Twitter Research

Twitter is a social networking site that focuses on just text based comments. The messages aka Tweets are allowed to be up to 140 characters which many people may find is too few. 

Your profile where you can see
all the recent tweets.

Twitter allows all of its members to communicate with friends and family. Many celebrities also use twitter and people can use twitter to find out what the celebrities are doing and to find out any news about them. 

Celebrity Twitter Pages. Lady Gaga
with over 6 million followers.

Unlike blogs you are able to see many different peoples tweets in one place. This is less stressful as it means you do not need to go rummaging through everyones profiles and is much easier to navigate.  In Twitter you are able to send direct messages to other people which you are unable to in most blogs.
 Also Twitter includes location technology which means that you can see where other people are, this can be considered good as you can see where your friends are but also other people who you may not want to know where you are will be able to, people may also debate that this can lead to stalkers or burglaries. 
Due to celebrity endorsement the amount of twitter users has greatly increased. The number of tweets per day has incresed momentously since last year from 15 million in july last year to nearly 100 million in july 2010.

Chart showing the increase in Tweets Per Day

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Twitter 

There are many advantages about Twitter. Twitter is a very easy program to use with registration fast and simple. The search engine makes it easy to find the people you are looking for and so can communicate easier. You can personalise your profile just like you can do in blogs so you can make it specifically how you want.

There are disadvantages too. Twitter is a text based site and means you are unable to share photos, videos etc which you can do using a regular blog. Also your tweets are limited to only 140 characters which only allows you to write very little. So this program is definitely not good if you intend to write large amounts. Also like blogs some people may find it effort to update their profile all the time, this may lead to the loss in your followers.


Twitter is quite a controversial topic and often arrises in the media. Especially when important people say disrespectful things in their tweets. 


One recent story where twitter got in the news was from Kevin Pietersen when an outburst on his twitter page led to controversy and anger. The link below show the whole story.
Kevin Pietersen Twitter Outburst


Another news story i have found is about the criticism that the west midlands police have endured by creating twitter pages for dogs. Many people have been complaining that the police should be doing something worthwhile instead of 'cringeworthy nonsense' of creating twitter accounts for dogs. 
Police Set Up Twitter Page For Dog

Today 6/09/10

List Of Gadgets

Today i focused mainly on adding gadgets to my blog. I did this using the design tab in blogger. 

Blog List Screenshot

The first thing i added to my blog was a "blog list". This is useful as it gives direct links to other peoples blogs and you can see when others have edited their blogs.I have added members of my class to my blog list so that i can easily share my ideas and see what other members of my class have done. This also makes it easy to get feedback on my work from others and get help if needed. At the moment i have only added four people but i intend to add more next lesson. 

Newsreel Screenshot

Another gadget that i added to my blog was the "Newsreel". This gadget shows local new and information relevant to what news it is searching for. I left the newsreel search expression on default which means my newsreel shows information about "Apple", "Microsoft" and "Google".
I also added a slideshow to my blog which i think makes my blog look more interesting. i intended to put relevant ICT pictures on my slideshow but it would not allow us to do this at school so i just added a default slideshow to my blog. 

Slideshow Screenshot

Overall i feel that all the things that i added to my page today will help me. Whether that is by providing me information, making the page look more presentable or showing all the information i need in one place.

Blog Research

Blog Definition : "a shared on-line journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies; "postings on a blog are usually in chronological order" "
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

How Are Blogs Different To Normal Sites: Blogs are different to normal sites as they can be easily edited and people are allowed to post comments on others posts. Blogs allow people to share information with people all over the world.

Why Do People Use Blogs: People can use blogs for many different reasons. The main reasons are to share information, images, videos etc. It also allows others to share opinions and express how they feel. Many people also read blogs as they find the information and/ or writer interesting.

Advantages of Blogs: Blogs are quick and easy to create, you are able to eaily share information. And many feel that it can make the reader better informed. It is a good way of communicating with others and also enables others to comment on what you have done this is particularly useful for my task as my teachers can comment on my blog and help me improve. Many people also make friends using blogs and find others with similiar opinions or interests.

Disadvantages of Blogs: Blogs can be quite hard to maintain. For big blogs you would need to update your blog regularly as otherwise you may risk losing potential readers. Another disadvantage is that obviously you will need a computer to view a blog so not everyone will be able to access blogs. Some blogs also may contain material that others might find offensive.

News Stories About Blogs

Harry and Charlie are the "Youtube" phenomenen who gained a massive 250 million hits. They have now became so huge that the boys have their own blog where the upload new pictures and videos. Click the link below to take you to the artical
Charlie Bit Me Boys Get Their Own Blog


A stalker who used an online blog to write about harrasing, raping and murdering a woman who he has hounded for two years is facing jail. Click the link below to read more.
Stalker Blog Told Of Rape And Murder

Blogging is becoming more popular everyday. But now people are managing to make money from their blogs. People are being paid by big companies to put adverts on their blogs and when others click on these adverts you are able to earn money. "Amazon offers a large affiliate program, where people can receive up to 15% of the sale price of an item as commission by referring their readers to the site." To read more click on the link below.  

Using Blogs To Make Money