In a Different Twitterverse

       To young teens and college students, Twitter is a social media site used to keep up with the latest trends in their area. For older users, it’s a site used to promote their business or connect with others in their field. Nonetheless, Twitter serves as a platform to connect millions across the world instantaneously. It’s our generation’s news outlet, we don’t use newspapers and TV sets to find out current events, we go on Twitter. For example, Boston Marathon Bombing highlighted the different side of Twitter that was able to report tragic information such as the Boston Marathon Bombing in rapid manor that was also factual. Many people didn’t have a clue that the Bombing occurred until they logged on Twitter and clicked on the trending hashtag. News journalist used to be our “funnel” or way of finding out current events, however social media sites such as Twitter has changed how we stay updated. An hour after the bombings took place, Twitter did the job of sending out the most important information accurately through various news outlets such as CNN, and Fox. Without Twitter, millions of civilians would have been unaware of such a tragedy.

            As an avid user, I know from personal experience that Twitter can be used in multiple ways depending on what you’re trying to do. Twitter can be used as a journalistic tool along with other social media sites like Facebook that report current events. Each day, Twitter is updating itself to be more reliable for its users so it is the only place where people get their news. Twitter is known to be first with any type of news before any other social media site. As a journalist, it is your job to report the news in an orderly prompt fashion. Twitter has eliminated the middle man known as news anchors and connects to users that have no time to sit and watch TV. It can also be used as a political tool and the 2016 Presidential Election is a prime example. Throughout the entire election, both candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were very active on Twitter to “connect” with voters and hear their concerns (which they both ignored). Each debate was the #1 trending topic on Twitter for hours while it was in session and the next day. From Trump’s one liners to Hillary’s confusing rebuttals, the Presidential Election was the most anticipated event in 2016 thanks to Twitter. Bernie Sanders connected with many of his supporters through Twitter by having conversations with them during the Presidential primaries.  

            In April 2016, an Amtrak train heading from New York City towards Savannah, Ga struck a backhoe in Pennsylvania causing a derailment. Two Amtrak workers were killed and 35 others suffered from injuries. When the news broke about a deadly Amtrak derailment many people were frantic. Twitter was successful in relaying information to the world about the tragedy. News sources such as CNN, were prompt in keeping users updated with the individuals affected by the crash. In October, the deadly Hurricane Matthew came in contact with Haiti at the highest level which is level five. Reporting over 1,000 deaths throughout the course of the week, Twitter users across the world watched and waited for the death toll to stop rising. #HurricaneMatthew was a recurring trending topic on the site for over a week for people to stay in contact with family members affected by the deadly storm. Twitter was successful in terms of staying active with users during Hurricane Matthew, and updating information for evacuation purposes in the southeast coast. An event that Twitter failed at communicating effectively was the 2016 Presidential Election results. Since the results were delayed due to “missed votes”, and technicalities the world didn’t find out the winner until the middle of the night. There was a lot of confusion the first hour when the results were announced because many states voting ballots were not counted, leaving many voters frustrated. No one wanted to believe that Donald Trump was the new president and Twitter made it worse by having different news station accounts reporting different results. Since Twitter is so rapid, many tweets may seem factual when they may not even be true. Most of the world received confirmation of the Election results the next morning by watching the real news for the first time in a long time.

            The subjects I decided to follow on Twitter were @ComplexMagazine, @ThisFoodTho, and @TomiLahren. I decided to follow Complex Magazine because they tweet about different types of artist and they highlight important events in hip hop music past and present. Music is my biggest love and I love all types of music, Complex Magazine mainly focuses on hip hop and R&B but it is not limited to those genres. They interview artist, tweet facts in hip hop, and always leave their followers wanting more. I wanted to follow a food page such as @ThisFoodTho because I follow them on my personal Twitter page and it usually makes my day better. By looking at the various foods featured on the page, it gives me recipe ideas to try and allows me to see foods from different cultures.  The food page always makes me hungry but I love seeing the different variations of common dishes like spaghetti with a twist on it. I chose to follow Tomi Lahren on Twitter as my third subject because she even though I don’t follow her on my personal account, she always spoken about on my newsfeed. I don’t agree with any of her political views and the way she conducts interviews irritates me.

            Using Twitter is so much different than blogging. It’s way faster, less words, and gets straight to the point. I can tell a story on Twitter in a series of eight separate tweets, although it may seem like a lot, it’s the length of a normal blog post. Twitter allows users to be in control of everything with the touch of a finger. This project was a personal favorite for me because we could follow accounts we like and able to converse with them by mentioning them. This project was fast which proves effective Twitter is as a social media site.

Politics of Creating Magic

            When Professor Pabico announced, the class was going to be assigned group projects the classroom became quiet.  The thought of having to meet with others outside of class already left a dry feeling in the room. To make it even worse, group members were assigned, not picked. Everyone has had their fair share of bad experiences regarding group projects so the enthusiasm was pretty low.  Everyone was completely over the project before it even started. Each group would be responsible for creating a video on iMovie conveying the theme assigned. No one was sure what the new group project would entail but there was nothing that could be done now. The politics group consisted of Deja, Tiara, Meghan, and Amelia, students who they had only known only through class. “Stay positive, think positive” repeated in my head multiple times. Any negative presumptions were proven wrong and this was one of the best group projects any of the members had been in.

            The theme assigned to my group was politics. The only thing that comes to mind is the democrat and republican party. The first day when groups were assigned, two members were absent so it was agreed the communication would be made through GroupMe, a group chat app. The group decided that the video shouldn’t be about boring politics, it was time to think outside of the box. The theme should be relevant, interesting, and abstract. “The Politics of Womanhood in the 21^st century” was the final decision. Since March is Women’s History Month, it seemed fitting to discuss the various struggles women face despite their race. Each member of the group brought something different in the vision for the video which ultimately led to its success. There are many aspects that fall into being woman in today’s society: having a career, starting a family, or even traveling. The approach was to show how gender roles dictate society and the prejudice behavior that occurs in the work force. From the baby’s time in its mother’s womb, it is assigned a gender role once the sex is determined. With that being said, girls and boys are expected to look and behave a particular based on their gender. Woman are expected to act “girly” and do feminine things instead of talk about cars and sports. Women of color are particularly targeted to wear their hair in a certain fashion to obtain a job position. The only way to communicate this message is through video, to bring those ideas to life. These are situations that occur every day and it’s imperative to see the examples vividly to fully understand the theme.

            The self-portrait experience was frustrating yet fun at the same time. Deja’s self-portrait showed getting ready to go on a job interview and she has to decide whether to wear natural hair or put her wig on. The initial problem for the self-portrait was trying to convey the two different hair styles and how it affects an upcoming job interview. There was no tripod available so the camera had to be held by hand. There were multiple scenes shot until it was perfected. Not to mention the shots that were captured were filmed in the wrong format, rather than filming the scenes in landscape, they were portrait. Some members had to redo their scenes as well to make the theme stronger altogether. The simple things being used in the video is important so the audience can connect the symbols. Once the shots were made, it was time for everyone to display their parts of the video so the iMovie can be made. The biggest issue concerning the project itself was trying to meet up with fellow group members. The week before Spring Break, the northeast had a major snow storm that swept through Buffalo and left many people stuck at home. Students and faculty were affected by this massive storm to the point the school cancelled classes in the middle of the week. No one can control inclement weather so because of the storm everyone’s plans to meet up to go over the project were postponed. Since the storm happened the week before Spring Break there was no possible way to meet up because everyone was traveling over the break. The snow storm was an extreme inconvenience for all the group members so it was decided that the project would be completed once class resumed after Spring break. Once everyone returned back from the break, it was time to put everyone’s personal videos together. Since Meghan was not going to be in class the day of presentation, it was imperative to make sure that all four members were caught up with their footage so Amelia can edit the iMovie. Amelia had the most experience using iMovie from previous classes and experience which made the editing process easier. The Deja and Tiara worked on their personal videos in class while Amelia and Meghan worked on beginning the entire project together. By the end of class, all of the group members had their self-portrait videos completed and only needed to shoot one more scene to complete everything. It was agreed to utilize the next class to record the final scene and splice the videos together.

            The final scene that needed to be recorded was the interview that showed Deja and Tiara applied for the same position however they didn’t get it due to their hairstyles. They thought it would be extremely difficult to find a guy last minute as an extra. While filming in the library, the girls came across Fad (Fahad) an international student with a bright personality. He had no issue being featured in the film and had the excitement to match it. The group was able to film the last scene and edit it into their video by the end of class. Everyone’s work ethic was at an all-time high which is why the production of this project was so painless despite the obstacles that was out of our control. Any issues or concerns that were had, were discussed and planned accordingly. In the beginning of the semester, Amelia did her WikiHow topic on “How To Survive Group Projects” ironically. The WikiHow page was not needed thankfully, and this project proved that four women can work successfully together and create magic!