Facebook, Tumlbr and yes, Twitter are the latest social networking sites that have over taken the informational age, connecting complete strangers to one another. I have a Facebook, like most people do, but I recently began to invest my time into Twitter, the website where “tweets” share breaking news and interesting tidbits of information. Twitter is extremely beneficial to celebrities, media outlets and other forms of public relations to be connected with fans and the rest of the world. By “following” someone on twitter, one can keep tabs on their activity and latest news, hearing it from the people themselves rather than tabloids or newspapers.

Facebook began this trend, but Twitter is taking it to the next level. I was skeptical at first of the purpose of Twitter, but I have been actively using my account for about four months now and I  check it almost as regularly as my email. See, even the mighty Facebook has felt the newly heated competition and has installed a live news feed, much like the home page of Twitter represents.

On a more localized level, I can follow and tag events surrounding WJ as they occur. For instance, instead of waiting around for a formal email from MCPS about a school cancellation, I can be satisfied with minute-to-minute updates because I am subscribed to MCPS via twitter. The website defines social networking; connecting one part of the world with another.

This was especially evidenced by the “Arab Spring,” when multiple regimes in the Middle East were overthrown. The support for this movement began via Twitter, and those in the U.S. and other areas of the world were updated with all the happenings in the Middle East via Twitter. Arabs realized, via Twitter, that support for their movement launched from all over the world.

Twitter made all this possible. It’s a very easy concept once you think of it, it just took a little while to develop. A little after Facebook was invented, Twitter was introduced in 2006, but in the last few years it has seen a booming growth in popularity and usage. Facebook will always have pictures to “stalk” and “like,” but the science of breaking news will always belong to Twitter… for now.