congress. Congressman Anthony Weiner may save himself from further embarrassment if at all the truth become evident and it is discovered that all this time the congressman was lying about hacking of his account.

Other sources of information should sought to ascertain who has or is able to log into Congressman Anthony Weiner’s twitter account to ascertain possible sources of malicious behavior and defamation for political gains by the congressman’s opponents. The congressman should furnish the relevant authorities with the correct information to facilitate thorough investigations of the scandal.

The conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart should also come forward and declare the validity of the source of his allegations to rule out any foul play against the congressman. The college student Gennette Nicole Cordova should also come forward to declare her relationship with congressman in order to absolve her of any wrong doing.

Twitter as a Marketing Tool

Increasingly popular, digital media has significantly changed modern marketing strategies by offering a fast, comfortable, convenient and ‘trendy’ means of interaction with the customers. These qualities mean that Twitter can be more efficient at client-engagement than traditional advertising (Castronovo & Huang 2012). Marketing executives report paying significant attention to social media and intend to spend increasing amounts of money on developing relevant tools, for example, platforms like Twitter (Burton & Soboleva 2011, p. 491).

However, as the study by Burton and Soboleva (2011) demonstrates, due to the novelty of the tools and lack of consistent guidelines in their respect, companies are not consistent in their Twitter strategies, which shows that marketing managers still do not know how to use this tool (pp. 493-497). To address the issue, we shall discuss the effectiveness of Ultra Music Festival social media usage with the help of frameworks described by Barker and Barker (2012) and Castronovo and Huang (2012).

Choosing Twitter

Castronovo and Huang (2012) suggest that social media is suitable for connecting all the marketing communication efforts into a single “easily accessible, integrated consumer venue” (p. 124). According to the authors, social media platforms are the basic part of a marketing strategy. The first step of the marketing strategy development in this respect is the choice of a platform that corresponds to the goals of marketing.

According to Twitter, Inc. (2015), 78% of the users access the site with the help of mobile phones which demonstrates its convenience. The possibilities of Twitter communication include replying, retweeting, favouring a post, and applying hashtags; the post can be supplied with video materials, loops and pictures (Twitter, Inc. 2015). According to Castronovo and Huang (2012) as well as Curran, O’Hara and O’Brien (2011), Twitter offers an especially high level of engagement due to the ‘micro-blog’ format and the possibility of retweets. It fulfils the informative and communicative functions and offers the opportunity of monitoring the customers’ attitude and needs as well as advertising. The positive comments on Twitter may fulfil the function of recommendations. In general, it can be concluded that Twitter is a successful choice of a social media platform. However, upon creating a tool, its effective use must be maintained.

Marketing evaluation model

As stated in the work by Barker and Barker (2012), in order to evaluate a social media marketing tool and strategy, the key performance indices or KPI should be measured in consistency with the company’s goals and investments. The KPI can be quantitative and qualitative, and while the former can be easily expressed in the numerical form and measured, qualitative ones are more complex. Often, to get a picture of the emotional appeal of a tool, studies and surveys are required, although the feedback from customers concerning the tool can also be very helpful. As Barker and Barker (2012) point out, quantitative PKI are used to measure the content while qualitative KPI measures the emotion caused by this content.

Certain aspects of Ultra Music Festival Twitter Marketing are inaccessible for us (for example, returns on investment), apart from that, we are not acquainted with the specific goals set for the tool. Still, we shall attempt to illustrate the evaluation model by supposing that the primary goal of the campaign consists in boosting all the aspects of the event’s reputation, popularity and revenues.

Quantitative Data

Ultra Music Festival (2015) Twitter has been active since 2009. As of October 30th, the Twitter has got 8,632 tweets with photos, videos, and Vine loops (4.42M Vine Loops as stated in the event’s Twitter). UMF Twitter has 1.21 M followers. The number of tweets per day varies, but the Twitter is quite active, the number of retweets and favourites also varies and it may be used to evaluate the popularity of different tweet topics (which would already be a qualitative KPI). Apart from that, UMF occasionally retweets other festival tweets as well as personal opinions about itself and music.

Qualitative Data

In order to define the emotional response of the customers, we are going to introduce RiteTag, an agency that offers an analysis of Twitter tags to define their popularity. RiteTag (2015), takes into account a number of factors of engagement: ‘memes, influencers to tag, emoticons and more’, which makes the results of the analysis a picture of the emotions connected to the Twitter (par. 5). The RiteTag (2015) site defines the tag ‘ultramusicfestival’ as an underused one while the tags ‘untramiami’ and ‘ultra2015’ that are also applied to the festival are labelled as used by a limited amount of users but long-lived. The RiteTag’s (2015) conclusion is that the tags are not very popular, but here, it should be pointed out that the data needs further investigation, and the goals of the event’s marketing should be taken into account.

Conclusion

Still, it should be pointed out that, upon making a successful choice of the social media platform, UMF should effectively use all the opportunities offered by it. The RiteTag’s (2015) information is not connected to the event’s goal, which is why it may incorrect to suggest that UMF is misusing the hashtags. Still, it is logical to suggest that increasing the popularity of the Twitter would be a marketer’s goal. Therefore, by analysing the popularity of its hashtags, the Festival could gain the information that would be used increase its Twitter popularity and engagement, which is an opportunity that should not be missed.

Reference List

Barker, M & Barker, D 2012, Concepts and applications, Cengage Learning, Mason, Ohio.

Burton, S & Soboleva, A 2011, ‘Interactive or reactive? Marketing with Twitter’, Journal Of Consumer Marketing, vol. 28, no. 7, pp. 491-499.

Castronovo, C & Huang, L 2012, ‘Social Media in an Alternative Marketing Communication Model’, Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 117-134.

Curran, K, O’Hara, K & O’Brien, S 2011, ‘The Role of Twitter in the World of Business’, International Journal of Business Data Communications and Networking, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 1-15.

RiteTag 2015, Popular Twitter hashtags for #ultramusicfestival. Web.

Twitter, Inc. 2015, Learn Twitter. Web.

Ultra Music Festival 2015, Ultra Music Festival Twitter. Web.

Introduction

The article under consideration is written by Robert Lucky (2010) and entitled “To Twitter or not to Twitter?” The author dwells upon the role social networks play in people’s lives. The author does not explicitly point out his viewpoint on the matter. However, he makes the reader understand that social networks like Twitter have two sides. On one hand, Twitter is a great means of rapid exchange of information. On the other hand, it is often used for quite meaningless communication. Lucky (2010) does not explicitly state that he thinks Twitter is a negative phenomenon. Nevertheless, the author focuses on the negative effects of Twitter as the author evokes certain ideas and even feelings concerning the dark side of the social network.

Positive Effects of the Social Network

As has been mentioned above, Lucky (2010) claims that twittering has negative as well as positive effects. In the first place, it is important to focus on the positive side of twittering. Thus, Lucky (2010) points out that the development of social networks and the wide popularity of these resources can be explained by the development of technology and, to a certain extent, by the development of contemporary society.

The author claims that “natives”, i.e. people who were born when the Internet played an important role in people’s lives, have been surrounded by the cyber world (Lucky, 2010, p. 244). The author concludes that it is but natural that young people have acknowledged the advantages of communication via the Internet.

Furthermore, the author states that many people find this kind of communication quite effective. More so, such social networks help people to “feel a sense of connectedness” (Lucky, 2010, p. 245). Therefore, social networks help people to feel safe and connected to others. The author also claims that twittering is not a kind of entertainment for young people. It can be used during conferences and lectures to make more people involved in the discussion. However, Lucky (2010) expresses concerns that many people, especially older ones, may become distracted from the topic.

Negative Effects of Social Networks

Nonetheless, the author also reflects upon the negative effects of twittering in more detail. Notably, this is not just about being distracted during a lecture. The author notes that twittering can have far more serious negative effects. Admittedly, nowadays many people prefer online communication to real-world relationships. Another problem associated with Twitter is concerned with time. The modern world is rapidly changing and people do not have much time, so they simply cannot afford to waste it. However, social networking steals precious time since many people are absorbed by the cyber world.

Thus, Lucky (2010) claims that people often waste their time. For instance, the author provides an example of the youth who says that he twitters that he awakens each day. Notably, the author is not horrified by the fact that some individual writes about such trifles. The author stresses that he is horrified that this information reached a great number of people. Therefore, the author concludes that twittering does steal people’s time.

The Author’s Viewpoint

Thus, the author reveals the bad and good sides of twittering. Of course, it can be rather difficult to draw the right conclusion. For instance, some time ago computers were regarded as highly harmful devices, though now people have learned how to use their computers properly. Notably, the author does not simply end his essay in some overt conclusion. However, the author does come to a particular conclusion. At the end of the essay he notes:

So is the networking phenomenon a great revolution in social consciousness, or is this just a lot of pointless, incessant barking? I’m not sure, but if you get a message that I’ve just awoken, you’ll know that I’ve decided. (Lucky, 2010, p. 246)

Thus, the author asks a relevant question. The reader is encouraged to provide his/her own conclusion on the matter. The reader is seemingly free to choose from. Undoubtedly, some may conclude that twittering is an inevitable process that leads to the development of society.

Nonetheless, the author still stresses his own opinion. He understands that there are many positive things about social networking. However, twittering may turn into meaningless ‘barking’ and simple waste of time. The last lines of the essay prove that the author warns people about possible outcomes of ‘unhealthy’ twittering.

Conclusion

On balance, it is possible to claim that the author dwells upon the positive and negative effects of twittering. It is also necessary to note the author does not explicitly reveal his opinion, but he makes the reader understand his viewpoint. Thus, the author claims that Twitter is rather a dangerous phenomenon as it can lead to quite negative outcomes. The author points out that soon people can totally waste their time online, exchanging messages concerning their daily routines.

Of course, the author’s concerns are quite grounded. Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that people always find the most appropriate ways to use technology. People will, undoubtedly, learn to use social networks as a means of sharing ideas that are meaningful and useful.

Reference List

Lucky, R.W. (2010). To Twitter or not to Twitter? In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell (Eds.), The Blair Reader: Exploring issues and ideas (pp. 244-246). New York, NY: Longman Publishing Group.

The increased use of technology and the interference of social media in people’s daily lives changed some aspects of relationships between employers and employees. While the country actively promotes free speech rights, people face multiple challenges when their personal opinion could have a negative effect on someone’s interests and wealth. The article discusses why Twitter as a social media network and the content people publish there for private purposes pose a potential danger to the employer.

One of the main ideas mentioned in the article explains why the private account of employees are now viewed as a threat by businesses and organizations. The article features an opinion from lawyer Rafael Gomes, who explains that employees reflect the inner values of the business that employs them. In my opinion, if association with the company is the sole reason for the employees’ dismissal, the problem could be solved by the company’s increased level of security and protection of employees’ data. Alternatively, the problem could be solved by improving the corporate culture and educating employees on offensive topics and adverse outcomes of relevant social issues, such as sexism and racism.

On the other hand, I believe that the issue is connected with social media’s harmful and toxic environment and the newly developed cancel culture. For unknown reasons, the audience of social media often wants to diminish all privileges and achievements from a person who made an offensive comment or has a mindset that does not suit modern standards. Lately, the social media audience has judged many famous actors and singers for their comments and tweets from more than ten years ago. In my opinion, all social media accounts have plenty of compromising evidence or statements that the public could interpret in a wrong way.

Therefore, I think that interference of social media in the professional aspect results from a much bigger problem of cancel culture. On the other hand, cancel culture resulted from increased amounts of personal information on social media. Thus, if companies and organizations do not want to carry the consequences of their employees’ actions on social media, they could develop comprehensive training on social media and privacy for employees. Creating such programs would allow employers to maintain employees’ social content and provide a legal chance to avoid public association with the employee in cases of issue.

Introduction

The study of social trends using virtual platforms, including Twitter, has applied value to marketing and social research. In this paper, metrics for five sets of keywords were evaluated using Twitter. This allowed conclusions to be drawn as to which ones were more popular, which makes sense for the further development of the research project.

Methodology

The central basis for the methodological approach for the execution of this paper was to search for keywords on the Twitter platform. Twitter is a globally known social network with over 320 million users, over fifty percent of whom visit the site daily (SRD 2021; Newberry 2021). These numbers were enough to choose Twitter as a virtual environment for exploring current trends. The built-in search bar was used to search for key queries related to the topic under study, namely environmental sustainability. The following terms were used for the search:

• #sustainability
• #natural_resource
• #renewable_energy
• #recycling
• #global_warming

However, using Twitter’s built-in functionality did not allow measuring the social metrics of interest, so it was decided to use the BrandMentions platform, which examines the number of mentions, interactions, reach, shares, and likes for a particular tag (BrandMentions 2019). All regions and all languages were selected to customize the analysis, allowing for more comprehensive statistics. The only limitation of this method was that the data was only collected for the most recent month, that is from November 20, 2021, to December 20, 2021, which means it reflected trends and patterns specific to that period only.

Results and Critical Analysis

Since this study was conducted by collecting numerical data on the popularity of specific hashtags on the social network Twitter, a quantitative approach to their processing was relevant to the project. Processing the results using MS Excel visual tools produced distribution histograms for each specific metric. Thus, using Figure 1 below, it can be determined that the highest number of mentions was for the key query “sustainability,” while the lowest number of users referred to the query “recycling.”

Similar results were found for the number of interactions with tags. Interactions refer to any clicks and clicks on posts that mentioned a key term. Figure 2 shows the general trends: “#global_warming” outperformed all other terms by at least 1.8 times, while “recycling” again had the lowest number of user interactions.

Reach was the third metric of interest for analysis; it includes the total number of Twitter users who have seen that key term at least once in the past period (Chen 2018). Clearly, the scale of this characteristic should be meaningfully broader, and so Figure 3 shows trends in millions of reach units, as opposed to other metrics. It is important to emphasize here that millions do not include unique users, but rather everyone in general, which means that if the same person caught the post twice, it counted as two reaches.

The number of shares among users corresponds to the situation when a person finds himself interested in the content and forwards it to his friends or relatives. Figure 4 gives exciting results in this regard: the highest number of shares was for “sustainability,” while for “#natural_resource” and “#recycling,” these numbers did not differ by more than 0.5%.

Finally, one of the most “tangible” characteristics is the number of likes, which reflects how much users like a post with a particular tag. Figure 5 reflects similar data to interaction statistics: “#global_warming” was again ahead of everyone else, and its lead was double that of “sustainability.”

It was interesting to determine further how each of the metrics is related to the others. To do this, a multiple pairwise correlations was performed, yielding Pearson coefficients for the five dimensions (no. = 25) (Zach 2020). Table 1 presents a matrix of these coefficients at the intersection of each of the two criteria. From these measurements, it is clear that the highest positive correlation was for the “interactions and likes” pair, while the lowest positive correlation was for “interactions and mentions.” If we examine the strength of the correlation modulo, the “likes and mentions” revealed the weakest correlation with each other at all.

Table 1. Paired correlation matrix with indication of Pearson coefficients

Conclusion

To summarize, measuring virtual metrics for marketing or social research is a sound strategy for studying underlying trends. Social networks best reflect this agenda, as they are visited by tens and hundreds of millions of people every day, which means they are representative. In this paper, Twitter was chosen as the platform, which is known as a social network for expressing one’s thoughts through short posts. For the set of five keywords, it is shown that specific metrics differ depending on the term: while “#sustainability” had the highest number of mentions, reach, and shares, in terms of likes and interactions, the leader was “#global_warming.” At the same time, the trend of “#recycling” was the least interesting for users in the past month on all points at once. A matrix correlation analysis was also conducted, which showed a close strong correlation between interactions and likes and an extremely weak negative correlation between mentions and likes.

Reference List

BrandMentions (2019) Web.

Chen, J. (2018) What are Twitter impressions & why are they so important to Twitter? Web.

Newberry, C. 36 Twitter stats all marketers need to know in 2021. Web.

SRD (2021) Number of Twitter users worldwide from 2019 to 2024. Web.

Zach (2020) How to read a correlation matrix. Web.

The paper investigates two studies, the first one reviewing the perceived sincerity of apologies in Twitter posts both on their own and with a hash-tag present, as well as the general perceptions of different ways to apologize. The second study analyzed the persuasive qualities of apologies that were sincere (#SorrySorrySorry tag) versus insincere (#SorryNotSorry). At the same time, insincere apologies were viewed as worse than non-apologies (#WhatsDoneIsDone).

The first study featured 153 participants (69 male, 84 female), whereas the second one had 280 participants (104 male, 172 female) (“Sincerity and persuasion,” n.d.). The dependent variables for the first study included the perceptions of whether the apology in question acknowledged the wrongfulness of one’s behavior and its sincerity. The independent variable for the study was the type of apology presented with the hashtag. The second study had the type of apology as an independent variable while at the same time analyzing how the person receiving the apology feels (dependent variable).

In the first study, it was highlighted that individuals shown a sincere apology are more likely to view it as sincere. The hashtags to indicate the intent of the apology had a significant impact on those perceptions. The second study showed that apologies with many likes are perceived as more sincere than those without. Both studies conclude that the type of apology in combination with persuasion have influence the perceptions of apology. They imply that in order for the apology to succeed, there needs to be proof of one’s sincerity.

Reference

Sincerity and persuasion of Twitter Apologies [PDF Document]. (n.d.).

The Article Analysis

The article I chose is about Elon Musk preparing to sign the deal to buy one of the biggest social media companies in the world – Twitter. Earlier, Elon Musk made statements that he would use the platform’s huge potential and give more opportunities for freedom of speech (Lombardo et al., 2022). Critics fear that this could mean loosening policies to combat fake news and hate speech. Just as importantly, the day before, Musk posted a tweet comparing the current CEO of the company Agrawal with Stalin, and the billionaire also spoke about his distrust to the existing management.

Changing Twitter policies is important for the entire global community since most politicians have official pages there. What’s more, the platform has always been popular due to its strict procedures against false content, and a change in the situation could destroy the only social network that can be called informationally safe. The article presents many interesting facts about Elon Musk’s activity on the platform and his further reformist plans. However, there are some lengthy discussions, and complex lexical constructions, which could be presented in a more simplified form.

Response 1

The change in the pricing policy of the Netflix platform is an interesting topic that concerns many fans of good cinema. The article gives an exhaustive description of the reasons for the changes and new marketing policies the platform will implement. Drawbacks include excessive attention to business details that may be of less interest to platform users.

Response 2

The article is interesting, as it reveals some details about the subscribers’ tactics when choosing the streaming platform. The volatility of attitudes and subscription decisions must be a really hard challenge for the managers of the streaming services. However, the article could provide some opinions on how the crisis could be overcome.

Response 3

The article provides interesting details about how the work of almost 2,000 people located all around the globe can be effectively organized for the mutual benefit of the employer and employees. I think that it is natural that companies like WordPress.com introduce new work practices, especially during quarantine. The disadvantage of the article is the interview format, since in this format, the speaker’s thoughts are presented in full length, which requires more time for reading.

Reference

Lombardo, C., Bobrowsky, M., & Wells, G. (2022). Twitter accepts Elon Musk’s offer to buy company in $44 billion deal. The Wall Street Journal. Web.

For this assignment, name network and chain network analysis of @moleskine Twitter data were conducted. Overall, network analysis is intended to visualize the relationship patterns among different users (Netlytic, 2015). It incorporates two basic components: nodes, which represent users, and edges, which represent connections among them. During visualization, nodes take the form of dots, while edges take the form of lines. Name networks show who mentioned whom, and @moleskine network (Figure 1) comprised 846 names and 673 ties. Chain networks demonstrate who replied to whom, and this @moleskine network (Figure 2) consisted of 260 links.

The presented name and chain networks are slightly different regarding structure. Firstly, the number of edges is higher in name network, which means that users tend to mention @moleskine in their messages more often than engage in direct communication with it. There is also a more significant number of name clusters that are not tied to the central node in this network (those users mentioned Moleskine through #).

However, the biggest node clusters seem to be more centralized in chain network, which means “there are a few central participants who dominate the flow of information” (Netlytic, 2018, para. 10). At the same time, considering the difference in the number of included nodes, it is possible to say that the level of reciprocity among users in two networks is approximately the same.

As it was mentioned above, Moleskine is the most influential node within both indegree-based networks. It mainly happens due to the popularity of the company as a brand. Other users frequently mention it in their messages because they like to share experiences related to Moleskine products. As for outdegree representations, @clickmeeting is the most influential in chain network (Figure 3).

It is a company specialized in providing webinar services to other businesses. @clickmeeting’s high outdegree value is not surprising, and it is possible to presume that the company mentions other users in messages and replies to them to increase its media presence and consolidate rapport with partners/customers (Vega, 2017). In name network, @angela24192678 and @ZBITDA are among those with the highest outdegree values (7) and the lowest indegree rates (0) (Figure 4).

These are the personal pages of users, and their centrality values can be primarily defined by the overall character of their social media activity. These users frequently retweet other users’ posts and share a broad range of experiences with followers. At the same time, their following-follower ratio is disproportionate, which means they may be liked and mentioned by others less.

References

Netlytic. (2015). Netlytic network analysis pt 1 [Video file]. Web.

Netlytic. (2018). Network analysis / visualization. Web.

Vega, S. (2017). 5 tips for responding to customer mentions on Twitter. Web.

The development of technology has drastically changed the world. As people are unable to calculate the rates of progress, it is impossible to determine what changes will be brought about with an even greater increase in technological advancements. The use of social networks has added to the hardships of life, as people endanger their personalities and reputations by their postings to the public. Twitter shows that sometimes, people make mistakes in their messages and are unable to control the outcome.

The biggest question is that sometimes the problems overtake the benefits of technology. This closely relates to the social media and all the resulting problems. Primarily, there is the safety concern, as the information used in the social networks can be used by the advertisement websites.

Even though there are safeguards that try to prevent personal information from being shared with other institutions and sites, there are still some was that information gets out. “Twitter” has been one of the sited networks that is widely used by people. People add their posts as soon as they can. Another issue is that people who share information online cannot really control who can access their web page and browse their personal information.

Many have compromised themselves in the workplace and home. This leads to many concerns, but people are still not aware of the security issues. The unfortunate part is that people do not pay attention to the growing problem and continue using the social networks. It has become so popular that individuals feel to be required to upgrade their social status and produce information that can be acknowledged by others.

An aticle titled “How To: Recover from a Social Media PR Disaster” talks about people worrying about theit status and posts they have made. One of the poits made is that “It’s hard to tell the whole story in a post and it’s hard to talk to your entire audience in just one tweet” (Sniderman, 2011).

This is very true, as people are unable to respond properly to posts and might not get the whole picture. Very often, people will succumb to the pressure and join the majority, as no one wants to be outside the circle and be seen as an outsider. This will result in unwanted comments.

Even though there are several layers of security and people are warned about the harms of personal information leaking, organizations are the ones that are using the private information to own advantage.

The development of social networks and the use of internet have made communication between people a form of social status. People focus on the way their “Twitter” page looks, they pay great attention to the amount of pictures they post, number of responses that they receive to certain posts and comments about their status. The need to go out and do things became not needed.

The interaction between people has come down to words on web pages and comments in relation to behavior of others. It is also cheaper and more practical to live in the word of computers, where there is no need to go out, spend money in bars, different attractions and games that involve physical participation of the person and others. Also, it is very time consuming, so people simply have no time to go out and enjoy nature and the company of others.

The constant checking for the replies and posts of others, especially if there is an extreme amount of friends, takes up a lot of time. Very often people add individuals to the category of “friends” through other people. They do not really know the person or are familiar with their individual personality. The only way they “know” them, is by pictures on their page and comments on their “wall”.

The social networks have put a major dent into the society. The private information and the communication itself has become a public occurrence where people put their lives out on the public viewing without any concern for security or privacy. Even though technology has helped people in a lot of ways, a person must realize its drawbacks and balance the use of technology with the physical interaction with others.

The balance must be kept for technology to be helpful instead of detrimental. It is important to keep in mind that technology is not always error proof, thus reliability is a relative concept. There are many examples that show how technology has proven to be a negative influence on society, but people still continue its use.

A major concern can be observed through the posts and the type pf shared information. This might endanger the security of the personal information and is one of the most important things that a person has. People must become aware of the growing problem and use as much care as possible to protect their well being and individuality. A person’s reputation is very hard to deserve but is rather easy to mar by a simple comment on the “wall”.

Reference

Sniderman, Z. (2011). How To: Recover from a Social Media PR Disaster.

With improvement in technology in the 21st century, social networks and digital media has overtaken any other form of communication in the world. Technology has speeded up globalization process and in turn witnessed cultural sharing around the globe (Castells 67). The digital media has become one of the most important tools in influencing political and economic affairs.

People around the world have become more enlightened about world affairs and their rights. Social networks are free, easy and convenient for people of all lifestyles to open and own an account as long as internet is available. Face Book and Twitter are innovations of the 21st century, which have heavily affected the system of governance.

In Egypt, through the social networks, people started staging mass demonstrations in protest against Hosni Mubarak regime pressurizing him to resign in what could be termed as Internet/Twitter Revolution.

Overwhelmed by the uprisings, the Egyptian Government resulted in banning Twitter and other social networks, though not directly the government was using Chomsky’s propaganda model to justify themselves. The government argued that the social networks were only interested in tapping the large Egyptian population as a resource and not in providing the crucial information. The government further refuted its image as portrayed on Twitter arguing that the information was biased and not objective.

The information, to the regime, was structured in a way it put the masses against their own government (Herman & Chomsky 2). To them Twitter being a foreign owned corporation was only interested in advertising itself, and had no interest in the affairs of the Egyptian people. It was also argued that exiled personalities and anti government movements were using the site to fund the protesters creating chaos and anarchy.

Technological advancement especially in the media industry has been the major factor in influencing and speeding the process of globalization. Globalization and the digital media have facilitated more knowledge sharing and collaborations. The social networks are entertaining and at times addictive.

This guarantees these sites millions and millions of followers and in the process of socializing information is shared and dispersed. In the recent past, the sites have become more business and political oriented. People have started to question the system of government in their respective countries after comparing it with other models of governments elsewhere.

The use of social media had effectively started to influence on the government in 2009. This was witnessed in Iran after the disputed presidential elections. In what came to be referred to the Green Revolution, green symbolizing the opposition party’s campaign colors, protesters marched into the streets pressuring Ahmedinejad to resign.

Mousavi the opposition leader who disputed the elections kept in touch with the masses via the social networks. Protesters to post videos of the cruelty inflicted by the government forces used You Tube, Twitter and Face Book. This was met by international condemnation of the atrocities, some countries even threatening to impose economic sanctions. Although the Iran Government did not give in, the rest of the world had been sensitized (Raatma 54).

In Egypt, the then government had ruled for over thirty years. Egypt has remained a third world country, with high levels of unemployment yet it was among the first countries of the world to experience civilization. The government was accused of being dictatorial, corrupt, and infringement of press freedom.

Most of the over eighty million population remains unemployed and the few employed have poor working conditions and poor salaries. The Egyptian problems are common problems facing the Middle East region of the Arab world. Most of the Middle East Arab countries have a similar pattern of government; either dictatorial or monarchical, democracy is never exercised.

The political leaders have been in power for decades, dictatorial and oppressive. Economic developments are minimal and the masses languish in poverty. However, the leaders of these regions are the richest among the political class of the world raising an alarm among the people.

Some are known to lead flamboyant lifestyles owning property in other parts of the world like Europe and America. There are also monarchical systems in this region. Monarchical systems of the region allow no democratic elections. Leaders in power are not competent since they are in power not because of their capability but because of their family lineage.

Comparing their form of government with the West democrats like the US, the people of the region have sought to change the status quo. The Egyptian Revolution was inspired by the Tunisian Revolution, which had just ousted the then incumbent president, Ben Ali. The participants of the revolutions were ordinary people and not militias or guerrilla fighters, and thus were unarmed.

The effectiveness of the uprising primarily relied on the number of people protesting, thus a medium to communicate with the people, urging them to turn up in large numbers was very necessary. Twitter and Face Book thus become the perfect platform for mass interaction (Bergstorm 1).

The Egyptian media corporations are mainly state owned or government friendly and thus could not show or portray any anti government sentiment. The influence of the government on media created suspicion from the people and hence these local media could not be trusted.

People turned to internationally credible media corporations like CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera. The social networks also become very famous. Where television network had been cut, people could follow, CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC, and other television cables on Twitter. Twitter allows users to view the tweets and messages if they have an account.

To follow the proceedings, people registered on Twitter in large numbers and further uniting the masses, this led to the government’s use of propaganda model to claim Twitter was using the chaos to reap hefty profits and thus was manufacturing and structuring news to suit what they felt would attract more viewers and followers instead of remaining objective. Leaders like the exiled El- Baradi a Nobel Prize winner was able to directly link with the people.

The rise of use of Twitter, Face Book and online news channels led the Government of Egypt to block internet access especially Twitter. This brought about international condemnations as it was against the rights of people to acquisition of information, against press freedom and freedom of association.

The government did not own up rather blamed the internet failures on the demonstrators. The masses were already educated and sensitized enough, so demonstrations could not be deterred or stopped. International community was very vocal in condemning this act and the internet-oriented companies like Google tried to help in solving the situation by sending direct IP port for use by the people on their handsets.

This Egyptian Revolution could also be analyzed from the smart mob perspective propagated by Rheingold. The notion hold that there is emergence of popular revolts by the masses once there is technological advancement. The masses in context (smart mob) are not related nor acquainted with one another (Rheingold 76).

However, they are faced with common problems like poverty and unemployment. The smart mobs use the technologically manufactured gadgets to relate with one another. They act intelligently and efficiently. As technology advances the cost of microprocessors, that link people, decrease. The technological advances highlighted by Rheingold include blogs, wireless gadgets like mobile phones, chats and computing technology.

In Egypt and many other third world countries, wireless gadgets like mobile phones have become the most used tools for accessing the internet to the ordinary person. Prior to the 21st Century, mobile phones were not common in Africa. However, the past decades has witnessed radical changes in telecommunication industries around the world.

Telecommunication industries have become the highest revenue generators all over Africa with the richest persons in African according to Forbes falling in the line of telecommunication industry. Of the Egyptians listed in the 2010 Forbes list of richest Africans the leading were in the telecommunication sector.

Internet access through the phones and the development of smart phones is a new phenomenon in Africa and many other third world countries. Phone manufacturing companies like Nokia have spent much of their resources advertising their brand in the new markets of third world countries which in turn has seen massive buying of phones. During the revolution in Egypt, many people were using phones in the access of Twitter and Face Book.

This enabled people to organize the venues and time of the demonstrations enabling them to counter the imposed curfews by the government. Most of these phones have a camera device, which enabled people to capture the events on the ground uploading the pictures on Face Book and Twitter for all to see. To counter this, the government blocked the internet (Inoljt 1).

Through uploading pictures and videos of the events on the ground, there was no way the government could have been able to prevent the world from assessing the situation. This led to many nations sending airplanes for their people who could have been trapped in Egypt, which in turn led to Egypt losing millions of dollars in the tourism industry and other sectors. Leaders of the revolution were also able to communicate with other world leaders through webcam.

Debates and negotiations could be initiated and held via the net something that has never been witnessed. The government was overwhelmed by the mass demonstration and all efforts to thwart the revolts became futile. Military deployment led to more condemnation. The US president, Obama, together with other world leaders pressurized the Egyptian administration to heed to the will of the people and institute reforms or just resign (Johnson 1).

Without the international support, the president had no option but to resign. The successive Egyptian Revolution has inspired many more revolts in the world. The Arab nations of Middle East and North Africa are plugged into chaos. From Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Yemen to Libya.

Yemen has totally blocked Twitter site in an attempt to thwart the uprising. However, IP port and addresses from Twitter in collaboration with Google are being circulated in the television networks especially Al Jazeera in an attempt by the rest of the world to assist the oppressed mob agitating for their rights.

Gadhafi, the Libyan dictator who has ruled for over forty-two years, has remained adamant. Libyan forces have been using excessive force in suppressing the demonstrators. Though Twitter and Face Book are partially blocked, pictures posted on those two sites show horrible scenes of human rights violation (Hudson 2).

The international community led by the US has threatened military intervention on Libya (Baumont 1). There has been established a no-fly zone to deter Libyan fighter jets from further killing innocent civilians. No matter the efforts by these dictatorial regimes, the masses have the unifying bond in the internet, which they have enjoyed for a couple of years.

The dictatorial regimes have a tendency of filtering the contents broadcast by local media. The powerful regimes control production, distribution and influence in the consumption of the information. The Middle East countries have remained relatively behind in the information dispensation sector and freedom of press (Hounshell 1).

Globalization has changed the status quo by enabling connectivity and intermingling of people in different countries. Those countries that block the worldwide links and networks are heavily condemned. However, China one of the leading economies of the world, has continued with internet restriction and site like that of Google has been completely blocked.

The internet is a valuable source of information in the modern world. The installation of fiber optic cables in third world countries has enabled global collaboration and sharing. You Tube has provided an alternative for storing chunks of information. Marketing through You Tube has become easier and convenient. You Tube videos enable persons to assess a situation and make their investment choices wisely. Social networks have also become resourceful sites for job seekers and potential employers to interact.

Global media has enabled users to access information first hand. A Person in Africa can follow the events of the latest Tsunami to hit Japan while another person in America can follow the events in Libya. Satellite television has enabled sports lovers to follow their respective sports and the icons of the games have become household names.

Satellites are being used for many other reasons like scientific enquiry and media coverage (Castells 45). It is thus unethical and absurd to the rest of the world when dictatorial regimes opposed to the changing times are still opposed to the freedom of the media.

However, the internet-engineered revolutions have had a major impact on global peace and economy. In Egypt, there were rowdy mobs whose aim was looting. Egypt has one of the richest cultural heritage and artifacts. Historical artifacts were targeted by the looters, of which some are thousands and thousands of years old. Economy of Egypt has been greatly destabilized and the country might never recover. It is not guaranteed that the next government will be better than the Mubarak regime (Gross 1).

Instead of violent revolution, it would be better if people used the social networks and the general media to tackle their problems together. It would be better to engage in diplomatic negotiation and other non-violent forms like the way business is being successively conducted on the internet. However, oppressive governments must be removed from power to ensure human rights are not violated and development initiatives are encouraged and supported.

Works Cited

Bergstorm, Guy. “Egypt: The First Twitter Revolution?” About .com, 2011.

Beaumont, Peter. Can Social Networking overthrow a government? Sydney: The Sydney Morning Herald, 2011.

Castells, Manuel. End of Millennium: The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture. Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, 2010.

Castells, Manuel. Communication Power. London: Oxford University Press. 2009.

Gross, Karen. “After the Twitter Revolution: Democracy?” US Politics, 2011

Herman Edward & Chomsky Noah. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media. New York: Pantheon Books.

Hounshell Blake. “Think again: Egypt.” FP Foreign Policy, 2011

Hudson, John. The ‘Twitter Revolution’ Debate: The Egyptian Test Case. The Atlantic Wire, Jan 2011.

Inoljt. “The Great Twitter/Face book Revolution Fallacy.” Fri Feb18, 2011

Johnson, Bridget. “Washington Reacts to Egypt Protest.” About.com, 2011

Raatma, Lucia. Social Networks. New York: Cherry Lake Publishers, 2010.

Rheingold Howard & Raatma, Lucia. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 2003.