Why Journalists (some of them) are falling in love with Twitter

Great post from the archives (April 2008) by NYU student and all around social media genius Alana Taylor on why people love Twitter:

"

The root at what has made Twitter an internet craze is not just micro-blogging. It's not JUST "that it keeps us connected" or "that I can market my business."

Twitter is big because it is instant. Twitter is hot because it allows us to be voyeurs. Twitter is changing the world because it is a platform of social equality. And MOST IMPORTANTLY, Twitter is HUGE because it has created Micro Fame."

Further down in the post, one of my favorite passages:

"

Even a person like myself who only has about 500 followers feels famous. At one point I caught myself "thanking my 100th follower." As if they were a fan. As if they followed me because I am important. As if what I say matters. When you see people thanking their followers for any reason it becomes clear that their mentality has been affected. They are already in the Micro Fame mode.

"

Read on here. Read a more recent version on the same theme -- this one specifically about Journalists -- at PBS MediaShift here.

You might or might not remember Alana was at the center of a controversy last year when she posted a critique of NYU's journalism program at PBS MediaShift. She had some good points, I think, about how the program and some of the teachers needed to catch up to today's realities.