Twitter has become a major player in the field of social networking. In fact, Twitter has become a tool in many areas that you may not have even thought about.

Education

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a university in China, used Twitter with native Chinese students to help them learn communication and cultural competence. The University of Vienna, Austria, used Twitter as an assessment platform for student grades. The University of Texas at Dallas incorporated Twitter into the classroom environment of History courses with large groups of students. And, according to telegraph.co.uk, Twitter has been included in the new primary school curriculum.

emergencies

According to a research report published in ‘New Scientist’, blogs, maps, photo sites and instant messaging systems like Twitter do a better job of disseminating information during emergencies than the government or traditional media. During the California wildfires in 2007, people kept their neighbors informed of their whereabouts through Twitter. The American Red Cross began using Twitter to exchange minute-by-minute updates on local disasters. In 2008, during the Mumbai attacks, reports on Twitter exceeded 16 tweets per second. The Victoria Country Fire Authority in Australia used Twitter to send regular updates and reports on the February 2009 bushfires.

campaigning

In 2008, Twitter was used in the US presidential campaign. Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama used it to generate publicity. In 2009, the Republican Party in Connecticut created 33 fake Twitter accounts in the names of Democratic Party members of the state legislature. They used them to send bogus tweets on behalf of Democrats. The Nader-Gonzalez campaign used Twitter to send updates to their ballot access teams in real time.

Legal procedures

In April 2009, the first criminal proceeding stemming from posts on Twitter began. Daniel Knight Hayden was arrested by the FBI and charged with sending threatening tweets regarding his plan to attend a Tea Party protest in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In July 2009, Horizon Realty Group sued a former tenant, Amanda Bonnen, for defamation based on tweets sent to her friends. Horizon sued for $50,000 but the case was ultimately dismissed.

These are just some of the current uses of the Twitter website. As Twitter continues to grow around the world, the list of uses will also continue to grow as innovative new ways to use the technology are discovered.