The Twitter Sensation

Twitter is what some may call a global media phenomenon. It is in fact a global sensation, that started out not too long ago. But how come millions of people know about it? How did the website spread globally?

It spread through word of mouth communication. People who have accounts, or who heard about the website, told their friends about it and their friends told their friends. The cycle continues. Word of mouth communication is only made stronger by another global sensation - the Internet. Through the Internet and social networking websites such as myspace, facebook and now twitter there is instant communication between people who might not be in the same room, country or even continent. All one has to do is write on their friends’ “walls” and if those friends are at that very moment on the Internet, they will get the message. Also, Instant Messaging is very popular and it increases word of mouth communication exponentially. So ideas spread much faster now then they ever used to in the past.

People were talking about the new social networking website (Twitter) for a long duration of time and with great intensity and enthusiasm. Due to the global recognition of this website, there is now a collective consumption of this kind of popular culture. Virtual local scenes are emerging on Twitter through Twitter’s use of hash-tags and lists that people are allowed to make. People of the same subculture who do not live in the same place are constantly, in a way, in the same place because of Twitter. There are many downloadable applications that allow Twitter to be on one’s mobile phone, iPad or laptop. So people are constantly communicating with one another.

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As seen, Twitter can be studied sociologically. The concept of Twitter fits in perfectly with the interaction approach of popular culture. This approach focuses on the smaller and informal processes of communication such as word of mouth. This approach depends on interactions between small groups of people and the influences they have through those small actions and does not depend on big-budget marketing. This is exactly what Twitter does. One way it does this is by the trending topics one sees on the side bar. A concept or idea that started out between a couple of people somehow spreads around a region or the world and gains global recognition.

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Intelligence & Culture

To define culture, we can point at a group of people who have mutual understandings, experiences, and beliefs. Culture shapes our way of living, and contributes in building our standards in life. The interaction between different cultures highlights major differences and similarities as well. Some people find it difficult to cross their cultural zone and prefer to maintain a formal interaction between alienated cultures. However, Some people have the ability to adapt to outsiders and interpret their gestures and attitude just the way they do with their compatriots. This is called ‘Cultural intelligence’.



It requires for a person with cultural intelligence to use his senses to understand that the people he’s interacting with are different from his compatriots. After conducting, the person can easily anticipate what the reaction of the people will be and his inferences will be stereotype-free. People who are socially efficacious among their colleagues, are the ones who end up being accepted by alienated cultures. Also, those who are detached from their culture are able to interact and adapt with other cultures. However, those who are attached to the norms of their society are mostly considered as alienated people and they have a difficult time adapting to strangers. Interaction is the most important step that a person should carry out in order to advance her or his perceptions of various cultures. People with cultural intelligence will not relay on taking training programs and learning about a cultures’ customs, but will use their own learning strategies to understand the mutuality between the alien culture and their own. Also, the study of foreigners’ body language is one way to win their trust and openness. Through that, we can make ourselves understand how to interact with other cultures and adopt with them through logical strategies and respect. We have to observe the surroundings of unfamiliar cultures and focus on what is common with our own.



What many people are not aware of is that intelligence tests and especially the IQ test rooted based on racial and cultural bigotry. The creators of the modern testing field have advocated eugenics. “Eugenics is a movement concerned with the selective breeding of human beings” (Robert Sternberg). The initial aim for eugenics is to have humans with certain traits mate together and have their offspring inherit these traits. Therefore, a better human race is formed. IQ tests that have been taken by people from different ethnic backgrounds have indicated dissimilar average scores. A study used to measure a group of students’ intelligences has demonstrated that white students with privileged backgrounds were identified for their high-analytic intelligence, and those with high scores in practical and creative skills were racially and economically diverse. Within racial groups, genetics have their influence on some factors of intelligence. However, the IQ test is not able to indicate these factors that caused differences in the results of racial groups. When a society is highly diverse, creating a closed system by concentrating one certain type of students will result in neglecting the achievements of other types of students. Thus, The society is unintentionally neglecting what other groups have to offer.



Cultural intelligence is only one segment of many intelligences out there. There are many factors that influence intelligence and individuals perceive different factors on their culture and environment. Success is our initial goal in life; intelligence can contribute in playing a big role in achieving our goals. Our thoughts that we have in mind are applied through our actions and intelligence helps us develop them to a sophisticated and more organized level.

Anger Day

What is happening in Egypt is big. Though it was expected, no one knew when or how it was going to happen. A few days after what happened in Tunisia, I found an invitation on Facebook sent to me by one of my Egyptian friends and named “Anger Friday.” I ignored it and didn’t even bother to see what the event was. I thought it was one of the silly, pointless invitations that people send on Facebook to invite you to attend a meaningless reunion. It wasn’t until I knew that the internet was cut-off from Egypt, that I decided to go into the event’s page and find out what this “Anger Day" was. 

This Facebook page was the start of the Egyptian conflict. I never imagined that through a social networking site people could organize and commit to a real, important event. Such a social network consisting of individuals connected through a variety of relationships was ironically the reason for this protesting movement to have thousands at the beginning and could’ve been millions, if it wasn’t for the cut of the internet. 

Moreover, the facebook was not the only engine for this revolution;  Ghonim's twitter page was another way for people to instantaneously follow what is happening in Egypt.

 



source: CNN





As Grazian mentioned, “Social networks and their connectors provide the structure machinery for the spread of popular fads, fashion," and in this case revolution. The inspiration of this revolution and the creator of the Facebook page was a person named Wael Ghonim who was "well-connected" i.e., enjoys a large number of network ties. These social networking ties enabled him to gather tens of thousands of people in Egypt united by one demand.



source: Al-Jazeera

 

Source: CNN



However, the invitation did not target a specific gender, age or social class otherwise, no one would've showed up because according to the interactional approach of popular culture,  the people that have the strongest personal ties are very similar to each other and therefore have access to the same information. Ghonim's power as a connector didn't depend on how many people he knew; it was how many different kinds of people he knew. Those weak social ties are more effective than the strong ones because they serve as a bridge spanning to separate social worlds.

The revolution's effectiveness came from the verity of people who were protesting. From every class, age group and different cities in the Egyptian society and who had different reasons to protest.