As members of Generation Z, we’re very used to social media platforms coming and going. We saw the extinction of Vine and the rise of TikTok, we saw Facebook be taken over by our serial-posting relatives and we saw Instagram become the must-have social media platform. But through all of our ephemeral apps, one service has survived since the era of High School Musical and Heelys.
Steinhardt sophomore Sarah Patt is a religious Twitter user who is confident that the platform is here to stay.
“I use Twitter pretty often — it’s probably the social media platform I use the most,” Patt said. “I use it a lot more than Instagram. Honestly, I feel like my Instagram feed has gotten pretty boring. Like I don’t really care about most of the photos people are posting.”
Patt believes that the freedom Twitter grants its users makes it a standout app compared to its contemporaries and thinks that as time goes on, it will only increase in popularity.
“Twitter has a lot more room for creativity and tailoring your followers to what you’re interested in,” Patt said “I’ve definitely seen more and more of my friends using it, kind of like how Instagram was really popular when we were in high school.”
While some Twitter users like Patt are avid posters, others use Twitter as something to look at but are just as dedicated to their feeds.
CAS junior Sammi Baruch defines herself as a passive Twitter user.
“I probably go on Twitter a couple of times a day, but I don’t really tweet ever — I just scroll through my feed,” Baruch said. “I really just follow celeb gossip and also my friends who retweet memes and stuff.”
Despite its longevity, some students are less enthusiastic about the platform as a medium for creativity and entertainment.
CAS junior Samantha Coulter uses Twitter when she must, primarily in professional contexts.
“I definitely use my Twitter more for professional things,” Coulter said. “I actually made my Twitter account for one of my journalism classes and use it to share some of the projects I’m working on. I definitely use Instagram a lot more. I feel like it’s a more personal platform where I just share photos from my own life.”
Coulter believes that in certain fields, Twitter is a good way to get a leg up, but she doesn’t scroll through it on a daily basis.
“I think that a lot of media professionals use their Twitter presence to their advantage because it is such a large platform, and it’s so easy to navigate,” Coulter said.
Email Hanna McNeila at [email protected].