Last week actress Demi Moore saved a woman's life. How did she rescue this woman you ask??? With Twitter.
photo courtesy of www.cleo.com
www.people.com
Last Thursday, Moore received a frightening tweet from a woman named "sandieguy." She said, "I'm just wondering if anyone cares that I'm gonna kill myself now." Her previous posts showed she was contemplating suicide. The girl then wrote again, "Getting a knife, a big one that is sharp. Going to cut my arm down the whole arm so it doesn't waste time."
Moore replied immediately saying, "hope you are joking." The exchange prompted a California citizen to call 911. Police used a tracking device to find the woman and brought her into a hospital for evaluation.
In the last round of blogs many of my peers put Twitter down, but I'm here to defend it. Not only is Twitter a great way to get information fast, but it can save lives as well, can it get much better?
I joined Twitter because one of my professors urged me to do so and was a little skeptical at first. I describe Twitter to be much like Facebook Status updates. Short, sweet and to the point. I not only follow some of my favorite actors, I also follow local news stations, national news networks, sports news, and even our president. Because of Twitter I don't even go to news websites anymore. Since I follow CNN, when I log into my homepage, I see CNN headlines and I simply click on the url attached to the headline that I want to read. For me its all my favorite news sources on one page and that is the most conveinent way to view them.
This is what the page view looks like when you log on:
www.twitter.com
While some may find Twitter creepy, I think they need to embrace it. Many news sources are on the band wagon and I think Twitter will only grow with popularity. So far, I've only heard good things, and until someone gives me a reason not to like Twitter, I will continue to Tweet!
And maybe save a life or two while I'm doing it.
www.people.com
Last Thursday, Moore received a frightening tweet from a woman named "sandieguy." She said, "I'm just wondering if anyone cares that I'm gonna kill myself now." Her previous posts showed she was contemplating suicide. The girl then wrote again, "Getting a knife, a big one that is sharp. Going to cut my arm down the whole arm so it doesn't waste time."
Moore replied immediately saying, "hope you are joking." The exchange prompted a California citizen to call 911. Police used a tracking device to find the woman and brought her into a hospital for evaluation.
In the last round of blogs many of my peers put Twitter down, but I'm here to defend it. Not only is Twitter a great way to get information fast, but it can save lives as well, can it get much better?
I joined Twitter because one of my professors urged me to do so and was a little skeptical at first. I describe Twitter to be much like Facebook Status updates. Short, sweet and to the point. I not only follow some of my favorite actors, I also follow local news stations, national news networks, sports news, and even our president. Because of Twitter I don't even go to news websites anymore. Since I follow CNN, when I log into my homepage, I see CNN headlines and I simply click on the url attached to the headline that I want to read. For me its all my favorite news sources on one page and that is the most conveinent way to view them.
This is what the page view looks like when you log on:
www.twitter.com
While some may find Twitter creepy, I think they need to embrace it. Many news sources are on the band wagon and I think Twitter will only grow with popularity. So far, I've only heard good things, and until someone gives me a reason not to like Twitter, I will continue to Tweet!
And maybe save a life or two while I'm doing it.
I heard about the Demi Moore thing and that's nuts! I think that when people like the lady talking about her wanting to kill herself use twitter it's just like any other social site, you want people online to see what you are doing and how many 'friends' you can get. If I've only met you once I don't want to be on your twitter and know what you are doing every 2 seconds, I think this makes it awkward when you see them in person. But for CNN and news stories to have twitter is a neat idea. You can get all your info fast and in one place and you pick what you want. Celebrities having it though is just like another person having it. Didn't Dave Narvarro or someone like that tweet right before going on stage? That's neat and all, but did I need to know that? No. I'm going to keep of twitter because knowing that someone's dog is outside going to the bathroom doesn't appeal to me.
It is amazing that the person who wrote the tweet about killing themselves is alive due to an observant tweeter but really this is getting out of control. I agree that twitter is important for news, I use mine for news websites, sports teams, and organizations I am involved in. But really what is twitter more than another social networking site where people are interested in it because it gives them an "invisible audience." The term invisible audience is also known as imaginary audience, both of these terms fall into the category of ego-centricity. Meaning that everyone is watching you or concerned about you. This idea is very common in teenagers who join social networking sites to feel more popular and that others care about them. I wonder why people feel it is necessary to communicate with others through this forum. It is not professional, at least in the business world----excluding the ever changing journalism business. However at the KAB conferences last week professional journalist were torn on the newsworthiness and validity of facebook and twitter. I see both sides of twitter but I honestly question if it is a fad?
Good for you for trying to defend something! As you say it is much like a facebook status update, but I don't do those either so I still don't find much value in twitter. I had to create an account for a previous class and found it to be more of an annoyance than helpful. I think it sets a stage for people to just impose their thoughts or attention grabbing skills on other people, sometimes useful, but more often than not, just random and for greedy attention. I think in the case that you used, twitter was very helpfu, but it all depends on situation.
I recently joined Facebook and Twitter. I joined because they don't seem to be going away, and I keep hearing that they are a good tool for journalists, especially Twitter. I recently gathered an entire two "followers" on Twitter, so now I feel obligated to lead them. I am actually kind of excited.
I think Twitter is like anything else - it is what YOU make it. If you want to use it for social or professionals purposes, that's fine. Or, if you want to use it for those times when you're on a plane that is about to crash and you want the people who supposedly care about you to know, that's fine too.
I have heard a few people bring up the Dave Navarro thing. They ask, "Do I really need to know that?" No, you don't need to know that; that's why you are not following him! You may think that his tweets are meaningless, but are you telling me that all of CNN's tweets have meaning to everyone?
I agree with Justin. Twitter is a tool. It is useful for some people and you cannot expect everyone to use that tool in the same way. I even use twitter in different capacities for different situations. For the Kansan's Twitter account we publish breaking and news stories as they go up on the website. For my personal Twitter, I am much more informal and use it as a communication/information tool for other people I work with. I am sure that not everyone will use that tool in either of those ways, but in a third or even fourth way I can't even imagine. That is the mark of a good tool.
That's great that Twitter saved someone's life. That really is amazing, and lucky. But I'm sure every social media has done some good and likewise, added to all the "junk" that's out there in the media. I'm pretty sure this is the exception to the rule, not the rule. So far, I'm not convinced about Twitter in my mind. But, I agree with Justin. Twitter what YOU make it. So, I can see the value in that.