Topic: Social Network Website

For this topic, we will be choosing Twitter as our subject.

Definition of Social Network Website:
A Social Network Website is an online web that connects people around the world virtually. It is used to build social relations and social networks among people. Individuals on the internet creates a representation of themselves,usually a profile with their personal details so that people can get to know them easier and will get contact with them if they are interested. These people contacts each other via e-mail or instant messaging. Social network websites are now very popular among teenagers; Big companies are included as they have see the service provided by the websites as an alternative to get in touch with clients or attract customers. There are a lot of famous social network websites, such as Facebook, Plurk, MySpace, Blogger, Friendster, Wordpress, Twitter and others that provides the same service.


Functions of Twitter:
Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows its user to tweet --- or send/read messages, and updating their status LIVE with a limit of 140 characters per Tweet. Due to that, it is also known as "Sms of the internet" because of its similar function with standard SMS (Short Messaging Service) and users are able to Tweet with their handphones. People who "follows" a user's tweet is able to get notification of their newest update status LIVE. Because of these services provided by Twitter, many people take advantage of it, thus expanding its use.

#Campaigning.
Barack Obama used Twitter to publicize and campaigning in U.S. presidential campaign in 2008.

#Legal Procedures.
Daniel Knight Hayden was arrested by FBI Agents when he sent tweets threatening violence in a Tea Party Protest in Oklahoma city, Oklahoma on April 2009

#Education
Several universities used Twitter as a medium to improve their student's efficiency. For example, The University of Vienna, Austria, used Twitter to evaluate their student's rating, depending on the student's feedback after each course to the teacher.

#Emergency
Twitter is also used in emergency situations. E.g: eyewitnesses of the Mumbai attacks in 2008 sent Tweets of about 80 Tweets every 5 seconds about the situation. Twitter users on the ground compiled a list of dead and injured, providing emergency phone numbers and location of hospitals that needed blood donations.

#Protest
In june 2009, Twitter was used to organize DDoS attack on Iranian government websites and protest rally after a fraud in the Iranian presidential Election.

#Public Relations
Twitter is used to inform the public about incidents or accidents, such as police and fire departments in U.S, issue up to 10 Tweets daily.

#Update on Space Mission News
On 2008, NASA provides a near real-time update of their unmanned Mars Phoenix Lander mission,which got them a Shorty Award in February 2009.

#Business
Twitter is also used in business company for publicity and attract customers. Company such as Dell, used Twitter as a business promotional tool and had earned profit of 9 million dollars through the sales from Twitter and Facebook combined.

(Reference from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter)


-Prepared by Alex Mak.
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Advantages & Disadvantages of Twitter

Twitter is Easy to Join
# Advantage: It takes less than a minute to create an account with Twitter and start "tweeting." The rules of the game are pretty straightforward. Registration is instant, and there is no need to follow up with a confirmation email.

Disadvantage: because Twitter is so easy to join, virtually everyone has a Twitter account, so their server tends to get overloaded easily. It's not uncommon to have trouble connecting to Twitter's site.

Twitter is Easy to Use
# Advantage: Twitter limits its updates to 140 characters, so there's no need (or temptation) to launch into long-winded prose or to over-explain your thought. There is only one main screen, so you never have to search around for what you're looking for.

Disadvantage: Because Twitter is so simple, there is little sophistication to the presentation. Your profile is lean and mean. You can only have one photo attached to your profile at a time, and little detailed information about yourself. It's not a great way for people to get to know you, unless you are very good at expressing yourself in 140 characters or less.

Twitter Offers Free Widgets and Apps
# Advantage: With a flexible selection of free widgets and mini-applications available, it's easy to embed a link to your Twitter feed (or even a subset of the feed itself) into your personal or company web site.

Disadvantage: Tweets are everywhere. It can be hard to weed through all the Twitter updates popping up around the web.

-Prepared By Tian Jen.

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Videos Of Twitter:

# How to get started with Twitter.


# Twitter | How to Use Twitter | Twitter Basics


-Prepared by Chi Chou.
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Purpose of Twitter.

With Twitter, you can stay hyper-connected to your friends and always know what they’re doing. Or, you can stop following them at any time. You can even set up quiet times on Twitter so you’re not interrupted. Twitter puts you in control and becomes a modern antidote to information overload,” the Twitter website touts.

Twitter’s messages are short, and easy to read, but they can be informative at the same time.

“I’m an advertising rep and I use Twitter to communicate with clients; I tell them if I’m running late for a meeting, or if there’s a new advertising rate available. And I can communicate with other advertising reps in the company, who are also out on the road,” explained Emily Thompson, who added, “I also use Twitter to tell my family if I’m running late and it saves times – you can send out one message instead of five separate messages that say the exact same thing.”

Twitter also points out that, “even basic updates are meaningful to family members, friends or colleagues – especially when they’re timely.” So a student who’s away at college can ease mom’s mind by keeping her in the know about those small daily activities, and it’s quicker than making a phone call or e-mail.

And what about Twitter members who don't wish to be notified for each and every update? "I keep my notifications off on the weekends and when I'm not at work," Thompson added. Twitter members can opt to keep their notifications off all the time or just occasionally and the messages will always be available for viewing on the person's Twitter member page.

-Prepared by Hon Keat.
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