Twitter: A Useful Channel Or A Destructive Platform?

Twitter, just like any other social media platform, was created to make connecting with people easier on a global level. And it has done so accurately ever since its introduction to social media, with more than 330 million users worldwide.You don’t have limits, unless you count the character limit for tweets, to how you choose to interact with people. May it be locals or celebrities, small or big brands, Twitter is a platform that gives an equal level of interacting opportunities to everyone. With the increase of Millennials and Gen-Z on the platform, the content quality has changed tremendously as well.

But even among the wholesomeness of some content, there are often negative outcomes to the usage of twitter that people don’t pay attention to in the beginning. So is the platform all positive and useful or a destructive channel that we need a break from? That remains to be discussed.

Accessibility

Twitter is accessible in about 200 countries of the world, 83% of the part of the UN. This huge number of accessibility means that brands and other companies can easily reach a wide number of the audience throughout the world. This ease of accessibility is what makes a lot of people invest their time on Twitter as they get a chance to reach a number of people who would be interested in what they offer. Whether it’s blogging, creating brand awareness, or just making a personality on the platform, Twitter is a place that allows people to do all of this with ease and convenience.

A Medium for Better Interactions

Twitter is a platform where interactions are easier to witness and become a part of. Whether you’re interacting with one person or multiple in the same thread, you do it easily and conveniently. Twitter is for everyone! Not only businesses, and not only influencers. And their features are aligned with the same audience in mind. When it comes to brands, it’s a better platform to carry-out two-way communication with customers without much standing in your
way. This is the easiest platform to use when it comes to organic reach. And it’s a good source of performing customer surveys with ease.

The Memes and Relatable Content We Love

Personally, I became used to Twitter due to the memes and other quality content I got access to on the platform. From national to international users, there is no limit to the kind of memes and tweets you get exposed to. The thousands of posts that we see on Facebook and Instagram, among other platforms, are mostly screenshots of tweets than anything else. It’s a new era of getting your humor and content reach around the world through different channels, and tweets are one way to get that done. May it be famous brands or sports teams, everyone gets in on the meme bandwagon that the audience on Twitter loves to be a part of.

A Medium for Small Businesses

Small businesses, especially those targeting millennials and Gen-Z, find it easier to connect to their target audience through Twitter. It’s more convenient to gain loyal customers through twitter than any other platform as it is easier to communicate and solve problems. Moreover, interacting with customers on Twitter results in learning their behaviors and needs, which makes it convenient for you to introduce changes in your strategies that cater to customer needs. When you’re planning on kicking off your brand and are in the phase of researching, Twitter can serve as a useful platform to get that done.

Besides, once you spend time creating interpersonal connections with your target audience, they find it easier to trust your brand and don’t feel reluctant to invest in or spread awareness about your products.

Convenient News Outlet… But is it Always Authentic?

According to reports, Twitter has become the quickest source of receiving headline news about any event, from minor to major. With all the other platforms following behind. It is reported to be the best platform to deliver news worldwide. And that’s something even I personally can vouch for. It really is easier and more convenient to receive any kind of
breaking news from Twitter than from any other platform. The topic first comes to light through a tweet, is talked about, starts trending, and then it becomes common on other news-related apps and websites. But is it always the truth that trends on the platform?

Twitter has time and time again been associated with the spread of fake news. From reporting fake death reports of celebrities to becoming a source of spreading fake propaganda, this is perhaps where the limits to the social media giant’s benefits are drawn. And this also describes the future of the internet, making us aware that where we see a lot of pros of using such services, there are some very dangerous cons all of us need to be aware of.

The Darker Side of Twitter

And no, by this I don’t mean the dark feature Twitter offers in its display settings. While I’ve spoken about memes and wholesome content that connects communities together, there’s also, a lot of other content once you go deeper in twitter that separates communities and inflicts harm on individuals.

While it’s a platform that reaches far and wide when someone wants to tell their story, even if anonymously, there are also those on the platform who won’t respond so positively to anything they find if it doesn’t conform with their ideologies of how life should be lived. If you’ve been a part of Pakistani Twitter as long as I have, you’d know exactly what I’m talking about. But even if you don’t, I’ll try explaining it as accurately as possible. The crowd on Twitter may seem fun and pleasant from the outside, but once you get in too deep, you realize you were only observing a mask so far. The reality is entirely different, and it’s full of layers that you don’t even want to uncover.

Hashtags Are Powerful – But to What Extent?

As discussed in one of our previous blogs, Hashtags became a part of Twitter in 2007, and they just became more and more famous and gained power over their influence as the years passed. Now, they’re one of the most basic and widely appreciated means of reaching a huge audience and running ‘trends’ on Twitter. The power of hashtags can never be
underestimated. In mere seconds after gaining a little attention, hashtags can become a topic that people all over the country could be talking about. This is not something anyone can or should overlook.

When you’re capable of creating a voice that reaches millions of people at once, you become capable of influencing their thoughts, their behaviors, and how they deal with all of this information. In the old days, when the use of cell phones wasn’t so common, one could argue that a mere internet trend won’t affect how people live their lives. But now, with the rise of technology and the use of social media becoming an active part of one’s life, everything that exists on the internet can determine how people behave in real life. And the way it handles this responsibility is where Twitter can either make or break an individual.

Most brand trends that run on the platform are harmless. They tend to create awareness, send their message, and people either get invested in those brands or forget about them after a while. But the threshold is crossed at the point the hashtags become political, or religious tools or an accessory for con artists to rob people.

Relevant or Not, The Toxicity is Obvious

As I said, once you get to the deeper parts of the platform, you discover the underlying layers. From adult content to cyberbullies, there’s a vast amount of negative and toxic behavior displayed on the platform that either leaves one traumatized or makes them run from all forms of social media and never return. When people make a social media profile,
they start believing they can do whatever they like without having to answer for any of the harm they inflict. Twitter policies have other plans in mind. A lot of people on the platform who tweeted abusive and aggressive content ended up losing their jobs because their companies got access to their public profile and took immediate action accordingly.

Twitter is LinkedIn for people who want to lose their jobs

— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) August 31, 2020

Yet, the same policies that promise to punish aggression, can end up punishing the victims and the innocent more times than you could count, with some ‘elite’ universities going to the extent of expelling students for tweeting against them. The policies have limits when it comes to implementation. And hence, you might not always get the answer you’re looking for.

The Cancel Culture:

Another common practice prevalent on the social media platform is the culture of canceling famous people or celebrities who get exposed to have allegedly committed an act that goes against the unspoken (or spoken) rules of society. A lot of influencers and celebrities have fake news surrounding them but that doesn’t stop ‘ mob twitter’ from canceling these people before they do a background check on the accusations.

At times, the news is authentic and results in bringing a darker story to light of people who were hiding behind an act the whole time. But there are times when the news is not entirely true or too old for it to be relevant anymore, and yet the people who get ‘exposed’ have to suffer the consequences of having the Twitter mob protesting against them, going so far as to ruin not just said people’s mental health, but also their interpersonal relationships, careers, and life on a whole. I think the biggest problem with cancel culture is that it doesn’t demand accountability, it just nullifies the individual’s existence; without waiting for an explanation or demanding the need for shaping their behavior to become better. And that’s where it becomes a problem instead of a call of justice.

All of us need to be aware of the impact of fake influencers, getting involved in the nation-wide propagandas, and giving an unsolicited opinion on things whose consequences we’re not aware of. But we also need to become better and more responsible about how we’re utilizing these platforms. Only because it’s virtual doesn’t mean it doesn’t have serious impacts on our lives. Now, with the advanced era of technology, platforms like Twitter are as much a part of society as any other, tangible environment we’ve always been a part of. And they have as serious consequences as any other part of our lives where we make irrational decisions that cost us in the end.