QotW7: so what are u doing now?

According to Dictionary.com,

twit·ter

–verb (used without object)

1. to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird.
2. to talk lightly and rapidly, esp. of trivial matters; chatter.
3. to titter; giggle.
4. to tremble with excitement or the like; be in a flutter.

The second explanation could be the best fit for Twitter, a website COM125 students were asked to join as part of our blog assignment this week. When I first attempted to use Twitter, it felt like I was tagging on a giant tag-board, except that it'd appear on my "followers" page instead on just one tag-board. Also, I can see my "friends' tags" on my main page. Well, it is certainly more convenient than a tag-board!




The question is whether Twitter is considered as an online community. Technically, I believe it can be considered an online community. First of all, it can be updated using the web and secondly, it consists of a group of people communicating with one another. Additionally, Twitter calls itself "a community of friends and strangers from around the world sending updates about moments in their lives" ("Twitter FAQ", 2006). But, is it really one? Let's explore other factors to find out.

In my opinion, Twitter has features that are commonly seen by other social networking sites. Yet it has its own unique features. Here's a small list I've made up based on my knowledge on online social networking sites after slicing Twitter up.



Common features

• Signing up for an account is entirely free of charge (like most online social networking websites)
  
• Allowing you to use either your real name or a pseudonym (like almost any online community)
  
• Uploading an image as an avatar to represent you and customizing your own profile (like online forums)
  
• Adding other users as friends to your social circle (like MySpace)
  
• Sending private messages to friends (like Friendster)
  
• Receiving updates from users you choose (like RSS feeds)
• Using your mobile phone or IM to post updates (like moblogging)
• Having privacy control over it, for instance, showing updates only to friends (like LiveJournal)
  

Unique features

• Posting anything you want in 140 words or less (like a tag-board but a tag-board isn't really an online community)
  
• Selecting messages as "favorites" (like marking some e-mails as important but e-mail isn't really considered an online community either)
  

As we can see, there are many common features shared by Twitter and other popular online communities. Is it now safe to conclude that Twitter is indeed an online community? Probably, but let's examine more to be sure.

"Experientially, community within cyberspace emphasizes a community of interests, usually bounded by the topic under discussion, that can lead to a communal spirit and apparent social bonding." (Fernback & Thompson, 1995). Do Twitter users have common interests? Not necessarily. However, don't forget that users of MySpace and Friendster may not have common interests or character too and yet they are still frequently considered as online communities (Chaffin, 2004).

Fernback & Thompson (1995) also proposed another definition of online communities, referring to them as "social relationships forged in cyberspace through repeated contact within a specified boundary or place (e.g., a conference or chat line) that is symbolically delineated by topic of interest." Someone who uses Twitter will regularly post and check back on the website. This is where the "repeated contact within a specified boundary or place" comes into play.

Like what Wellman & Gulia (1996) mentioned, virtual communities provide possibilities for reversing the trend to less contact with community members because it is so easy to connect on-line with large numbers of people. Twitter allows you to do that. Twitter is an online community since the trends of communities are dynamic (Fernback & Thompson, 1995). In the past, perhaps only forums were commonly known as an online community. Then Facebook and blogs appeared and became online communities in their own right. And, there was the wildly successful Youtube. Maybe given time, Twitter might gain more popularity and be known one as the new generation of online communities. Who knows?

References

Chaffin, L. (2004). The Online Community Phenomena Sites like MySpace and Friendster make up the cyberfriend scene. Rampway Online. Retrieved March 16, 2007, from http://www.rampway.org/article.php?id=310

Fernback, J. & Thompson, B. (1995). Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure? Retrieved March 16, 2007, from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Twitter. (2006). Twitter FAQ. Retrieved March 16, 2007, from http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=26

Twitter. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved March 16, 2007, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/twitter

Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (1996). Net Surfers Don’t Ride Alone. Retrieved March 16, 2007, from http://www.acm.org/~ccp/references/wellman/wellman.html
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