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Forum
September 14, 2018
Contrasting Opinions: Is Twitter Relevant?
By Niko Sarmenta Staff Reporter Of all the social media platforms I own, Twitter may be my favorite. I’ve been using Twitter for about three years now. I’ve used other social media websites, but nothing has drawn me in as much as Twitter has. When I first used Twitter, I had fallen in love with the idea of posting whatever is on your mind whenever you want. The simplicity of Twitter allows me to share anything I want in a concise matter. Three years later, the same still applies. I find myself scrolling through my timeline for endless content whether it be news, funny videos or friends chatting. Whatever I want is in the palm of my hand. Twitter still shows to be relevant to this day despite certain people believing it to be a cesspool of fake news. If you’ve been around the block for as long as I have, you are bound to have seen some questionable tweets on your timeline. While Twitter may be a good place to read the news, you always need to remind yourself that Twitter isn’t just a news website. Twitter is where many communities reside. That being said, there are many trolls which like to poke fun at gullible Twitter users. While that may seem like a reason to not use Twitter, you can always block trolls to never see them again. Accounts such as those don’t stop
Editorial Administration and the school board make it so hard for students to drop AP classes or lower their class rigor, even when it threatens a student’s academic life. Some students wish to pursue classes that better suit their career paths or drop an AP class to take the regular course of the same subject
you from seeing actually valuable information on Twitter. Twitter itself also has a news tab, which they call “moments,” that gives Twitter users an easier way to see news and entertainment hand picked by Twitter itself. Most of the news that I see comes straight from that tab. Even before ‘moments’, it was easy to find real news articles on Twitter. Most news sites have their own verified Twitter account where they post newly published articles. Even if you do not care about the news, Twitter is still one of the most relevant social media platforms next to Instagram and Facebook. It’s not just a place for news, but a place for open discussion. Twitter has been used as an open forum for anyone to converse. Like previously stated, many communities have sprung up from Twitter. People with common interests use Twitter as an easy way to communicate with each other. I’ve met many cool people on the internet, and most of them came from Twitter. Using Twitter helps people communicate with others concisely because of the limited character usage. Trying to convey a message in just 280 characters is challenging, but over time, you just get used to it. It’s what makes Twitter unique compared to other social media. When you are limited to what you can say, you tend to think about it more. I use Twitter as a means of communication to the rest of the world. I love scrolling through my timeline to see what the world has to say next. Twitter has been a go-to app for me since I’ve made an account, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
because that course will not aid them in college. Students should be able to freely make that decision on their own, for high school is supposedly another step to preparing students for the real world and in the real world, students need to be able to make their own, independent decisions. Through making these decisions, students should also not have to jump through hoops in order to carry out their plans. The school board should encourage
By Jaspreet Kaur Staff Reporter 280 characters can change the world. 500 million tweets daily, bringing insight to the world and expressing a variety of views. But in this ever growing number of tweets, therein lies a common person: one who looks up to the minds behind the tweets, often not knowing who is behind the thread and what their agenda might be. There are people who build and destroy nations. Social media platforms like Twitter shape our opinions, but often in the wrong direction. Existing on Twitter, many terrorist groups have Twitter accounts, and often their posts are centered to people of a certain religion, area and age. The most targeted age group is that of youth; for example, ISI overtime has been tweeting for Muslim youth to join the Fight of Jihad. These institutes have the courage to take responsibility for different attacks on such social media platforms. With advance in technology it is now possible to tweet something anonymously. Today in world of nuclear powers this is an issue of great stress; there have been some stalking instances on Twitter. Even with the new security features developed, many people have created fake accounts. There are several sexual predators who create random accounts, and such accounts can be viewed easily even without a follow request. These contain age restricted material that is not
students and help them in their endeavors, instead of making the process difficult on them. In order to drop an AP class, a lot of work is involved on the student’s part and many students do not just drop their AP classes because they want to have it easy that year. A student could be dropping for a number of valid reasons, such as they are already taking too many academically rigorous classes or they wish to take a different class more suited to what the student plans to study in
suitable for kids, but many kids often create accounts even with strict security. In life there is no limit to words to express oneself, but apparently Twitter has one. With a set word limit to tweets, it is quite difficult to express your thoughts in such a short margin. Thoughts that need an anecdote cannot be properly shared because of this limit. Like many people, I created a Twitter account. Super excited to get a peek into the life of celebrities, it turned out to be a disappointment for me. Many people use it extensively, but it turns out to not be very useful to teens like me. I found myself annoyed at notifications during class telling me random strangers followed my account. In my life Twitter lost its voice in the loud clatter of other social media, but it’s fun sometimes to challenge my inner writer to write my story in just 280 words. Statistics say that the United States has the highest number of Twitter users in the world, 72.3 million. My home country India has the 2nd largest population in the world, yet only 10.1 million people use it. For me it is a platform to help me follow my favorite Kpop group, but there’s a world beyond that. It is a hub of political debates, of scandals. It is a platform to criticize government, to criticize opposition (India being a multi party system). President Modi even addressed some people who reached out to him on Twitter. Still, it rests as a dormant social media platform. Being a Kpop fan I often struggle to translate Korean tweets. The translation offered when converted to English doesn’t always make sense, because it often changes the grammatical sense of the tweet. Moreover, Twitter is a complicated social media not exactly considered appropriate for teens in India.
college. Getting in the way of a student pursuing a specific career path is not beneficial for the student in any way. To increase student success and better prepare students for their futures, the administration board of the school should be more lenient and helpful in letting students drop their AP courses for valid reasons. 12 out of 12 members of the editorial board agree
Spokesman Staff 2018-2019 Editors-in-Chief Amanda Talalaj* News Editor Amanda Talalaj Associate Editors Santiago Cuevas* Giuliana Geati* Feature Editor Santiago Cuevas Focus Editor Kamila Walus* La Voz Editor Faviola Gutierrez* Arts Editor Claudia Chan*
Forum Editor Nicole Massat* Sports Editor Giuliana Geati Assistant Sports Editor Jackson Gross* Web Editor Andrea Mendoza* Copy Editor Ben Karp* Adviser John Uhrik Entertainment Editor Leslie Hernandez*
Advertising Editor Jasmin Yusef* Staff Reporters Alexis Knight Katie Meyer Niko Sarmenta Jordyn Rogers Brianna Eloiza Jaspreet Kaur Ana Cozariuc Jared Moser Claire O’Donnell
*Staff members with asteriks are members of the Editorial Board
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