Viewpoint by Heather Horton/south news editor
Facebook might appear to dominate the social media arena with a facade of ego-driven status updates, but Twitter has become a platform for the news-savvy to revolutionize communication.
Facebook, the storefront for the ego, has become a drug to obsessed users. In August, Facebook reported 78 percent of users are mobile with fans never more than an arm’s length away from a social fix – “checking in” to locations and tagging friends in “selfies.”
Behind the smokescreen of smiling faces and “likes,” there is a deeper issue. The American Academy of Pediatrics calls this Facebook depression, which “develops when preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites such as Facebook and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression.”
Any user is at risk because the cyber-psychological approach to keeping up with the Joneses is exhausting and disheartening.
As a recovering Facebook addict, I have deleted my account and turned to a more responsible outlet: Twitter.
Some might think I’m exchanging one evil for another. But the attraction is not about how many followers I have. At last count, I had a whopping 10. The fundamental difference is the ability to connect to a verified source directly.
Linking to celebrities, athletes, musicians and news outlets through twitter allows ordinary people to stay connected to and involved in current events and trends.
In a story for The New York Times, “Why Twitter Will Endure,” David Carr wrote, “By carefully curating the people you follow, Twitter becomes an always-on data stream from really bright people in their respective fields, whose tweets are often full of links to incredibly vital, timely information.”
Mark Cuban (@mcuban) tweeted timely information the night of July 27. Hours after the death of Kidd Kraddick, Cuban’s tweet began trending.
Twitter was used to relay video of the shootout between officials and the Boston Marathon bombers before mainstream media picked up the story.
Twitter became a source of communication for tweeters after the mall bombing in Kenya.
Even though any social media site can be used negatively, the value in Twitter is the ability to “listen to a wired collective voice.”
As opposed to Facebook and its social expectations, Twitter is tailored to meet news needs.
