The increasing role of Twitter in our society has positively changed the way we receive breaking worldwide news

The tweet that first broke the news of Osama Bin Laden's
death in 2011.

        Twitter is one of the world’s largest social networking sites, connecting over 288 million active members. With just one search of a keyword, these members can view tweets from anyone on the planet, from Australia to Zimbabwe. Because of this, Twitter users are connected to everything that is happening in the world. With this constant connection to the world, Twitter has rapidly become the most common source of breaking news.

Twitter has taken over traditional methods, such as newspapers and television, of breaking news

        As the calendar turned from 2010 to 2011, a report from Mashable revealed that, for the first time in history, more people were getting their news from the Internet compared to newspapers. Print newspapers are a dying breed; in fact, many companies such as the New York Times and the Washington Post have online newspapers that allow quicker, more convenient access. This takeover is a result of how quickly one can access new information. With print newspapers, the public has to wait until the morning after an event to read about and learn what has happened. But with online newspapers that update as new information is available, the public is always informed as to what is currently going on in the world. This "quickness" is the same reason why Twitter has begun to surpass online websites. On May 1st, 2011, at 10:24pm, Keith Urbahn, an aide for former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. Within minutes, this tweet (pictured above) went viral. Before the major broadcasting stations such as ABC, CBS, and NBC even reported the news, 21 minutes after Urbahn's tweet, millions of people had already known. A study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology confirm that people who broke this news on Twitter were able to convince many other Twitter users of its truth before confirmation came from mass media.

More people today prefer to receive breaking news via Twitter and other social media sites

        A recent survey conducted at the University of Maryland asked college students what their most common source of breaking news was. Of all the participants, exactly half said that it was Twitter and other social media. Television news coverage and "word of mouth", two of the more traditional sources prior to the current "digital age", were the least common sources for learning breaking news at 13.9%. With the up-and-coming and younger generation using Twitter at a much higher rate than those who are older, the number of people who follow breaking news over Twitter will only increase over the next couple of years. 

        52% of participants of a another recent survey conducted at UMD claimed that they followed at least one news account, such as @CNN, @WashingtonPost, etc., on their personal Twitter account. Of those who followed at least one of these accounts, 58.8% followed multiple ones. The participants in this survey were mostly college students, and the number of people who use Twitter to follow news accounts will again continue to increase as we head deeper into the "digital age" generation.When asked about how receiving breaking news information has changed over the past 5-10 years, Falan Garner, a UMD student, says it has become easier, since it is only a "refresh" away.

                                      

Many studies and first-hand accounts report that Twitter can be used to aide people that are being put in danger due to some current breaking news event

        With Twitter at their fingertips, millions of people are able to access information that could potentially be life-saving. A study done by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder examines the role Twitter played in helping citizens affected by the Red River flood in 2009. During the flooding, many local cities declared states of emergencies, and many citizens were evacuated. When these warnings began to appear, many local individuals began tweeting more about flood-related issues. Some of the topics that were tweeted about include sandbagging, a way to prevent flooding, evacuation information, and other related subjects. One Twitter account, a user under the name @kathy123, lived through the 1997 Red River flood, and used her experience to help others prepare for the 2009 flood. For example, nine days before the flood, she asked people to volunteer to sandbag the Red River Valley. For the next seven days, this user continued to seek volunteers on Twitter to help the community prepare for the flood, before finally evacuating herself. Because of tweets from @kathy123 and other local Twitter users, thousands of people had quick and easy access to relevant information as soon as it was available. This was especially important because the flood disallowed people from being able to sit at home and watch the news on the television or read about it at a desk on a computer. With these citizens always on the move, Twitter became an important sources of mobile, breaking updates. 

Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton's tweets as
he walked around Baltimore amidst the rioting.

        In a recent poll, many people admitted to following an ongoing, breaking news event on Twitter. Some of the events that people followed included presidential speeches, bad weather, sporting events, the Nepal earthquake, the Malaysian Airlines plane disappearance, and the Boston Marathon bombing. However, the most common and most local response was the Baltimore Riots. During the riots, many reporters on the scene tweeted updates as to what was going on and where it was happening. As a result of these almost minutely updates, citizens of the area wishing to remain safe knew exactly where to avoid. Matt King, a student here at UMD, used Twitter to follow the Baltimore events everywhere he went because of his connection to the area. 

        Because it connects millions of people at a time, Twitter is one of the fastest sources of information. With our generation becoming more and more reliant on mobile devices, Twitter is quickly becoming our easiest source of breaking news.

Save Yourself the Time, Money, and Reputation: Crowdfunding A Musical Project Isn’t Worth It

• Running a crowdfunding online account such as Kickstarter is “a part-time, if not a full-time, job”
• Starting a crowdfunding campaign can be very expensive
• Potential failure is a huge hit to reputation 

Crowdfunding is a current trend among up-and-coming musicians where people can make online pledges or donations to help fund musical projects, such as fees for using a recording studio, travel costs for going on tour or having a concert, or hiring a producer to get an album mastered.

Kickstarter is one of many online websites that allow musicians to crowdfund projects. Though it may seem like a quick, easy way to make money, starting a crowdfunding project can take a lot of time and effort, which cuts into time that musicians could spend working on their music. On top of that, failure to meet a deadline for a monetary goal or project completion can negatively impact the musician’s public image.

Time spent starting and running a crowdfunding campaign could be better used working on music

Setting up and running a crowdfunding account online requires hours of time and attention everyday. An article by Salvador Briggman reveals that being in charge of a Kickstarter account is “a part-time, if not a full-time, job.” Andrew Levin and Justin Altus, founders of Snapshotr who used Kickstarter to start their company, say they spend hours daily responding to up to 50 emails from pledgers. Terra Roche, a member of the band Afro Jersey, also spends a ton of time working on her crowdfunding. In an article on NPR music, Roche reveals she needed a three-ring binder with lists of amounts and people who donated to keep her crowdfunding campaign organized. A musician’s main focus should be on their true job, which is making and performing their music. Spending too much time worrying about funds can have a negative effect on the quality of a musician’s music.

Failure to reach a goal or release an album on time is damaging to a young musician’s confidence and reputation

When a recording group starts a crowdfunding campaign, they are often inexperienced and don’t know how much they should ask for. On Kickstarter, if a campaign fails to reach its monetary goal by its deadline, all the pledgers get their money back and the campaigners are left with nothing. According to Sam Tall, CEO of Under the Window Records and a music business student at New York University, failure to meet a goal often “demotivates talented [musicians]” and allows them to believe “they’re not worth anyone’s time.” Though Tall agrees that crowdfunding has been an important part of the music industry for the past couple years, he believes that the practice is “on its way out” because there is still room for growth for more traditional business models.

            Failure to meet deadlines can also damage reputation. All failure is public; that is, all of their pledgers will know if a group fails to reach their donation goal. As a result, it will be much more difficult for the group to attract investors for any other future projects. This could also happen if a group is successful in meeting their donation goal, but cannot meet their project completion deadline. A study on the dynamics of crowdfunding by Ethan Mollick reveals that over 75% of founders who fulfill their obligations to funders deliver their products later than expected. This ties in with the vast amount of time founders spend advertising for donations instead of working on their product. If a band releases an album months after they announced they would during their crowdfunding campaign, they would lose support and be less likely to fund future albums and other projects.

Getting the train rolling on a crowdfunding campaign is awkward

            Besides potentially being reputation-damaging, starting a crowdfunding campaign can be embarrassing. People are not just going to stumble across a groups’ Kickstarter page and make a donation; the group needs to actively go out and promote it. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research states that over 31% of start-ups’ funds come from friends and family, which makes failure even more embarrassing because of the personal relationship the group has with many of its pledgers.  Terra Roche failed to meet her goal of $21,000, and said that she felt “strange” asking her friends on Facebook for money.

          

            A couple groups have had success with crowdfunding, such as Amanda Palmer and here band, The Grand Theft Orchestra, who created a Kickstarter account with a goal of $100,000 and ended up raising close to $1.2 million. That $1.2 million was able to circumvent the revenue fees and artistic control of a major label. However, these success stories are few, so if you are an aspiring musician, save yourself the trouble and follow a more traditional path.

Research Shows Both Men and Women are Negatively Affected by Beauty Industry Advertisements

      A growing body of research has shown that men and women often feel inadequate when compared to images of models in beauty industry advertisements. The companies Abercrombie and Fitch and Stephen Knoll both use images of almost "perfect" people in their advertisements. 

  

    The Abercrombie and Fitch advertisement on the left shows a model with large muscles, six-pack abs, and a hairless chest, an almost unattainable body for the average male. By seeing this advertisement, many males are discouraged by their own, personal image.

      Likewise, the Stephen Knoll advertisement on the right shows a model with flawless, flowing hair and perfect skin. Studies show that women who view images like this are also discouraged and change the way they view their own bodies.

      These advertisements use images of immaculate, unblemished models. Because of this, companies are negatively changing consumers' attitudes about their own bodies and behavior. 

Hi! My name is Michael. I am a freshman at UMD majoring in mechanical engineering. My interests are baseball, basketball, good food, and being active. I hope to learn more about social media and journalism in this class.