Will Election Day Tweets Help Determine the Outcome?

Nowadays, in just a few seconds through cyberspace, the latest dimension has been added in the communication process; the emotional dimension. This instant gratification dimension is fueled by feelings, spawned by the twitter generation, the texting age, or possibly in short, the web-gen. A superhighway of social media strategies such as YouTube videos, tweets and Facebook posts, garnering reactions at lightening speeds.

According to a recent Pew Internet study, Twitter, a popular social media site for business, is used regularly by just 16 percent of the U.S. adult population. But it’s no debate that people who enjoy being “in the know” can use this resource as a way to boost their knowledge on a relevant subject matter.

Real-time Twittering has apparently become the next best way to participate in, or become a passive listener of all that is considered newsworthy or entertaining. As of lately Twitter is becoming a way of mainstream communication, especially with the elections around the corner. It was probably fractions of a second till the world shared their views on how President Obama or former Governor Mitt Romney was fairing during their debate. Whether on Facebook, tumbling, tweeting or texting, an opinion can generate emotional triggers and sway judgment, which in some cases might determine the outcome of a situation; cue upcoming election. The most recent debate surpassed 6.5 million tweets, but amazingly had the least amount of tweets compared to the first 2 debates.

According to Chelsea Janke, Social Media and Client Services for C.E.L. Public Relations stated, “The power of Twitter is it gives you connections and a road in to meeting and joining in conversation with people you would never go after, know about, or even think to contact.”

Taking part in twitter talk using hashtags gives you an instant common ground with strangers and non-strangers alike. Starting the conversation or partaking in a conversation using a hashtag as a tracker allows others to take part in the discussion while connecting with a larger audience. People are always watching the trending hashtags for great conversations and information they may not have otherwise heard or found out about for quite a while after they saw it on twitter. You can also get answers to questions that normally you wouldn’t have asked or wouldn’t know where to go to ask it… now you can get answers from industry experts, random people who just know, or even make a connection with someone asking the same question.

So, what’s all this tweeting about? How do you rate Twitter?

Published on: November 5, 2012