References

·    References:

 • Anon, (n.d.). [online] Available at: http://• network/blog/2013/mar/13/twitter-transform-learning-higher-education [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• Anon, (n.d.). [online] Available at: • http://www.arabnews.com/news/561411 [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• bbc.co.uk. (n.d.). Guides about Twitter. [online] Available at: • http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-twitter [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• Buzzfeed.com. (n.d.). [online] Available at: • http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/the-29-stages-of-a-twitterstorm#.bpn59kE9Y • http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/?_r=0 [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• Longest Selfie Stick- Guinness World Records. (2016). [video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tRIjA8PiGw&feature=youtu.be: Youtube.

• Murthy, D. (n.d.). Twitter.

• Parmelee, J. and Bichard, S. (2012). Politics and the Twitter revolution. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.

• Richardson, K. (2013). Book Review: Politics and the Twitter Revolution How Tweets Influence the Relationship between Political Leaders and the Public, by John H. Parmelee and Shannon L. Bichard. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 90(3), pp.586-588.

• Style Caster. (n.d.). Topman inspires raging twitter controversy. [online] Available at: • http://stylecaster.com/topman-inspires-raging-twitter-controversy/ [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• Techinsider.io. (2016). How was twitter founded. [online] Available at: • http://www.techinsider.io/how-twitter-was-founded-2011-4 [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• The Daily Mail. (n.d.). [online] Available at: • http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577055/Stupid-Ive-got-17-GCSEs-says-girl-thought-Barraco-Barner-President-An-audience-beauty-salon-receptionist-story-speaks-volumes-modern-Britain.html [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• The Guardian. (2011). Topman T-shirts. [online] Available at: • http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/sep/15/topman-tshirts-misogyny-commonplace-mundane [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• The Guardian. (2012). How Barack Obama celebrated Twitter. [online] Available at: • http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/07/how-barack-obama-celebrated-twitter [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• The Guardian. (2014). [online] Available at: • http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/24/two-jailed-twitter-abuse-feminist-campaigner • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10589168/Vile-Twitter-abuse-Beth-Tweddle-Women-its-time-to-shout-back-at-trolls.html [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• The Guardian. (2014). Ellen Degeneres selfie takes over Obama retweet. [online] Available at: • http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/03/ellen-degeneres-selfie-retweet-obama [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• The Guardian. (n.d.). [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education- [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• The Guardian. (n.d.). [online] Available at: • http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2011/dec/09/twitter-social-media [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

• The Independent. (n.d.). What is an internet troll?. [online] Available at: • http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/trolls-use-twitters-promoted-tweet-service-to-spread-anti-trans-message-10265154.html • http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/weirdwebculture/f/what-is-an-internet-troll.html [Accessed 24 Mar. 2016].

TO CONCLUDE....

• There are blatantly both very positive and negative outcomes to the use of Twitter. It can be seen from two completely different sides that it is just a platform of ‘novelty’ but also there are aspects that may argue that it has ‘powerful and polemical media’ impact. The Guardian published an article discussing the concept that twitter could possibly be beneficial to the brain and people’s higher education by using is as a ‘learning tool’. To an extent this could be useful and essentially true, however there is a large side of twitter that is solely about people’s everyday lives and is filled with meaningless topics of conversation and discussion, which would not necessarily help within studies.

• One con that was mentioned in the study, is that ‘conveying a message in 140 characters is challenging and can lead to over-simplifying complex debates.’ There is a risk that people will misinterpret the point if there is so much cut out of the post to allow it to fit within the character count. A pro on the other hand was that ‘the Twitter seminar gave students the rare opportunity to ask questions and post comments to Andy through tweets and receive individual replies.’ This could be a way of connecting with the audience and using something that they can relate to. There is no escaping the fact that twitter is the cause of a lot negativity within the public domain due to the incredible amount of abuse, trolling and attacks that are published twenty four hours a day. 

• It is acknowledgeable that there are some measures taken to prevent these from occurring, but it is completely impossible to punish and remove every account and post that is associated with the negativity.

Internet Trolling

Celebrity Accounts

Celebrity accounts on twitter are very beneficial and can help in regards to the promotion of businesses as the large following they have will view anything that they post and more than likely reiterate the post on to their page spreading awareness and gaining custom. The posts by celebrity users attracts people to the site, increasing opportunity for advertising. This method of advertisement has been proven to be extremely widespread and popular throughout Twitter and other social media platforms like Instagram. The vast amount of followers that celebrities have on their twitter pages is something that is used to their advantage for a variety of positive outcomes. However, these accounts can also be extremely controversial and critical through what they post online. This ultimately leads to ‘twitter wars’ and sometimes ‘twitter storms’. Katie Hopkins- a television personality and newspaper columnist- is a vital example of a celebrity who creates controversy constantly online through the use of her twitter page. She posts extremely controversial opinions on topics within popular culture and mainstream news, which evidently results in a mass amount of criticism and negative feedback. Controversial topics regarding religion are among the harsh statements she makes which creates a large outburst of debates.

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Above are two examples of the shocking and controversial tweets Katie Hopkins has posted in the past.

TWITTER STORMS

WHAT IS A TWITTER STORM?

Twitter storms are described to be a ‘sudden peak in activity around a specific topic’. These ‘storms’ represent a topic that is either very popular or is being discussed around twitter by many users.

‘Hashtags’ are a cause of this where information is allowed to be collected and stored into statistics that expose to the world of twitter what people are talking about and are most interested about at that time of day.  According to a research report by Precise, ‘2011- the year of the perfect twitter storm’ there are three different types of ‘twitter storm’ on the internet.

PERFECT TWITTER STORM?

The ideal ‘twitter storm’ is a story that starts on Twitter and through a feedback loop with traditional press generates a significant amount of attention across a comprehensive audience. The second type is named ‘the storm in a teacup’. This is a story that generates a moderately small amount of interest on Twitter but is picked up by a great number of mainstream media outlets. The third type of ‘twitter storm’ is the twitter only storm. This is essentially a story that sparks a significant amount of messages and attention on twitter itself but receives no interest from mainstream media sources. An example of this is when the boy band One Direction’s singer Harry Styles lost his sunglasses and there was vast teenage search to find them. As there is a gigantic fan base for him and the band on twitter, this appealed to them however it would not be classed as news for the mainstream, as it is catered to a niche audience. 

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A strong example of a twitter storm in its purest form is the Topman t-shirt slogan controversy. The high streets male clothing shop Topman began selling t-shirts with the slogans “Nice New Girlfriend. What Breed is She?” and various others as the journalist Rubin at stylecaster.com describes as ‘demeaning to women and make light of domestic violence. These slogans resulted in a twitter outrage where people everywhere were voicing their opinions on the matter and creating major awareness for the debatable issue. Rubin went onto write in her article that ‘Outraged consumers and Topman supporters alike took to the social media stage to voice their opinions. Tweets such as Guardian‘s Life & Style’s, which reads “What was Topman thinking with these T-shirts” flooded the internet, causing Topman to recall the shirts and issue a public statement acknowledging the wave of negative feedback and apologizing for the offensive slogans.’ The influence that twitter had over this controversial subject, proves that it is in fact an extremely powerful source within cultural issues and important matters and the power it has is extremely quick and widespread.


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An example of a mass twitter storm is the most retweeted (passed on) photo on twitter. US President Barack Obama posted an image back in 2012 of him hugging his wife after winning another term as president. Within 24 hours the post had been retweeted more than 771,635 times, making it the most widespread social-networking message in this time frame. However, in 2014, Ellen DeGeneres posted a ‘selfie’ of her and various celebrities at the 86^th Oscars. This image went completely viral and took over the title of most retweets, receiving ‘779,295 retweets in approximately half an hour’ (The Guardian).

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What is Twitter?

Introduction to my blog

This blog is designed to discuss the ever growing social media platform ‘Twitter’ and the debatable topics that arise from the concept of it and idea that is twitter itself. Issues such as privacy, politics and negative outcomes that are a result of the social networking site will be discussed in depth and explored widely. There are always two sides to an argument and more importantly pros and cons to a topic. This particular blog gives the opportunity for different opinions to be expressed and then weighed up. During the different posts, I will aim to conclude an answer as to whether twitter has genuinely gone from being a ‘novelty’ to a ‘powerful and polemical media force’.