The first presidential debate of 2012 occurred on Wednesday, October 3rd. It was my first time experience live tweeting an event. I am very new to Twitter, but I am starting to get used to it and live tweeting the debate helped me even more. It all started with my Writing for New Media class in that this was an assignment. We had to live tweet this debate and keep all of the tweets in a neutral manner.
It was really cool seeing what other people were saying about the debate while I was watching it. The fact that we had to keep all of our comments neutral was interesting and actually productive without any bias. Just laying the facts out; things candidates said, body language, appearance, ect, helped to understand what both candidates were actually about.
I think this was a great way to promote Democracy. With things like Twitter, literally everyone’s voice is “heard”. I could share what I thought was interesting and I could see what other people were thinking at the same time. I really did feel connected to my fellow viewers of the debate in a way I have never experienced before.
Prior to my Writing for New Media class I never thought I would be on Twitter. Now I find that not only am I on Twitter, but that I actually kinda like it. After my first live tweeting session I started to understand the whole hashtag thing as well. I soon realized how to search for similar interests and what other people say about the same things.
At the start of the debate I was actually excited to see what the whole experience was going to be like. I found it to be a positive experience. I can definitely see how it could be hard for some people to not be neutral though. Personally, I found it to be quite easy not to be biased in my tweets.
Ever since the live tweet of the first debate, I found myself tweeting just for the hell of it. Now I just need to figure out all of the bells and whistles.
At the same time, I looked at some of the live tweets outside of the “neutral” class zone. Wow. That opened my eyes to how crazy people can get on Twitter. I think things would be much better if people adopted the class policy of neutrality.
Even how all of the TV networks and news anchors announce what people are saying on Twitter was exciting to me. It was cool knowing that my tweet could show up on national television. I sure am glad I signed up for Writing for New Media!
