Facebook and Twitter- signs of change. Wed 16th March 211

Eminem has the Highest amount of 'Likes' on Facebook. However, Lady Ga Ga has far more followers on Twitter.(Capital Radio 6:00 o'clock news 16th March 211). As little as 15 years ago these two statements would have had no meaning for me or anyone else I know of. In fact I would have said that the radio commentator was speaking gobbledygook. Today though they are clear signifiers even for those that don't have or use a computer. Chambers Handy Dictionary (Published 1993) defines the word 'Twitter' as: 1.A chirp, of e.g. a bird 2. slight nervous excitement 3. to chirp, make small noises. Here is an example of how signs can change over time but more importantly by the cultural understandings which inform our interpretation.
 Signs can take the form of words, images, sounds, acts, odours or even flavours. But a sign is not a sign until we invest it with meaning. Over a relatively short period of time, we as a society have transformed the conception of the sign 'Twitter' into something totally different from its 1993 dictionary definition. We are Homo significans-meaning makers, Through our creation and interpretation of signs. Peirce says 'We think only in signs' (Pierce 1931-58, 2.302). I would definitely agree with this statement. When I hear that Lady Ga Ga has more twitter followers than anyone else, I immediately get a picture in my head. To be more accurate I get a series of pictures/images flashing into my mind. For this reason I believe that it is easier to change what a 'word' signifies than it is to change what an image signifies. I cant think of any image signs that have changed at all.
To conclude I would just like to put down some signs that really make me think.  'Whilst we experience time as a continuum, we may represent it in either analogue or digital form. A watch with an analogue display (hour, minute and second hands) has the advantage of dividing up an hour like a cake (so that in a lecture, for instance, we can 'see' how much time is left). A watch with a digital display (displaying the current time as a changing number) has the advantage of precision, so that we can see exactly what time it is 'now'. (Chandler 2009 20:54:06)

READING And Reasearch:  http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem02.html
                                             Photography, A Critical Introduction fouth ed.  Liz Wells