Microblogging is a new form of blogging that enable users to inform or share thoughts and information via the social media on the Internet. “It fulfills a need for an even faster way of communication compared to regular blogging. By encouraging shorter post, it lowers users requirement of time and thought investment for content generation.”(Java Akshay, Tim Finin, Xiaodan Song, Bell Tseng, Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage and Communities. August 12, 2007)
Children from ages 3 to 11 on social networks will grow 61%, adults 18 or over 49.5%, and teens 20.1% in the next five years. Social network users will also increase 44% to 115 million in 2013 from 79 million in 2008. The overall social networking population will grow 11% to 88.1 million in 2009.
Source:Online Media Daily
Microblogging in Education
Engagement is very important for students’ achievement. With microblogging, teachers and students can use social networks to ask questions, create discussions, and manage class information and announcement, and distance learning courses. In addition, microblogging helps promote active learning, increase classroom participation, and encourage faculty and student contact.
Microblogging in Business
Microblogging is also becoming popular in businesses. Microblogging serves as a human resources function in some organizations. Based on the latest Career Builder survey, 45% of employers are using social networking sites to reach potential job candidates.
In the area of marketing, microblogging also helps businesses to maintain customer relationship, manage brands, create sales, and conduct market research. According to the eMarketer Report, social networking in the United States is expected to reach $1.3 million in 2009. In addition, individuals can use microblogging services to manage projects, brainstorm ideas, and conduct analysis.
Plurkis a social journal with a horizontal timeline that allows users to send updates limited to 140 characters. It enables users to follow discussion and link responses to the original message. karma is used to measure the user activity level statistics. It is given to every user as they use the site. The purpose of karma trends is to encourage users to plurk. As your karma score increases, the more emoticons you would get. By inviting more friends and posting messages, users can reach certain karma levels that give them additional features such as the additional emoticons one can include in their posts.With its built-in features, Plurk users can:
- Link Plurk to other social networks such as Friendster, Facebook, Twitter, and Multiply.
- Share links, photos, and YouTube videos with other users.
- Create groups by segmenting friends list into cliques.
- Choose to plurk with 33 different language options.
- Create private Plurk.
- Utilize the list of qualifiers from the dropdown list.
- Customize Plurk page with free Plurk themes.
- Customize flash or html widget and embed it into blogs or websites.
- Find and invite friends via e-mail, links, and social networks.
- Plurk via instant messaging such as MSN, Google Chat, Yahoo, and Jabber.
