Carol Fowler

My husband was in the 52nd Avenue Cash Wise store on Christmas Eve Day. We are in our 70s so, needless to say, it has been a year of precautions on our part. In my husband’s cart were four stuffed toys which he bought for some little kids that we don’t know well, but thought it would be nice for them to receive another gift from “Mr. and Mrs. Claus.” My husband went to the convenience counter to pay for his items. A man ahead of him was just finishing.

As one who has studied social media for several years now, I have a few opinions about Twitter that I’d like to share with the many fans of Ron’s blog, especially students. 1. Twitter matters. Now more than ever. Where did I turn for the very latest information about the horrific attack on the people of London? I’m not near a TV, but I have my iPhone (and Twitter). I recently attended a workshop by a marketing ‘expert’ who declared that Twitter was dying and Facebook is really where the action is.

Few people depend on social media like the hard-charging professionals who forecast severe weather. Meteorologists (those who earned degrees in atmospheric science) not only use social media to alert the public to life-threatening storms, but they rely on it to collect weather information central to their ability to tell their audience what’s going on. (“Hit me on Facebook. Is it raining this morning where you live?”).