Can Twitter Change The Way We Live

Johnson, Steven. “How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live.” Time. Time, Inc., 5 Jun. 2009. Web. 7 April 2011.

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In the article “How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live”, Steven Johnson discusses how Americans have discovered new ways to talk to one another. Twitter, an Internet phenomenon that allows a person to speak about anything in 140 characters, has reached a realm of conversation that not even the Twitter developers thought was possible. Particularly, this article focuses on the idea that Twitter has given people the opportunity to share thoughts, ideas, web links, etc. on any topic that is taking place in the “real-time” current situation. In other words, compared to Google, Twitter is more current and up-to-date and allows a person to actively participate in a discussion, similar to the “Hacking Education” conference, at that very moment in time. As mentioned in the article, a person can have an up to date status on another person’s life without even picking up a phone. Moreover, Twitter is changing the ways that people communicate with one another and allows people to have the opportunity to see the most current update on topics ranging from a political debate to a peer’s breakfast decision.

The cultural significance of this article lies in the fact that Americans are finding more ways to communicate with one another; even beyond the realm of what developers, such as Evan Williams and Biz Stone of Twitter, have imagined. Twitter has not only impacted the daily lives of Americans, but it has also inspired businesses to advertise via Twitter; it has become the most current search engine; and it has also allowed news to spread via Internet in a matter of 30 seconds. Eventually, all conferences may discuss debates via Twitter; schools across the country and world could have discussions about their different cultures via Twitter; and more “movie stars” will have conversations with people who are not famous via Twitter. Moreover, Americans have been impacted by the Internet phenomena known as Twitter and have discovered ways of communication that were not even considered before this day in age. Forget a phone or e-mail-those are considered slow when they are compared to access that Twitter allows.