To what extent does Twitter's mission statement reflect its usage - Literature review Example

The organisation claims it to be ‘the fastest, simplest way to stay close to everything you care’ (Twitter, 2012). Twitter is based upon the four fundamentals, namely, Microblogging, Social Networking, Social Media and Computer-Mediated Communication. In recent times, the importance of social networking and media has been noticed largely among the youth generation. Not only have the young people, but also companies in modern days, use social networks to transfer information among the people who are by large the users of these social media.

The organisations have been using a tool named microblogging which can be stated as the process of posting smaller digital contents such as, pictures, short videos, links and other media contents in the internet. Although, there are many social networking sites, Facebook has been another social media which have recently gained huge popularity, in comparison to Twitter. The difference between Twitter and Facebook is the class of users, i.e. while Twitter is generally used by most of the celebrities and dignitaries; Facebook is used by all the classes of the society.

Micro-blogging According to Java & et. al. (n.d.), Twitter is currently the most accepted microblogging stage which enables users to update their current statuses through short message services (SMSs), digital photos or short videos. In other words, an online community is formed by inviting friends and colleagues who share information of their recent happenings through short texts or audio-visual clips. Furthermore, it can be stated that microblogging in recent times has become an extremely famous media for both personal and professional recreation.

Friends use it to keep in touch, professionals use it to co-ordinate business meetings and share important resources; similarly, celebrities and political dignitaries use it for gaining publicity by posting comments regarding their tour schedules, concert presences and film releases (Java & et. al., n.d.). According to a publication of the 17th European Conference on Information Systems (2009), it has been observed that the term microblogging has developed additional terms such as microsharing and activity streaming which are being used commonly by recent users.

It has also been noted that Twitter is being used at a higher degree for micro-blogging in comparison to other accessible social networking sites; although, many people have complained about its reliability and functionality (17th European Conference on Information Systems, 2009). As stated by Ehrlich & Shami (2010), posts or ‘tweets’ can be viewed by anyone who is following the person or even attempts to view the public profiles. Furthermore, the authors state that the concept of ‘following’ is very different from ‘friending’ as in social networks consent from both the parties are required to share and view other people’s information.

Whereas in the case of Twitter, consent is not necessary and a person can automatically follow other person according to their likes and tastes. Thus, it can be stated that the popularity of Twitter has grown rapidly due to its unique qualities (Ehrlich & Shami, 2010). In this respect, Ebner & Schiefner (2008) observed that the success of microblogging or ‘weblogs’, shortly called as blogs are due to the three factors;