"I don't see why Twitter is useful"

At the Sigma Chi’s North West Province Conference last weekend I was encouraged to conduct workshops on skills I have developed or in areas I have experience. I don’t think anyone would show up at my workshops so instead I’ve decided to write blog posts.

The most amusing suggested topic was about Twitter. The person asked “why is Twitter useful? The only reason I use it is to follow Chad Ochocinco and Charlie Sheen. They’re hilarious but I don’t see any practical use for it.” So, I’ve taken some time to sit down and write about my thoughts on Twitter.

Twitter is a disruptive technology, it has changed the way information will be shared forever. Twitter created the first widely effective information channel not controlled by the government or media companies. It has given everyone access to more information than ever before, unfiltered by media or government. Twitter is filtered by its users. It has made information censorship essentially impossible as we witnessed in Egypt last month and with WikiLeaks last year. The speed in which information can be spread is mind boggling and without limit. Twitter is the most potentially powerful information distribution tool ever invented.

Twitter is instant. It grants users access to information more quickly than ever possible before. Because of retweets and the unrestricted ability to follow most users, information moves quickly. Retweeting allows you to re-publish someone’s tweet to your followers. After a tweet reaches your followers they can retweet it, compounding the distribution exponentially.

You have the ability to follow anyone and they have the ability to tweet anything to you. There are no censors and no external filters. You access the information you wish to access. Twitter puts revolutionary leaders on level ground with oppressive governments and sits young companies next to Fortune 500 corporations.

Twitter limits each post to 140 characters or less, forcing users to be concise. Tweets must be well written otherwise they won’t make sense. This allows readers to scan their feed quickly to find information they want to learn more about. As you build your feed, you are choosing what information you want to see. Inevitably it will only include information you’d like. Users can also use hashtags to organize information about a specific topic or event, further helping format Twitter’s instant information.

Twitter is an incredible platform. I don’t think it is yet clear what it will mean for communication, but I’m confident it means change.

it sucks to be treated like you're worthless

I love being a sister of Alpha Omicron Pi. I am proud to call myself a member of such a strong and enthusiastic sisterhood. But being a member of the MSU Greek community is incredibly disheartening sometimes, and it’s all thanks to the rest of the Greek community and the way they treat us AOIIs.

Yesterday, the teams for Greek Week 2013 were announced. We are paired with Kappa Sigma and Sigma Chi. Kappa Sigma is a nice group of guys (a few of whom have already reached out to me to begin preparations for GW, since I’m the Songfest chair). Sigma Chi is known as one of the “top” fraternities on campus and are very “fratty” in a Southern Tide/Brooks Brothers sort of way. Unfortunately, it seems to me that because they are so “popular” and “better than us,” they feel that it is acceptable to be upset that they were paired with AOII. They are grown men acting like children. They walked out of the meeting when our team was announced and some anon has tweeted rude things about the pairing. Do they realize that their behavior is not only hurtful to us, but makes them look like snotty, petty little boys? What mature, clear-thinking adult would act so childishly? If you were upset with a group you were assigned to at work, you wouldn’t just get up and walk out of the office. You wouldn’t post thinly veiled Facebook statuses about it.

This is incredibly hurtful and embarrassing to our chapter. We may not be the skinniest, or the prettiest, or the most popular. We are diverse, supportive, intelligent, driven, and ambitious. We have a strong sisterhood, and are very proud of that fact. I know the advisor to this Sigma Chi chapter would be embarrassed by their behavior, and I wonder what the founders of their fraternity would think of this situation. This is certainly not what I would expect from a group whose purpose is focused on “friendship, justice, and learning.”

I love being Greek. But when people treat my chapter like shit because they don’t think we are attractive, it makes me hate the situation I’ve put myself in, and I think, “wow… I can’t wait to graduate so I can put all of this behind me forever.”