Save the Media

Today’s post is second in my new occasional series, “What the heck do you do on Twitter.” Today’s post comes from one of my news writing students, Danielle Alvarez, a 21-year-old magazine and modern foreign language major at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. (Don’t worry — she’s getting extra credit for doing this.) (Read the whole series.)

If you’d like to be featured (don’t be shy), send me an e-mail at savethemedia@yahoo.com or direct message me on Twitter.

Here is how Alvarez uses Twitter:

How long have you been on Twitter? I have been using Twitter actively since the 18th of October, 2009. I signed up, however, sometime over the summer.

Why did you get started? I got started because I was in charge of a lot of the tweets for one of my summer internships, Modelinia, and wanted to follow them from the other side. In addition to keep in touch, now I’m using it as a way to increase blog traffic and share my thoughts with the world.

Was being on Twitter different than you expected? It was not much different than I expected, although I’m impressed with the number of “legitimate” people on Twitter that there are. It is not just led by insignificant tweets from people who I could care less about. Harsh, but true.

How much time do you spent on Twitter daily? How many days a week do you log on? I probably spend about one hour on Twitter daily, but I also have TweetDeck open for most of the day. I log on everyday during the week and less on weekends.

What is the primary reason you use Twitter? My primary reason to use Twitter is because, even though I may not agree with the concept of the social media device, it has become extremely popular among real people. I didn’t want to miss out on the fun, as well as the latest news, simply because I’m being stubborn.

Do you mainly follow people you know in the face-to-face world, strangers, or a little bit of both? Anything else you like to add about your Twitter use? I follow a mix of people: (Gina Chen); friends that I’ve made through blogging, interning and traveling, and particular news channels, magazines and organizations, which I fondly support.

Is there anything  you’d like to add? I think it’s worthwhile to add that being involved with Twitter has made me more connected and in the loop because sometimes I’m just not interested in the latest party pictures that someone has posted on Facebook.  Many of my real-life friends have become such because of certain commonalities among us, but now  I can virtually socialize with others that share particularly recent interests, such as culture, travel, language and food.   In this way, I feel like it adds another dimension to my blog, as well as putting me in direct contact with readers and fellow bloggers alike.

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