Now You Know...

An update on what you have read so far:

• Twitter is a social media tool used express thoughts and emotions
• Twitter is a powerful tool for many demographics
• It is a massive communication tool
• It is effective in branding yourself for who you want to be
• Everyday people make up the majority of Twitter users
• Big and small companies profit from advertising their values on Twitter
• Politicians use Twitter as a channel for their campaign ad
• Twitter has a huge impact on how investors trade
• Celebrities and athletes use it to maintain their personal image

Twitter is a terrific social network. People of all demographics find an effective use for it. It simple way of organizing complexity has pushed it ahead of competitors and made it a force in the industry. 

Celebrities and Athletes

     Just like every day individuals market themselves, celebrities and athletes do the same. These high profile individuals use the social media to brand themselves, create relationships, and stay relevant. With nearly 77 million followers (the most on Twitter), the musician, Katy Perry, is able to do all three. She is able to tweet in accordance to her views. She lets her fans know what she feels is important and her thoughts on world events. She updates all on tour dates, album releases and keeps herself on top of the industry. Many other high profile celebrities do the same. Athletes are able to the same and both can promote other companies for advertising. Basketball star, LeBron James, has tweeted about all of his extracurricular like his foundation, partnerships and upcoming events. Celebrities use the social media website to broadcast their days like any other user. Here is a list of the most popular Twitter accounts among celebrities. 

Twitter's Effect on the Market

Markets Insight: Wake up to the #Twitter effect on markets

     This is an article I found that details how economists used a collection of data to view what happens to investors when they use social media tools like Twitter. Two students MIT in Boston, Sandy Pentland and Yaniv Altshuler, sought out to find the influence social media has on the market, and on investors in particular. They were able to track investment returns alongside information flows and found an interesting analysis. The students created a trading platform called eToro that monitored the trend among investors using social media to swap trader information. eToro allows traders to communicate and follow each other to discuss the market. The research found that traders who will alone in making decisions with hopes to find a big break in the market, did not compare to the returns received from those of eToro. They found that investors that were embedded into the social media outlet were able to gather information from broad and diverse channels. This goes to show how important the idea of communication is and how powerful Twitter can be. It is an outlet that provides information on all aspects of life. It helps users connect with one another for the bettering of the group. Selfishness is diminished in the social and real world when applications like this are applied everywhere. 

Politicians

     The elections are approaching and government officials have been using Twitter to brand themselves. Officials are using the website to tweet on behalf of their campaign. They have used it to promote their interests in hopes of the audience agreeing and promoting it as well. For politicians, it is a great tool to broadcast their message to their constituents. An effective tool is introducing a clever hashtag to your audience. A hashtag is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet and is symbolized by the pound sign, #. This symbol allows followers to tweet the same thing and pools all tweets with the hashtag together. This allows politicians to view what the demographic has to say about their campaign. It is also a channel to help persuade users to your ideologies over competitors. Jeb Bush and Hilary Clinton recently got into an online debate that gained attention. A politician should look to the demographics use of Twitter and try to emanate their doing. It is a great way to creatively share data and statistics, photos, links, and quotes. 

In this photo you will notice what needs to be included in tweets to get the most retweets. Photo's catch the most attention at 62% followed by the hashtag I just spoke about. Photos are useful because the can provide a lot of information and still allow you 140 characters. Politicians have utilized Twitter very much in the recent election because of the mass audience and potential. 

How The Companies Profit

     Companies relish the idea of free marketing. Twitter is a sign-up free device where people log in to catch up with the world. Companies have used this ideology to influence users to achieve their goals. Big companies like Starbucks and New York Times have the money to purchase ad space on all user timelines. These are small messages that show up on timelines that companies use to promote business. Starbucks is very socially engaged with its consumers and uses Twitter to strengthen their relationship.With 2.4 million followers, the New York Times utilizes the 140 character limit to drag users in and view their articles while still allowing them to view their own interests. For the small businesses, Twitter has been a channel to do the same on a lower scale. Small business owners create profiles with strong content that engage followers to join. A study from 2014 showed that Twitter had helped many small businesses gain success in the market.

Companies big and small utilize Twitter to grow. The market is unlimited and allows unlimited potential growth. Companies have found Twitter to be a very useful tool.

Twitter's Main User: Everyday People

     The bulk of Twitter users are individuals with everyday adventures. People who have the account to brand themselves in the matter they please. The CEO, Jack Dorsey, believes that this website is more than just letting people know what you're doing at a certain time. Rather, he thinks it is a medium to express how you are doing and who you are doing it with. These everyday people feel connected to the millions of others when they send out a tweet. They feel as though their opinion has a voice. They use Twitter to blog on how their day at work was or how cute a picture of their child is. Regardless of retweets or favourites, they have the feeling that a follower scrolled through their timeline and noticed their message. Everyday individuals also use the network to debate opinions. They voice reasoning on social events like what happened with the case in Ferguson, MO. People in and outside the area had the opportunity to voice what they thought needed to be heard. It allowed people to have a sense of self-doing and change.  They send out jokes to followers and share videos they found online that made them laugh. They post important articles on things like climate change and space. They endorse products they enjoy using and bash ones they don't. Twitter for the everyday person is a strong outlet to display feelings on events, products, moments, and ideas.

Twitter: Then V.S. Now

Here is an image of Twitter in 2006:

Here is Twitter in today's format:

What is Twitter?

twit·ter

ˈtwidər/

noun

1. 1.

   a series of short, high-pitched calls or sounds

     Social media is a very powerful tool in branding who you or your company are and represent. Twitter is a social networking site used by roughly 316,000,000 people monthly. It is a medium to express your emotions, thoughts, and ideas to an audience. Registered Twitter users are able to send and read 140 character messages called "tweets". As a registered user, you will want your friends, family, colleagues and others to view what you have to say. These are called "followers" and they can view your account. If you follow another user you are "following". If the person likes the idea or message conveyed in the tweet they can "retweet" which broadcasts it to their followers, or "favourite" that keeps the tweet stored. Twitter has been a powerful source of broadcasting all types of information. Many different people are registered users. Politicians voice their campaign, sports leagues provide an update on scores, companies place advertisements, journalists report on-the-scene news, and everyday people let their followers know what they are doing or feeling. The CEO, Jack Dorsey had this to say about his company, 

"When people come to Twitter and they want to express something in the world, the technology fades away. It's them writing a simple message and them knowing that people are going to see it."

Twitter connects individuals from different places around the globe. Over 75% of all users are outside of the United States. It allows you to broadcast your ideologies simply and effortlessly for the world to view.