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Twitter is a microblogging site where users post 140-character messages. Tweets can be public or private, and hashtags and retweets are common. Twitter is criticized for promoting trivial conversations and is banned in some countries. Censorship has resulted in punishment for some users.
Tweeting is a term that refers to posting on the microblogging social networking site called Twitter®. Posts are limited to 140 characters each and can be restricted to followers or viewed for anyone to view, even Internet users who aren’t logged into Twitter®. Tweets can be used to chat about daily happenings, for internet marketing purposes, and more. This social networking site has come under fire for encouraging people to talk about trivial things, like what a user ate for breakfast. Some or even all Twitter® is banned or blocked in some countries, including China and South Korea.
Although tweeting on Twitter® is simple enough, the website has more advanced features. For example, users can group tweets using hashtags. If a user tweets about school, she might put #school at the beginning or end of the tweet. Similarly, if a user wishes to tweet on or to another Twitter® user, she can use the @ symbol before the other user’s name. Twitter® users can also repost, also known as retweeting, messages posted by other users.
The reason one user tweeted might be completely different from the next user’s reason. Some people tweet to keep family and friends updated on important life events, where they are, and to interact with other people. Other Twitter® users tweet primarily as a marketing technique to increase brand awareness or product sales. Sometimes game developers tweet to inform players about potential downtime and progress on unforeseen technical difficulties.
Millions of tweets are exchanged every day on Twitter®, but many of these tweets are often deemed not worth reading. Many people criticize Twitter® and Twitter® users for allowing, encouraging, or engaging in idle chatter. In fact, a 2009 survey analyzed thousands of tweets and concluded that 40 percent were small talk, while 38 percent were real conversation. The second most popular type of tweet was the 9% retweet, where a user reposted a tweet. Even though small talk is exchanged about as often as conversations, and spam and self-promotional tweets are in the minority, tweets continue to be widely criticised.
Twitter® censorship has taken place in several countries, including Iran, China and Egypt. These bans or blocks are sometimes not permanent or do not cover all of Twitter®. Occasionally, people in countries with governments that frown on Twitter® still manage to tweet. In at least one case, this resulted in the tweeter being sentenced to a year’s labor camp.
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