Ever since its launch, students across different campuses and the students and faculty at the University of New Haven have found a way to incorporate Twitter, the popular social network, into their personal and professional lives.

March 21, 2011 marked the fifth year since the social network was first created by co-founders, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. None of the creators could have ever thought that their innovative idea would have such a huge impact in the way people view their news and the way they interact with people across the nation and globe.

Livingston Steele, 20, a junior at UNH said that he first joined Twitter for social networking and keeping in contact with other friends. Steele said that “Twitter is useful because of how fast information gets past along on the newsfeeds of account holders.” It was because of Twitter that Steele was able to find out about the devastation that was happening in Japan.

Twitter’s rapid speed is one of the few useful things that many enjoy, including Steele. “It’s not too personal where everyone knows your business, but it’s enough where you can get as much information as you want,” Steele said.

Gwyneth Shaw, an adjunct instructor at UNH incorporates Twitter into her Advanced News Writing and Reporting class. Shaw wants her students to see how working journalists incorporate new media for information gathering.

Twitter also allows sources to interact with journalists instead of speaking face to face in interviews. “For journalists, you have to know how to use that particular application, and you [have] to be able to see how other people are interacting. It allows you to interact without actually interacting,” Shaw commented.

This social network has allowed journalists to keep tabs on their sources as well as other news that is happening around them in real time, Shaw said. She explains that she tries to emphasize to her students just how fast information spreads and how some people in her network bring in information that she wouldn’t necessarily see otherwise from other medias.

Even students off the UNH campus have found a way to benefit from Twitter. Stephen Obeng-Agyapong, 20, a sophomore at Penn State University, State College, said he tries to make Twitter a habit by checking his account throughout the day. Obeng-Agyapong sees Twitter as a source to consume his time when he is free in between classes and football practices. “It gives you something to do when you’re not really doing anything. Twitter is like my own personal news,” Obeng-Agyapong said.

Like Steele and Shaw agreed, Obeng-Agyapong said that Twitter is faster with giving people news, and people are constantly finding out information as seconds go by. He said that people on Facebook don’t usually update their status as quickly as people on Twitter do.

Obeng-Agyapong likes the fact that Twitter is not too complex or revealing, but it’s simple enough for anyone to use. He also said that people can benefit from Twitter, but he doesn’t feel like they should have to sign up for an account.

Whether people are tweeting about what they are doing at that exact moment or writing about national news, Twitter has made an impact on the way people receive and spread their news. This social network is growing at a rapid pace, and it seems to have no intention in slowing down anytime soon.