Microblogging is great!
My personal experience with microblogging and what I have learnt.
Social media has had a huge impact on our lives and that is no surprise with 84% of UK adults owning a smartphone today. It is consuming our culture and is slowly taking over from more traditional means of communication that we were once used to. Here is my take on microblogging and why I believe it is so revolutionary.
Microblogging fulfils a need of convenience, unlike printed forms of communication. Through its requirement for shorter posts, evidenced by Twitter’s 280 character count, to the need for less time and thought having to go into each update- it is the most efficient form of communication, especially in today’s climate.
“Microblogging is a combination of blogging and instant messaging that allows users to create short messages to be posted and shared with an audience online” (Daniel Nations)
At the midst of things, Twitter proves itself to be one of the most popular microblog forms around; boasting over 145 million active daily users worldwide. With the introduction of the hashtag in 2007, to the verification tick being added in 2009; Twitter users can filter their feed to get the most relevant and accurate information available to them. Account owners also find themselves being able to communicate with their favourite celebrities or share their thoughts on controversial worldwide news stories, all with the click of a button. Microblogging is a revolutionary tool which is allowing more and more stories to spread faster than ever and is ensuring people are able to stay connected.
When writing this blog post, I found myself asking “but what is the point in all of this?” I’ve come to the realisation that microblogs hold so much power in our world today. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube are at the centre of our culture, with internet users worldwide spending an average of 144 minutes a day on social media sites. This opened my eyes to how huge companies are utilising the popularity of microblogs to gain more interest in what they have to offer.
What I have learnt through my own microblogging experience.
As part of a university assignment, we were required to have consistent engagement on several social media platforms, one of them being Twitter. Before this experience I had of course, like many of you, dabbled in the odd retweet or commented on a friend’s new profile picture. But I was blissfully unaware of the devotion that is required to maintain a high-profile, successful microblog.
Here’s what I’ve learnt.
Utilising tools is key.
Twitter is a very cleaver device, it possesses several tools which are essential for a successful post. From the hashtag and the mentions @ to the ability to conduct polls, Twitter holds so much variety. Use it all!
It may seem daunting having to expose your own opinion and post it online for thousands to see, but you must do it. Commenting on other accounts posts is one of the top ways to increase engagement on your own account. The first time I expressed my opinion on another account I was astonished to see the increase in the number of impressions my tweet had received, 9165 compared to my usual 30 odd. Not only did this boost my morale but spurred me to engage more with other accounts.
Likewise, by tweaking my posts and including the odd hashtag that was trending or switching a simple typed name for an @ mention, it allowed more people to reach my tweet and subsequently my account.
Therefore, for a more successful account I suggest you do the same.
Personalisation is everything.
In order to encourage engagement, account personalisation is essential. Often overlooked, the list feature is a great place to start. They allow you to see a stream of tweets from only the accounts you chose to be in that list. It also shows that you value a certain accounts tweets, allowing you to source your own network as a result.
Following accounts you are interested in is definitely key. Initially, I found it difficult to curate my own tweets without inspiration from other tweets and the only way that this was resolved was through following accounts I was interested in. Through this, I was able to retweet, comment and like certain posts which more often than not inspired many of my own tweets.
Journalists take advantage.
Asides from the few tips and tricks I have picked up to boost my own microblog, I have also noticed that journalists are probably one of the biggest account owners that utilise the features Twitter has to offer.
With the understanding that generic printed news reading is not as common today as it was 20 years ago, technology has evolved over the years and produced some breath-taking products which allow for an easier, more accessible society to be at our fingertips. While it is narrow minded to assume that print is entirely dead, it is sensible to think it is on the back-burner compared to digital news reading. This comes after the realisation that The Guardian has 140,000 print newspapers in circulation compared to 140 million digital online readers internationally! I can only assume that the cause for this spike in digital news reading comes from the immense popularity that is provoked through microblogging.
As a result of this, I found myself intrigued to how my followers sourced their news, so I therefore conducted a poll on my Twitter account. (A prime example of using all the features Twitter has to offer!)
I wasn’t overly surprised when the results came in and found that 73% out of the 15 who voted in poll 1 source their news from social media accounts. However, when poll 2 found that 87% out of the 8 who voted would not read the news if it wasn't for social media encouragement. This did shock me.
Through the ability to share links to external sites, journalists and accounts alike are able to provide a direct pathway for news consumers; allowing their works to be reached by a wider community. I must admit, I also took advantage of this, through sharing the link to each of my blog posts on my Twitter account, it allowed my work to be read by a separate community than those of you who actually follow my blog. A very clever and resourceful feature on Twitter’s behalf.
- (Note)- While this information cannot speak for people nationwide, it most certainly highlights a trend in that microblogging is encouraging the younger generations, (predominantly who my followers are), to engage with news stories more. Openly proposing the statement that microblogging is saving journalistic reading.
Microblogging is great!
Through my own experience, I can confidently say that microblogging is great. It’s main appeal is that it grabs the reader’s attention and sucks them in to consume a wealth of knowledge. It encourages the frequency of posts through shorter updates, ultimately cutting the time needed to write a message in half. In addition to that, it possess a quality which is so essential in the 21st century and that is mobile convenience. But above all and probably my favourite thing about microblogging is that it promotes a sense of community through the ability to like, share and comment on each-others post.
