One Week of Twitter

Last week for our Public Relations Writing class we were assigned to create a Twitter account and use it to follow our classmates and various PR professionals.  I already had created an account when I started taking Professor Nixon’s classes so I continued on with the rest of the assignment which was to send out 20 “tweets” and also respond to five of our classmates “tweets”.

I enjoyed this assignment so much!  First, I think that it provided a great introduction to students who do not know much about Twitter.  Twitter is an extremely useful tool in engaging relationships, asking questions, getting answers, and especially networking.

In our field, public relations, I believe that Twitter will be invaluable, if not necessary when trying to accomplish various things.  For example, I have had to do a project recently where it was necessary to use a “Twitter Search” in order to see what the masses were saying about a company/product I was researching.  I’ve also used Twitter to reach out to authors whose books I am reading and reviewing for classes and many of them have responded back to me.  Most of the people on Twitter use it as a tool to engage with others so they generally like for you to “follow them” or even “mention” them and get in contact with them.  This is great for me as I am currently looking for advice often and will be on the job hunt soon.

This past week was great because so many of my classmates were involved with Twitter.  I could see what they were “tweeting” about and even felt like I could share funny or interesting things that were PR related and they would see them.  Often I feel like I am posting interesting links and they are not being seen by anyone in particular.  This past week when I posted a question or a link to something followed by our hashtag (#PRCA3330) I would sometimes get a comment or an answer back.

I loved this assignment and I sincerely hope that my classmates will stick with Twitter so that we may stay connected.  I understand that Facebook is a fun social networking site that is easy to update your status, post photos and message your friends, however I believe Twitter can be used as a more professional platform for students especially in the public relations field.

I will certainly continue using my account to follow Professor Barbra Nixon and my classmates, as well as to follow the top trending topics, and  Professor Nixon’s suggested list of PR professionals.

*Click follow me (above) to follow me on Twitter