Tag Archives: twitter

At the Drop of a Tweet

In the rapidly evolving age of information that we are currently planted smack dab in the middle of, there are a handful of emerging methods of communication at our disposal via the Internet. One of the most readily available forms of social media is Twitter, a website that has shown great impact outside of purely casual means. Take for example, the way in which many young people around the world spread information surrounding the relatively recent Arab Spring in a rapid-fire fashion. In this sense, a website such as Twitter has the potential to be revolutionary, yet we often seem to view it as a cultural vice on which people gossip about celebrities and their personal problems.

Earlier today, as a class, we participated in an academic Twitter summit, sharing questions and ideas with students, professor and scholars across the globe. Until early last week, I had no idea what an academic Twitter summit was, or what it might even relatively hold. However, after participating in this experience firsthand, my eyes have been opened to the immense possibilities that a social media website as such can offer, in addition to the magnitude of ways in which the communication of ideas will be impacted in the future as a result of our growing mastery of technology.

One of the first and most amazing things about the Twitter summit was that by simply using a uniting hash tag, anybody from around the world could be involved in the conversation. The reason why this is so phenomenal is that in the past, communicating with people all over the world was much more difficult and took hours, if not days to facilitate proper conversation. Here we are, in 2014, in a classroom, typing up 140 characters or less to articulate our professional concerns and inquiries with any number of distinguished academics. Thirty years ago, they would’ve called us crazy; we now call it the wave of the future in spreading ideas.

The possibility for this activity to expand in the future, both in terms of membership and exposure, is highly promising. Granted that prior to recently, I was even unfamiliar with the existence of these types of things, the number of academic and professional uses for Twitter is constantly growing. A website that was once viewed as a distraction or not worthy of my time has proven to not only refute those ideas, but also be much more than that, as a device for professional and personal advancement. It is highly plausible to meet someone important on Twitter because they saw an idea or work that you have posted. In the event of something like this, be it an academic from Cairo or an employer in your city, you have the chance over the Internet to forge a connection with them and establish a potential fruitful relationship as a result of your exposure via Twitter.

As an afterthought of the Twitter summit, I was also exposed to a number of great insights regarding professional level writing and its ties to the ever-growing Internet. While some offered borderline obvious insights (be careful of what you post, remember that you have a global scale audience), a number of highly interesting points regarding the nature of writing in general were raised. Of the most interesting ones that were brought to my attention, was from a student in our class, who inquired on the interpolation of creative and academic writing.

This is something that I have always personally struggled with, often being too dense and wordy in reporting psychological research. However, I feel that the point raised is worthy of rumination. I do believe that there is a way to adhere to the tenets of academic writing while also being able to flex your personal skill as a writer. Although there may not be as ample of opportunities compared to creative fiction for example, it is entirely possible to integrate your own tone and style into writing at the professional level, especially on the Internet. Blogging in the professional realm, for example, serves as a great opportunity for the cohesion of two styles as such to occur.

Overall, thanks to the eye opening experience of the academic Twitter summit, I have been motivated to spend more time engaging with the academic and professional aspects of social media sites, as well as quench the thirst I currently hold for obtaining greater knowledge and personal exposure of my work as a writer. Although I have said this before, I am pleased to embrace the wave of the future in communication and the opportunities it will grant for the betterment of our collective academic knowledge.