Twittering

All my classes this semester intertwine from Issues and News with Schack to Digital Journalism with Vadim and then Independent Media with Cohen. The War in Iraq and the new age of online media are covered in all my classes over and over.

I was surprised when in two of my classes this year, Twitter was mentioned as a viable source for a journalism career. I always saw Twitter as a preteen fad consisting of updates on people's eating and bathroom habits. I never saw it as a median for journalism or even remotely professional. However, Tuesday I twittered for extra credit for my Digital Journalism class on Arianna Huffington.

It is hard to know where the line is between professional and "for fun" when it comes to Twitter. I was watching other people blog on Huffington and since she was an hour and 20 minutes late, people joked and poked fun at the event. I did not know what to do becuase it was easier to make those comments but it was not very profesional to say negative things on Twitter.

If Twitter is going to help in my journalism career, I want to be taken seriously and be professional on the site. However, with Twitter being both a social network and a way to expand a journalism career, it is hard to know how to do this.