Twitter

INTRODUCTION (Jared):

            Twitter is a community of microbloggers. It is a social networking site centered around something known as a tweet. A tweet is a post that must contain less than 140 characters, and can include links to pictures, videos, or other websites. A tweet usually is a statement of what you are doing, or can be a thought, idea, concept, picture, video, news, or topics of interest. Another important part of Twitter is the concept of trending topics. Trending topics are key phrases or words that can be searched and monitored by the Twitter community, and these usually are seen with the pound sign or hash in front of the words with no spaces in between them. Also, using Twitter, you can follow someone, but they do not have to follow you back, which is different from many social networking sites. This allows for the extensive following of celebrities, without celebrities having to follow all of their fans back. You can also private message people who you follow, tag people in your posts, and retweet posts (posting someone else's tweet for all of your followers to see). Twitter is one of the most visited websites in the world, and is a very successful social networking site.

POSITIVES (Tyler):

            Twitter is a level playing field; anyone can communicate with anyone.  For instance, I could follow a sports star and he or she could follow me.  This opens up the flow of ideas, allowing people to obtain many different angles and opinions in order to create a complete idea.  As a result, we are more connected to the world and people around us.

            Due to this expanded channel of communication, we need a valve to limit what we are exposed to, and Twitter provides this control.  Its character limit constrains the size of each message, while each user has the ability to “follow” or “block” other users to define the number of messages that one sees.  Unlike other social media websites, Twitter does not obligate a user to follow another user if a connection is established by the latter.

            Ultimately, I view Twitter as a flat plane in which communication occurs.  We are all easily connected in this plane, with no user having an advantage over another.  In Proust and the Squid, Maryanne Wolf states:

We are only at the beginning of analyzing the cognitive implications of using, for instance, the browser “back” button, URL syntax, … and “pedagogical tags” for enhancing comprehension and memory.  These tools have extremely promising implications for the intellectual development of the users, particularly users with discrete areas of weakness…. (Wolf 220)

For those individuals who have social impurities and struggle with communication, Twitter offers an encouraging medium in which they can connect with others.  These individuals are brought into the plane that is Twitter, while the mental implications of Twitter improve and raise the community as a whole.  As a society with increased mental and social skills, we will create stronger, deeper connections with one another.

NEGATIVES (Josh):

            In Alone Together, Turkle writes, “on social networking sites such as Facebook, we think we will be presenting ourselves, but our profile ends up as somebody else – often the fantasy of who we want to be.  Distinctions blur” (153).  This implies that the use of social networking sites, like Twitter, can make the presentation of ourselves more difficult and confusing.  People present themselves in every form of communication, but I think that Turkle is implying here that social networks can make the process of the exploration of identity even more confusing.

            She goes on to write, “Virtual places offer connection with uncertain claims to commitment.  We don’t count on cyberfriends to come by if we are ill, to celebrate our children’s successes, or help us mourn the death of our parents.  People know this, and yet the emotional charge on cyberspace is high” (153).  This applies specifically to Twitter, because of the way that any Twitter user can follow any other Twitter user without being followed in return. Twitter truly offers connection without commitment, and this may lead to confusing attitudes towards connection, commitment, and community in general.

            Finally, Turkle discusses the compulsion that people develop to constantly use the Internet.  She describes a woman in her seventies who has meditated on a biblical reading every morning for years.  Recently, however, this woman has found it difficult to resist the urge to check her e-mail before her spiritual practices.  In fact, her compulsion has become so strong that her resistance to checking her e-mail has become part of her spiritual devotion. While this example deals with e-mail, similar compulsions certainly exist in Twitter users.  It is likely that regular Twitter users will grow strong desires to always stay updated, and will develop a habit of checking their accounts often.  This could be harmful because of the information that is supplied by Twitter, which is more often than not trivial.  Basically, a Twitter account can grow to be a waste of time.