Ethnography of Twitter

Jeff Arnett

EDUC 628

Spring 2008

            Social Networking Services, or simply SNS, use software to build online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. The idea of creating SNS has been around for quite some time, and there have been a number of attempts over the years to establish these networks, including LISTSERV and Bulletin Board Services (BBS). Some of the earliest sites, such as Classmates.com and Sixdegrees.com, appeared as early as 1995 (Wikipedia.org, 2008).

            Today, there are many SNS available, but most all of them are organized around a central theme of providing a place where people of similar interests can exchange information and ideas. Millions of people use SNS daily, with a large portion of these being adolescents and young adults.  Reasons for using SNS vary greatly by age group, with adolescents and young adults using them primarily for social interaction, whereas older users might pursue business or educational interests (Jardin, 2008). Other SNS are simply a place to post whatever the interests of the user are. 

            The service I have chosen to explore is Twitter (http://www.twitter.com).  Twitter was created by founders Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey and launched in 2006 (Strickland, nd).  Twitter is headquartered in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco, California.  Since its inception, Twitter has rapidly grown to over a million users, though the exact number would be hard to authenticate (Berlin, 2008).

             Twitter allows users to post short messages, called tweets, 140 characters or less, to a network of contacts and has been referred to as a system for micro-blogging.  Rather than posting lengthy entries as would be found on a weblog, Twitters’ limited number of characters allows only for short messages.  Once a message is created, it is sent to all the users on the creator’s contact list.  This allows for rapid and efficient delivery to large groups of users as compared to sending messages via email or text message.  Messages can also be sent privately to selected users rather than the entire contact list if desired.  In either case, in order to receive these messages, a user must be “following” the user who creates the message.   To follow another user, one must add him or her as a contact.  This can be done by entering the user’s email address in the box under the find and follow tab. Contacts can also be added from other user’s list of followers by clicking the follow button.  Some users choose to follow only a small group with specific interests, others may follow hundreds, even thousands of user.  Users can also follow other users without opting to receive updates from them.

            Where do the messages go?  Twitter permits global messaging at no cost to the sender.  Primarily, most Twitter users probably receive their tweets via computer when they log on to the Twitter website.  A user can also chose to have real time updates sent to an instant messaging service, where they are displayed as received in the messaging service window.  Tweets may also be delivered to a user’s cell phone using the short message service protocol (SMS).  Users are allowed a maximum of 250 SMS tweets per week (Sunday to Sunday).  This can be especially useful for the dissemination of an important message, such as a campus alert or weather advisory.

            So who uses Twitter?  The Twitter landscape appears to be made up of individuals of all races, background, education levels and interests.  Ordinary people as well as high profile individuals use the service….even presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are using Twitter to keep their followers up to date as to where they are and where their going next. One example of an organization using Twitter effectively was when the Los Angeles Fire Department put it to use in dealing with the California wildfires in 2007.      

In order to truly get a better picture of the overall use of Twitter one would have to follow a large group over a long period of time.  People who use the service seem to have many diverse interests.  Some use Twitter to simply post quick blurbs about what they are doing at that moment.  Some use it to send out messages to their followers about something they’ve seen, heard or done that would be of interest to them.  Yet others use Twitter for business or educational purposes, sending out offers or ideas that business people, or even the general public, might find of interest.  Educators can use Twitter to pose questions, make assignments, recommend a resource or even ask questions of their students.  Twitter users broadcast messages about a new hobby they are into, a favorite band’s new album, a great movie they’ve seen…..there’s really no limit to what’s being broadcast.  Unlike other SNS such as MySpace or Facebook, Twitter is not used so much for in depth discussions, explorations of one’s personality or hang-ups, but rather simply to tell the world “what I’m doing right now”!   

            One problem that can arise with Twitter, especially when a use follows a large group is simply the overwhelming number of messages that are received.  Even though each tweet is relatively short, sorting through hundreds of message can become frustrating.  The potential for using Twitter to send spam messages (or in this case “twam” messages) is a distinct risk.  In fact, most users consider broadcasting the same message twice to be twam (Wikipedia.org, 2008).

            There doesn’t seem to be any hard and fast rules for using Twitter.  The obvious courtesies should apply…no inappropriate language or obscene content, don’t twam other users, etc.  Twitter does offer a site where questions can be asked, problems reported or suggestions made.  These issues are handled through http://getsatisfaction.com/twitter.   It would appear from the time I’ve spent using Twitter that the site is pretty much policed by its users.

            Overall, I’ve found Twitter to be an interesting SNS that was well worth exploring.  I see that it could have potential for use in the classroom environment as well as for extracurricular groups, sports teams or even teacher groups and administrators.  Though it did take some time for me to come to an understanding that it was simply a place to post messages relevant to the present, I’ve come to realize it, along with so many other, can be a useful tool in my technology toolbox.

Works Cited

Berlin, E. (2008). Online media cultist. Retrieved April 28, 2008, Web site:  http://onlinemediacultist.com/2008/03/31/how-many-people-use-twitter.

Jardin, X (2008). msnbc.com. Retrieved April 28, 2008, from MSNCB Interactive Web site: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5488683.

Social network service. (2008). In wikipedia.org [Web]. Retrieved 4/28/2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_sites#cite_ref-5.

Strickland, J. How Twitter Works. Retrieved April 28, 2008, from How Stuff Works Web site: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/twitter.htm

Twitter. (2008). In wikipedia.org [Web]. Retrieved 4/29/2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

[Note to Dr. Lowell - for some odd reason, WordPress will not let me indent the second line of any of my APA references.]