Kaitlyn Duling - How Twitter Changed the World

You can tweet through the Twitter application or website. You can also tweet through clients. Clients are owned by other companies. They might look a little unique and work differently, but they also allow you to tweet. Over the years, client apps have included Tweetbot, Tweetdeck, Twitteriffic, Tweetie, Hootsuite, Buffer, Chirp, Tweeten, and more.

Why would someone use a client instead of the regular Twitter app? Some of these clients make it easier to use more than one Twitter account at once. Others allowed you to Tweet from specific platforms, like iPhones, Androids, and Mac computers, before Twitter was available. Clients can make it possible to schedule tweets, make lists, and access other features. Clients occasionally run faster or appear to be less "buggy" than the original. Companies make these clients with the hope that users will like using their app better than the Twitter app. Sometimes, they succeed!

On a January day in 2009, an airplane crashed into the Hudson River in New York City. CNN wasnt the first to report it. The radio wasnt either. The news was broken by a photo posted on Twitter! This is just one example of the ways in which Twitter has become much more than a social media platform. Some of the most liked and retweeted, or shared, thoughts on Twitter have come from politicians. News, such as updates on weather disasters, up-to-the-minute accounts of violent incidents, and notifications of celebrity deaths have made Twitter the place to go for immediate news. Before television journalists can provide commentary, Twitter users are already talking. Analysis shows that about 87 percent of the worlds leaders are on Twitter. For those who want to interact with influential people from all across the globe, the world really is at our fingertips.

Twitter helps people stand up for what they believe is right. It has created a platform for activists to organize rallies like this one, part of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Through words, pictures, and even short videos, users can share almost anything on Twitter. People flock to the application for news, opinions, sports, election results, jokes, personal stories, and so much more. Twitter is a platform for personal voice, as well as the voices of groups. Many groups that have been traditionally left out of larger conversations, such as women, LGBTQ people, and people of color, have taken to Twitter as a tool to help them speak out. On Twitter, celebrities and politicians have voices, but everyday people do too. There are no gatekeepersanyone can join Twitter. Of course, the platform has its share of abuse, bullying, lying, and other issues. Many communication tools have these problems. In the long line of history, however, Twitter has found its place within a very specific cultural moment. It continues to gain users, break news stories, and, ultimately, encourage conversation. Going forward, it will be these conversations that decide whether Twitter will remain relevant or fade behind other upcoming social media and communication platforms.