As I started thinking about Agenda Setting, and doing some research I thought about the ability of Twitter as an entire outlet for agenda setting, not only by the media but by just about anybody. Posts on Twitter have the ability to become "trending topics," in which a large population of Twitter users are discussing the same matter. These "trending topics" become the most important topics on Twitter, whether locally, or nationally. This is essentially online agenda setting. Someone, usually a celebrity, or news outlet with a large number of followers post something that they would like to see discussed, and spread all over Twitter. People pick up on these posts as the most important news and "re-tweet" and publish the news throughout their Twitter accounts. Often the most important topics on Twitter are involving celebrity gossip, but it is the celebrities themselves, or personalities like Perez Hilton who take the opportunity to set the agenda for celebrity news gossip. When serious news breaks, news networks relay the most important facts via Twitter. Since the 2008 elections, politicians have also adopted Twitter as a way to set the agenda for their policies and provide their followers with snip-its of the issues they want voters to focus on.
As an example, I found a blog post about Twitter's Agenda Setting power and its influence on a local front in Austin, Texas.
http://socialmediaprclass.blogspot.com/2009/03/twitters-agenda-setting-power-example.html
-Emily Andrews-Rice
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