Twitter has become a major player in the social networking arena. In fact, Twitter has become a tool in many areas that you may not have even thought about.
Education
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a college in China, used Twitter with native Chinese students to help them learn communicative and cultural competence. The University of Vienna, Austria, used Twitter as an evaluation platform for student ratings. The University of Texas at Dallas incorporated Twitter into the classroom setting of History courses with large groups of students. And, according to telegraph.co.uk, Twitter has been put on the new primary school curriculum.
Emergencies
According to a research report in ‘New Scientist,’ blogs, maps, photo sites and instant messaging systems like Twitter do a better job of getting information out during emergencies than either the government or traditional news media. During the California wildfires in 2007, people kept their neighbours informed of their whereabouts using Twitter. The American Red Cross started using Twitter to exchange minute-by-minute updates about local disasters. In 2008 during the Mumbai attacks, reports on Twitter exceeded 16 tweets every second. The Victorian Country Fire Authority in Australia used Twitter to send out updates and regular reports regarding the February, 2009 brushfires.
Campaigning
In 2008, Twitter was used in the U.S. presidential campaign. Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama used it to generate publicity. In 2009, the Republican Party in Connecticut set up 33 fake Twitter accounts in the names of the Democratic Party members of state legislature. They used them to send out fake tweets in the names of the Democrats. The Nader-Gonzalez campaign used Twitter to send out updates to its ballot access teams in real time.
Legal Proceedings
In April, 2009, the first criminal prosecution arising from Twitter posts was started. Daniel Knight Hayden was arrested by the FBI who was accused of sending threatening tweets in regards to his plan to attend a Tea Party protest in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In July, 2009, the Horizon Realty Group sued a former tenant, Amanda Bonnen, for libel based on tweets sent to her friends. Horizon sued for $50,000 but eventually the case was dismissed.
These are just a few of the current uses for the website Twitter. As Twitter continues to grow across the globe, the list of uses will also continue to grow as new innovative ways to use the technology are discovered.
By: Claire Jarrett
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