A Matter of Opinion

As Twitter swiftly approaches its eighth birthday (the underwhelming first tweet was posted on March 21, 2006), it’s important to look back to how we got here. During its first years of operation, the site has stockpiled accomplishments, blowing past 500 million users, launching an IPO, and most monumentally of all, returning twelve search results in the Harvard Course Catalog. When I was eight, my biggest accomplishments to date were cutting duct tape out of my hair and stealing the girls’ kickball at recess.

Twitter issued a less start-uppy mission statement when the newly-public company officially filed for the aforementioned IPO, but the original objective simply read, “[Twitter’s goal is] to instantly connect people everywhere to what’s most important to them.” On all accounts, the site has remained true to its word, providing tweeps the virtual domain necessary for engaging in the dialogue that “is important to us.” But by deeming particular topics more “important” than others, Twitter users are inadvertently squandering a previously unimaginable opportunity to better public discourse.

Over the past few weeks, international crises have flared up in several locations. What began as a peaceful demonstration in Ukraine has rapidly erupted into violence and the Russian occupation of Crimea. Student protests in Venezuela over the astoundingly high murder and inflation rates have been raging since early February. Last Saturday, Malaysia Airlines lost contact with a passenger plane carrying 239 people, and all efforts to locate the aircraft have proven futile up to this point.

These three stories alone have the capacity not only to dramatically alter millions of lives, but reshape the international landscape in its entirety. Some scholars believe that the emergency in Ukraine holds the capacity to vault humanity into a second cold war or third world war. That merits some discussion. But according to Trendsmap, a site that aggregates the most popular topics online, the Twittersphere has been fixated on relatively inconsequential themes.

On the same day that Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Kiev, and the same day that Egypt banned Hamas operations within the country I was able to discern two ‘Ukraines’ and a ‘Putin’ on the trending topics list. Otherwise, the map is dominated by the likes of Ellen Degeneres, LeBron James, pancakes (no clue), and a playfully awkward exchange between scandalous child stars.

Unfortunately, I am not writing this piece from an intellectual high ground. My Twitter handle is as guilty of this misprioritization as even the most heinous of offenders. A Tuesday night post revolved solely around my late-night purchase of Fruit Gushers, and last week I provided my few followers with a “live tweet” of Kanye West’s interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Contrary to what Kanye himself might think, those two tweets are nothing more than mere obstacles my followers must circumvent in their quest for meaning and substance.

That being said, purposeful information is certainly available on the site provided one is willing to commit some time compiling a respectable timeline. Accounts like @CNNbrk and @NYTimes provide followers with up to the minute news alerts, and searching specific keywords allows for connections to be fostered between users sharing the same interests. In terms of real world application, Twitter aided in the coverage of the search for the Tsarnaev brothers, as well as showered Texas State Senator Wendy Davis with support in her pro-choice filibuster.

But the same site also allowed fangirls to spread their infatuation with the terrorist’s appearance and Tea Party member Todd Kincannon to fire off a slew of sexist tweets directed at Davis. Regrettably, this is the Twitter most of us have come to know and love. The most followed account on the site is pop singer @katyperry, trailed closely by pop singer-turned-potential-felon @justinbieber (probably due to his #maturity). Glad I could get two digs in there. CNN is the highest news outlet on the list, coming in at number 33 behind genuine visionaries like @Real_Liam_Payne and @Pitbull. I can’t say with confidence what Twitter founder Jack Dorsey actually had in mind when he created the site (I should have asked him on Wednesday), but I doubt he invested all those hours so Kim Kardashian could accidentally reveal the identity of the air marshal sitting next to her.

Perhaps I’m being naive. After all, Twitter’s goal was merely to connect people to whatever was important to them. If people would rather overanalyze a kiss between Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus than a potential shift in the global power structure, kudos to Twitter for providing them that opportunity. Maybe what constitutes as important has shifted, and I’m just late to the party.

But I don’t think so. What I do think, is that it’s much easier to tweet the quirky thought that pops into your head or fall into line with a mob mentality than it is to research a complex issue and formulate an opinion on it. Whether that’s right or wrong is not for me to decide. And I don’t think it even has to be decided at all. Through its very nature, Twitter will continue to adapt and change in a way that best reflects what society would like to gain from the service.

Just please, no more Justin Bieber. He is literally the worst.

Declan P. Garvey ’17, a Crimson editorial writer, lives in Canaday Hall. His column appears on alternate Fridays.