Thursday, 15 August 2013

The power of the tweet

Thinking of power, firstly I think of a basic definition. something like, "the ability to act or produce a particular effect". Or, of a further insight, and what lectures have revealed to me; "The capacity to mobilise the resources of the society for the attainment of goals for which a general "public" commitment has been made". (Parsons, 1960)

The social networking site I have chosen for my series of blogs is twitter, having never used this site before I was astounded to find that there are over approximately 500 million users. In my lurkings I also discovered that celebrities and huge companies are the holders of the power, with millions of 'tweets' and followers. I instantly felt disempowered. As Allen states in Lost Geographies "Size and ability are perhaps among the more obvious reason why we should think of resources as power" Meaning the larger the capabilities at our fingertips, such as skills, contacts or sheer fire-power, the greater the assumed power (oh and how powerful it is!) This can also be looked at in relation to theories of power. One of Weber's theories of power and status, the possession and exercise of that power. This BBC News article analyses the social media revolution and how different social networking sites have influence and share power between them.

On twitter people can connect through a "Who to follow" tab which shows you twitter accounts that are based on who you initially decide to follow. You can also connect through "Popular accounts" which show categories such as music, and sports. Over the coming weeks I will continue to observe Twitter and discover the many things left to learn about this social networking site.

References 
Allen, J (2003). Lost Geographies of Power. Malden, MA. Blackwell Publishing

 Welcome to the social media revolution. (2012, May 10th) BBC News. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18013662

Parsons, (1960). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 2 PowerPoint. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au

Image Credits
Feltner, J (2013). Optimise your twitter exposure with Tweriod. Retrieved from: http://jaysonfeltner.com/optimize-your-twitter-exposure-with-tweriod.html
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1 comment:

  1. Sean9316 August 2013 at 13:10

    This blog regarding the power of Twitter is spot on Rhiannon. Being a fellow Tweeter myself, I can understand the dis empowerment you feel as soon as the log on button is pressed. From an outside perspective or being new to this social site, it must feel overwhelming to see the amount of interaction between celebrities and their 'followers'. My opinion regarding Twitter is that, the power of the normal everyday person isn't as valued as a person who has a celebrity status. This being said, the normal person's opinion of a certain matter may change, depending on how a well-regarded person feels about that same topic. In John Allens 'Lost Geographies of Power', it states that "geography is something we can lose", I think Twitter can provide some of the 'lost geographies', because of the amount of Tweets that are sent out every moment. That's why Twitter can be such a powerful tool to all parties involved.

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