Espejo, Roman. What Is the Impact of Twitter?

Espejo, Roman.  What Is the Impact of Twitter?  Cengage (Gale/Blackbirch/ Greenhaven)     2013 99p  $25.45  ISBN 978-0-7377-6216-7  series: At Issue #12  ms/hs  Nonfiction  VG-BN

Several articles are collected here to discuss the impact of Twitter on culture, its positive and negative features, its history and future, as well as whether it can ever be profitable.  This is one of the very few books for middle- and high-school students on this topic.  The only concern is that several of the articles are from 2009, which will quickly date this compilation.  Yet the points raised are valid: will Twitter dumb down the written language, can Twitter be profitable, can Twitter eclipse other journalistic sources, can Twitter affect politics locally, or even internationally?  This would be a good place to find information for research papers and pro/con writing.  Each chapter starts with a summary of the question presented and a biography of the writer of the article.  A list of organizations that have an interest in how Twitter is evolving, an index and a list for further reading complete the book.  One minor grammatical issue on page 30: within a space of four lines the word “spaciality” is also written as “spatiality”; granted that these are alternate spellings for the same term, but that will confuse the linguistically challenged student.

Summary: Several articles are collected that focus on the profitability of Twitter, its impact on society, its political power, its journalistic power, and its history and development.  The book gives a pro/con presentation that provides insight into this newest technology craze. Gr 7-12.    

     

Twitter                                                           --Lois McNicol