The power of dissemination makes Twitter a valuable commodity. The micro-blogging website is prized territory for those seeking their fortune in the technological gold rush and for those who wish to control the flow of information to the masses. Without users, Twitter would be pointless. But the real power lies in the networks users create.
According to a blog post by Gilad Lotan, vice president of research and development at SocialFlow — a research team who analyzes technology and social content — news of Whitney Houston's death was originally tweeted by user @AjaDiorNavy on Feb. 11 at 7:42 p.m.
"Omgg, my aunt tiffany who work for Whitney Houston just found Whitney Houston dead in the tub. Such a shame & sad," tweeted @AjaDiorNavy.
However, for the next 42 minutes only 16 other people found out and tweeted. The big news break came when the Associated Press tweeted.
"Within 5 minutes of the AP's post, we see over 3,000 responses, with an increasing acceleration in the number of reactions," writes Lotan.
Lotan makes it clear that breaking the news isn't what's most important, the network a given user develops is the key.
"Just because you're first doesn't mean your content will spread," said Lotan. "In this case, @AjaDiorNavy had an incredibly hot piece of information minutes before anyone else knew, yet @AjaDiorNavy didn't have the right network to spread it."
The ways in which journalists and news outlets make use of Twitter is straightforward and plain to the eye. A larger network makes for faster news dissemination.
The use of Twitter by the advertising industry is more complex, though it still involves the creation of networks, in this case comprised of consumers.
Stored Personal Identifiable Information, or PII — Internet Protocol addresses, browser search terms, mobile carrier and device information — is stored as recorded data by Twitter.
PII is provided to advertisers to target individual Twitter users. Twitter owns the content its users create, and it even owns and holds the right to sell or transfer PII.
The privacy policy for Twitter states, "In the event that Twitter is involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets, your information may be sold or transferred as part of that transaction."
But running parallel to Twitter's profit motive are educational uses. Charmaine McKissick-Melton, associate professor and coordinator of mass communication at N.C. Central University, uses Twitter in her media advertising, sales and marketing class as a way to provide students a knowledge base in social media and the evolution of its professional use.
Students say Twitter enables them to get immediate feedback during presentations. "We use Twitter in class as a way 2 give feedback 2 class members after presentations and also 2 inform the prof what we have learned," tweeted @fashions_ICON.
"Not everybody should be in sales, but everybody should understand the money," said McKissick-Melton. McKissick-Melton looks at social media as the cutting edge of marketing. How advertisers monetize this new frontier depends on their target audience.
"It is not the biggest chunk of money, but it's a growing chunk of money," said McKissick-Melton. "The revenue stream is coming. ... Twitter is different because it is interactive."
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