Good Tweet, Bad Tweet

The twitter phenomenon is something that looks like it's going to stick around for quite some time.

But with so many people on Twitter - athletes, celebrities, regular joes, and media members, it begs the question about how Twitter is used for "good" and for "bad"

I'll admit, I thought Twitter was pretty stupid and pointless when I first discovered it. But since I've become a member of the media, working as a sports reporter for the Daily Iowan, I've discovered its importance.

Twitter is the fastest way to get news out to other people - whether it's Tiger Woods crashing into a tree, Allen Iverson retiring, or Minnesota head football coach Tim Brewster urging fans to vote the Gophers for the Alamo Bowl.

I've used Twitter on this blog numerous times to report the latest tweets from Big Ten coaches. This is an example of when twitter is used for "good." Twitter is a great way to get inside access to coaches, athletes, celebrities for newsworthy things that reporters might not otherwise discover. I also use Twitter to market my articles that I've written for the Daily Iowan, another good way to use Twitter to further gain readership.

But there can be another side of Twitter.

It can be an avenue for malicious rumors to spread extremely easily. I didn't follow this very closely on Twitter, but I would imagine if someone tweeted that Tiger Woods had died in his car crash, it would have been "Re-Tweeted" millions of times.

The problem is that you can't silence people from tweeting and re-tweeting whatever they want, so how does this problem get solved?

Twitter users just need to be able to distinguish "good" tweeting from the media. Many twitter users in the media provide links to their stories or another person's story, this is a great way to use Twitter.

It's not just the followers fault, but the media members fault, as well. The members of the media that are on Twitter need to realize that they are being followed by sometimes hundreds of thousands of people. People are going to believe what a reputable member of the media says. Take Fox Sports writer Jason Whitlock, who tweeted during the Tiger Woods coverage...

"El broke the back window out with a golf club in an attempt to "save' Tiger. this is getting good. good thang i'm on a diet. im ready baby!! My thoughts and prayers are with El and her young child as they struggle to get through this troubling time.. I'm here if you need me."

This is bad tweeting. Whitlock is not only making light of the Tiger news (granted he might have been tweeting what many people were thinking), he is a member of the media and he is making the story about him just as much as it is about Tiger.

All in all, Twitter is used generally for good in the media, but followers just need to realize the good, the bad, and the completely malicious and untrue.