Twitter
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Essays, Twitter, Blogging, and Power Points...oh my!
Having written essays, blogs, tweets and created a Power Point so far this semester, I find it a little hard to compare these four mediums for the simple fact that they are so different. But here goes!

It's natural for me to feel the most comfortable writing an essay simply because I've been doing it for so long. I know how to express myself the best writing an essay, possibly because it's often very structured. Of the four mediums mentioned above, an essay seems to be the one taken the most seriously in the professional world because it's been around the longest and is the most “old fashioned”.

Twittering is a completely new experience for me. I actually find it the most fascinating because it just seems so surreal to cram a thought process into 140 characters. On one hand, it allows the reader to read one or two sentences and get the main point of the tweet. But in some instances, it might not be enough information to inform the reader of an event, thought, opinion, etc.

After reading my classmates' blog posts, it seems pretty apparent that Power Point is definitely not the preferred medium to use for writing/presenting. I have very little experience with it, having made literally 4 or 5 in my entire life. To be honest, it scares me a little bit and I don't really mind keeping my experiences with Power Point to a minimum. It tends to become very redundant because teachers or other students often read right off the slides and don't add any information. Many people also take advantage of Power Point's features a little bit too much and make presentations really flashy and intricate.

Blogging is beginning to grow on me. I like it because it allows the writer to expand on their thoughts, unlike Twitter, but is still much more informal than a typical essay. It seems like some of the conventional rules of writing go out the window when blogging. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing because it allows some people to get into their groove a little bit more and express themselves more effectively.

Twitter example
Downloading is illegal but that does not seem to stop the general population from stealing the songs, movies and t.v. shows that they want.

Comparing Essays, Blogs and Twittering

So far this semester we have experienced writing in a few different mediums. In doing so it is easy to see how each type of writing influences the way in which one handles the assignment. Take the essay we wrote for example. I noticed that while writing that, I felt more careful to use proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. When given an essay assignment, the school mode automatically kicks in. Essays are, in my mind, associated with school and grades and using everything that I have learned in English class starting with grade school, in it. After writing it I proofread it multiple times and made many corrections. Essays have definite standard of doing everything correctly.

While comparing essays to the blogs we have written, there is a definite difference seen. I have never written a blog before this class, but I find them to be more laid back. They are an opportunity to write your opinions, thoughts and ideas down in not necessarily such a structured format. There are no rules to writing a blog. Transitions, topic sentences, a thesis and other essay type criteria do not seem necessary. They are a way to get your mind cleared and for those who are interested to read and even respond. I find them to be more casual and conversation like.

Twittering is an even more foreign experience for me. I found it difficult to summarize one of the topics in class within 140 characters. While twittering, I noticed the length of what you write becomes more important that what is actually written. I found myself editing and chopping more and more off just to make sure it fit within the requirement. While I do not think twitter will ever become a valuable part of the education system, I do see how it can be entertaining. It is an easy way to keep track of people or let others know what you are doing. I do not think it is an effective way to summarize an article, but it is an easy way to keep in touch and up to date on your friends and family members.

What is Best?

Twitter, Essays, Blogs, and PowerPoints? Where is a person to begin with all of the options that are open to us today to communicate? Twitter is short & sweet and generally about what the owner is doing and/or writing. Essays are formal and used to disseminate large amounts of information. Blogs can be informational or simply about the writer's point of view. PowerPoints are meant to convey information to audiences quickly. Which is the best one to use?

I have never used Twitter simply because to me it implies that I am self-absorbed. Not to say that what I say is true. I have seen people use Twitter to let people know about events, posts on blogs, breaking news and more. I simply prefer not to be limited to 140 characters when I can have as many as I want using other forms of media.

Essays are more where my interests lie. Essays can be any length needed. They can be full of pictures, too much information (at times), and complex ideas that Twitter cannot support. Essays can get long-winded and disorganized Twitter cannot become long-winded--there is not enough space to! The happy medium for me are Blogs.

Blogs allow writers to write as much as they need as well as embed video, pictures, audio, etc. Blogs can link ("I link therefore I am") to outside websites to make things clearer or expand on a point. Blogs can get to a lot of people like Twitter. Blogs can be as long as necessary like an essay. These things make the blog a favorite of mine: large audience and however long I want.

PowerPoint, oh PowerPoint...what can I say. PowerPoints force users to follow a format in some ways. .PPT can be uploaded to the internet and even embedded in webpages to play on demand. PowerPoint is a love and a bane of mine. When I use PowerPoint I get caught up in the design details, what to put on the slide, how I want the slide to look, the order that the slides appear. The list goes on. PowerPoint forces a form like Twitter, but it also lets the writer go on and on (if need be) like an Essay. When people use PowerPoint they tend to read from the slides rather than expanding on the information on the slides. We all saw this in class recently. Many people, my own group included, read right from the slides and only deviated when we got to the final part of each presentation: questions and discussion.

In the long run people are drawn to the types of media that allow them to do what they need to do. In my case, I like to make sure that I am clear so I prefer blogs or essays. Others want quick--short communication that Twitter provides. Businesses want everyone to get necessary information so they use PowerPoint. Others still prefer Essays to explain complicated information.

Virtual Tweet!

Future of P2P: Who Really Controls Digital Media? Can the RIAA stop people from downloading their favorite TV shows, video-games, and music?