Head letter: Twitter-in-chief

We use social media to stroke our egos. Vacations in Hawaii. That one time you “found” Machu Picchu. Your grandparents sent you to the corner of the world so you could showcase the highlight of your life compared to the slideshow reel of the average social media user. But has this modern media mechanism gone so far as to allow a president-elect of the United States of America to solicit more than just an emotional effect?

What if you could cause a global impact with 140 characters? Parsed down to the most informationally constrained platform, Twitter has become a volatile tool of unprecedented influence.

Stock shaved off for Boeing for their inept cost controls over Air Force One constructions, China infuriated over tweets regarding Taiwanese-U.S. congeniality, and billions more under fire for Lockheed Martin on proposed cuts for our newest, most versatile fifth-generation fighter jets, the F-35 program, of which Mountain Home Air Force Base is one of five sites considered for deployment.

This is a harrowing trend. Has social media become more than just a mundane “update?” Is there any tweet and balance? We will have to leave that up to our Twitter in Chief to decide.

This story was originally published January 16, 2017 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Head letter: Twitter-in-chief."