The Power of the Twitter Elite
The power that social media can have on our culture is now impossible to dismiss. What is most interesting is the speed of certain movements within the micro-blogging world that have the potential to entertain the entire nation within seconds or even culminate in changing lives. The Twitter elite can connect to hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of users, exploiting anything they wish to discuss and share. A public figure such as a comedian or a reporter now has similar, if not more, power than a member of parliament or even a world leader in terms of getting a message across to the people. The privacy and security scares that this leads to are evident, such as the ownership of photos in the recent twitpic scandal as well as Facebook's stealthy introductions of new software like their new facial recognition tagging function. However, on the positive side, people in real need can be helped. Comedian Rufus Hound was recently humbled by a tweet that brought him to the attention of a cancer-stricken mother trying to raise funds for treatment. So touched by this, he felt obliged to post a video in which he explained her situation and directed people to help. He also mentioned that he, as well as other celebrities, are inundated by charity requests, but confessed that this happened to be something he couldn't ignore. Within minutes, the mother was well on her way to reaching her target, as donations flooded in. This really demonstrates how far something can go when embraced by profiles on Twitter that have a high number of followers.