So a while ago I found Twitter...

Not one to shy away from technology...I usually explore all the latest social networking tools, partly because of the field I'm in and partly because I just want to know what everybody's talking about. Well that curiosity led me to Twitter a while ago but honestly I really didn't put much effort into it. When I started writing this blog I again decided to take a look at Twitter and I must say I'm a bit impressed. So what is this Twitter, you're asking. Well it's really a very very simple concept. You sign up on www.twitter.com with a username and then you update your status. It doesn't need to be an update in the Facebook kind of ' (name) is so excited I just made macaroni pie' sense. It can be an update drawing attention to any link, any site, any issue that you want to talk about. At first I thought that that was all it was useful for, to help people maco (trini word for mind people's business). But there's a function on Twitter that allows you to search! For any word...any phrase. Ok..maybe I'm a getting a little excited, but as a student of PR I'm understanding how this could be useful for our Caribbean artistes and organizations in stimulating a dialogue and getting people interested. Of course, those are the basics of what Twitter can be used for, but with already complicated lives maybe you only need it to keep track of where your favorite artiste is going to be performing this Carnival *wink* I did a search for Machel Montano..arguably Trinidad & Tobago's most popular soca star. And it turned up two measly pages of searches. Ultimately, what I'm saying is that our Caribbean artistes need to stay connected with these communication technologies if we're to make a bigger mark on the world scene. A few days ago a guy I know posted a note on Facebook asking why Soca isn't doing well worldwide. As a PR student the question captured me, as in my own humble opinion I believe that the marketing for Soca isn't right, for many reasons. Using tools like Twitter can only help in getting people talking, getting music and issues out there. The tools are there, we just need to harness them.