Junior Kristina Bannow says that a lot of the people she follows on Twitter post a lot of the same things as she does.
Photo By: Courteney Keller
By Courteney Keller
Twitter and Facebook are both social networking sites that allows students to post their opinions and ideas for others to see. So does this make anyone who posts on Facebook or Twitter a journalist?
Countless students have Twitter and or Facebook accounts in which students post their opinions and ideas to share with their peers. Sophomore Maeson Coffin who only has a Facebook account said, “I mostly post like my feelings or those to be honest things to my friends and family.” Junior Kristina Bannow who has both a Twitter and Facebook says that she posts about her life “But sometimes they are quotes I put up.” She adds, “I do it because I hope people get something out of them and sometimes I just need someone to pray for families.”
When going through and reading what others post, one may notice that some post about the same topics. Senior Geoff Espich said, “Most people I follow and follow me [on Twitter] are people who have the same general topic tweets.” Geoff says that he sees others posting about food, sports, family, tiredness, or what they are doing. Bannow says that she mostly sees “arguing and drama.”
With being able to post thoughts and opinions on Facebook and Twitter one may think carefully before posting while others do not. Espich said that he does not really watch closely what he post and “it just pops to mind.” Bannow says that she sometimes puts a lot of thought into her posts and statuses but not all the time.
After deciding what to post as a tweet or status people might reread what they have typed out. Espich says that he proof reads his tweets before posting them to check for spelling errors. Coffin said, “Sometimes depending on if I’m using something that spell checks because spell check can change one word and make it sound very bad.” Junior Nicole Snare said, “Yes just to be safe. I want to make sure what I have typed is appropriate for the public to see.”
Junior Nicole Snare says that she proofreads her tweets before posting because, “I do not want to post the wrong thing which could potentially offend someone.”
Photo By: Courteney Keller
For one posting statuses and tweets are no different than texting, while to others it is a completely different aspect of communication. Espich says that tweeting is a lot like texting somebody depending on who it is. Bannow said, “When I’m texting people I usually get deep sometimes and I am weird when I do it! On facebook I just try to put things that people will understand.” Senior Karen Calix said, “My tweets are very short. When I upload a picture on facebook I usually put a caption on it and that’s a little bit longer then tweets. When I text someone it’s different because I’m having a one on one conversation with that person and not the whole world can see what we’re talking about unlike twitter or facebook.”
Students define a journalist in many different ways. Espich says that there are several different ways of being a journalist. Coffin said, “A journalist to me is someone that goes around and asks questions about a specific topic and gets as many details as possible.” Bannow defines journalism as writing something that will get information to people. Calix said, “A journalist to me is someone who writes and shares important information about something that is important to everyone him or whoever is writing the article and sharing the news with the world.” Snare said, “A journalist is someone who writes about current events and exposes in details about what is going on in the world.”
Since one can write whatever they want on Facebook or Twitter does that make anyone who post on Facebook or Twitter a journalist?