Social Media is a Powerful Tool

Earlier in the semester I was fortunate enough to speak with Dr. Britten, a WVU journalism professor. He currently teaches a Blogging and Interactive Journalism course that includes teaching students innovative journalism methods. This seems to be one of the paths social media has taken us. More news companies are joining Twitter and Facebook because it is where so many people are communicating. Britten went on explaining to me how social media is a powerful tool.
He first described the development of the blogging course. The university contacted him a few years ago to create a curriculum for a blogging class. He had no idea where to start and decided to go to Facebook for help. “I went on Facebook and wrote, ‘I’ve been asked to develop this blogging class and I have no idea where to get started,’” said Britten. He said that within twenty-four hours he received over thirty messages, most including helpful information, which guided him to create the 3-credit college course.
Britten called what he had done “mobilizing a network,” or getting information through a social network. He said that many people do not use Facebook and Twitter effectively because of their choice of friends. He recommends students to choose wisely so they can gain useful information.
According to a marketing study, Facebook ‘likes’ are more profitable than tweets. This simply means that marketers can reach people more efficiently through Facebook. On the other hand the major benefit of Twitter is its simplicity. Messages can only be up to 140 characters and no longer. This allows news companies to feed brief messages of information to users without boring them.
As Britten was explaining, people can use these social networks as tools. By choosing the “right” friends and following the “right” people, users can absorb all their information through one medium instead of shuffling through traditional, clutter filled media. Can giving up some personal information actually pay off to obtain a powerful, useful device?