- A review of America's most "influential" social media platforms -
A recent report by Twitter.com showed that Twitter was voted "most likely to influence culture" by social media users. But for the average Twitter user, this report isn’t all that it seems.
If you were to create a brand new Twitter account today, follow your favorite influencers, and start posting wise quips to your profile and in the comments of other tweets, you would get the impression that you were an important part of the bank of "influential voices" on Twitter. This would be far from the Truth.
Disclaimer: This review is definitely based on my own experience and the experience of my company, but is largely backed by generic studies conducted on social media usage throughout the U.S.
To find out what is good, it is often helpful to recognize that which is not good. In the same way, to discover how to best use the social media platform Twitter, we need to know how to not use it.
What Twitter is Not Good For:
Making Friends
This may seem like an obvious observation, however, it is one that many fail to make, so here it is: Twitter (or any social media platform) is not good for making friends. It is a platform filled with bots and news junkies, not friends. It is impersonal and the users who are not bots often identify anonymously. My experience? In all my years of using Twitter, I have never made a single friend.
Making A Difference
The average Twitter following is 780, so if you are anywhere near, at, or below that, you have almost no chance of your Tweets reaching a major audience. The competition is indeed harsh, with over 8,000 Tweets sent every second. And forget about influencing American politics, because over 80% of Twitter users are not from the U.S.
Still not convinced? One of the most important developments of the Elon Musk/Twitter buyout and backout was the revelation that Twitter is suspected by Musk to consist of up to 25% bot or spam accounts. This would mean that up to 25% of all of your followers are likely bots - AKA not real users.
Yes, in theory, it is possible to make a difference on Twitter. However, in my experience, the opportunities are few and far between, and I can't help but think that for every mind changed on Twitter, 100 could be changed out in the real world.
What Twitter is Good for:
Reading the News
Surprisingly enough, Twitter is a great place to get your news--if you follow the right accounts. The fact of the matter is that Twitter is largely a news-heavy social media platform. And it is now true that every major, significant news site has some Twitter presence--including The Reformation Times: @RefTimes. Just don't trust the Twitter trend bar to be an accurate representation of important, current issues, as the Reformation Times has uncovered several times, its obvious left-wing bias is staggering.
Pro-Tip:
As someone who has used Twitter to grow a news-producing web service and to stay up to date on breaking news and events, I can honestly say that it works well for this. Find some trustworthy news sites that you follow elsewhere, throw in a few with left-wing and right-wing bias, and follow them! You'd be surprised at how effective checking Twitter for a few minutes every day can be at staying up to date on the news.
But be careful--its easier than your think to enter into the above-mentioned life-wasting acts, as Twitter is literally designed to hook its users into constant engagement.
Using Social Media as a Tool Can Be Beneficial, But You can Quickly Lose Control
We live in such an age that when we want to be entertained, we go to social media. When we want to find approval, we go to social media. When we want a friend, we go to social media. When we want to read the news, we go to social media. And according to Google's most recent survey of social media users in the U.S., when we want to learn, we go on TikTok.
With Americans spending more and more time on their phones and less and less time in the real world, it will be a wonder if there is any normalcy left by the time of the iPhone 20. And if only it actually produced the intended result! But the sad truth is that social media will never truly fill the gap left by printed information and normal, human, social interaction.
Don't be mistaken, TikTok news will push print news out just as Snapchat might very well eliminate in-person dating, but what social media will not do is successfully fill the needs that were met by the real thing--those things created in us and for us by our creator.
We were made social creatures.
We were made to see people face to face, not mask to mask, and certainly not bitmoji to bitmoji.
We were made readers, not consumers of Instagram reels.
The world functioned off of print for the first 2000 years it was in existence. The Bible - God's inspired word - was given in print, not in 30-second TikToks.
We were made to think.
And thinking, in case it is not already clear, comes from actually learning. No, not sitting down and filling your brain with entertaining shorts, but real, long, hard, thoughtful, intelligent learning. Not from Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, or even Twitter, but by the same means by which Isaac Newton, Alexander the Great, Albert Einstein, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Wesley, and George Washinton got their information: through words: printed and spoken.
Contributor(s)
Al K. Scott
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