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OUTLINE

I. Twitter as one of the most used micro bloggingsite

a. Twitter, as definedby Twitter

b. The good of 140 charactersonlyc. The rising of smartphonesmarket adds popularity to Twitter

i. Reasonswhy smartphonesadds popularity to Twitter

II. In manyinstances, Twitter is used for more than just to tell whats happening.

a. BarackObamauses Twitter in gainingmassesin his presidential campaign,2008

b. The usageof Twitter in passingof the HealthcareBill, 2010

c. The emergenceof the IndonesiaUnitemovement,2009

d. Aboveare only small exampleson how Twitter is used more than just a micro bloggingsite

III. Expectationson Twitter are high

a. Hillary Clinton consideredcommunicationtechnologyto be important

b. The request madeby U.S. State Departmentto halt routine shutdown

c. The expectationsmay be realistic, since informationis getting more open

d. However, since it is new, manyexpectationsare still far out of reach

e. Nevertheless, expectationsare growing, and Twitter will becomemore prominent

Twitter and its GrowingPopularity

In the last one or two years, Twitter has gained prominenceas one of the most used micro bloggingsite in

the world1, with around 18 million membersby the end of 2009.2 Twitter is a real-time informationnetwork

powered by people around the world which uses only 140 characters to report on whats happening.3

While many people are questioning why Twitter only limits writing to only 140 characters, for me there is a

good side of it: to keep the update runningwhile you are on-the-go. The rising prominenceof smartphones,

1 Brian Braiker, Twitter Nation,Newsweek(July 2008).2 AdamOstrow,18 Million Twitter Users by End of 2009.Mashable, September14, 2009.

http://mashable.com/2009/09/14/twitter-2009-stats/ (accessedMarch25, 2010).3 Twitter, About Twitter.Twitter, 2010. http://twitter.com/about(accessedMarch25, 2010).

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such as BlackBerry and Apple iPhone makes Twitter even more popular. The easiness of tweeting from

any places possible, the ability to check on updates at any time, and the briefness of information to send

and to read are only some reasons why in these days using a smartphoneto access Twitter has gained

popularity.

The rising popularity of Twitter makesit often used for more than just to tell people whats happening. For

example, Barack Obama, currently the 44th President of the United States, used Twitter in campaigningat

the Democratic presidential primaries, where he was able to defeat Hillary RodhamClinton, and used it to

gain masses in the 2008 presidential election, where he defeated Senator John McCain.4 Obama later

found Twitter to be useful in 2010 in passingthe HealthcareBill, where the White HouseconsideredTwitter

a logical extensionof their campaignstrategywhere they used the Internet and viral videos to spreadtheir

messagesas quickly and as thoroughlyas possible.5 Not only in the U.S., many Indonesiansfound Twitter

as a powerful tool to organize an online movement, as happened to the emergence of the online

IndonesiaUnite movement, after the wake of the 2009 KuninganBombing.6 The movementwas one of the

most prominent topics in several days followingthe tragedy, and gained popularity also outside Indonesia.7

Those are merely small examples of how Twitter has been used for more than just a micro blogging site,

from gainingmassesto creatingonline social movements.

Looking at Obamas Change we can believe in campaign through Twitter and many other social

networking sites, expectations on the usage of Twitter and these other sites are high now. One of them

comes from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who considered that communication technology is

important in promotingdemocracy.8 Hillary Clinton was not just putting a statement, at the turmoil of 2009

Iranian presidential election; The U.S. Department of State went as far as telling the representatives of

Twitter to halt the routine shutdown of Twitter,9 because many people were using it as an information

channel to inform what was happening in Iran. The expectation itself may be realistic, since with Twitter

4 INSEAD,HowObamaUsedSocial NetworkingTools to Win.INSEAD, July 10, 2009.

http://knowledge.insead.edu/contents/HowObamausedsocialnetworkingtowin090709.cfm(accessedMarch25, 2010).5 The Jakarta Globe, White HouseLeanedon Twitter to Pass Health Bill, The Jakarta Globe, March23, 2010.6 AshleeBetteridge,NationalismSwells Online in Wakeof Attacks,The Jakarta Globe, July 19, 2009.7 Desi Anwar, Desi Anwar: UnitingIndonesia,The Jakarta Globe, August 14, 2009.8 RichardG. Lugar, Twitter vs. Terror,Foreign Policy, January6, 2010.9Ibid.

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information is getting more open, that everybody can access anything, anywhere, at any time. However,

since this Twitter phenomenonis relatively new, some of the expectations are perhaps still out of reach.

Nevertheless, the expectations are growing, and Twitter will become more prominent in many years to

come, as to other social networkingand micro bloggingsites.

MatthewHanzel

Student of Dept. of InternationalRelations

Faculty of Social and Political Science

Universitas Pelita Harapan