twitter

a couple weeks ago danah asked how people were using twitter. after my short initial experience here are my thoughts:

1. Why do you use Twitter? What do you like/dislike about it?
as a lightweight way to see what friend’s days are like, and what’s going on in their lives, and to offer the same.

2. Who do you think is reading your Tweets? Is this the audience you want? Why/why not? Tell me anything you think of relating to the audience for your Tweets.
friends who are also interested in this new medium since it’s new; they’re experimenting with it. from my experience, however, i’d actually like friends who i am closer to using this kind of communication. since it’s more intimate, a window into smaller aspects of their day, which i’m mostly interested in for my closest friends. but they’re not using twitter yet for the most part. it has been wonderful to get a greater sense of how my extended friends’ lives are like, the folks who are using twitter so far.

3. How do you read others’ Tweets? Do you read all of them? Who do you read/not read and why? Do you know them all?
On my phone, and I read all of them. Except for one friend, who is posting so frequently that I had to turn them off on my phone. But I think he was just using it that way briefly for a conference. I’ll add him back after that. I do know them all.

4. What content do you think is appropriate for a Tweet? What is inappropriate? Have you ever found yourself wanting to Tweet and then deciding against it? Why?
For me it’s as much about frequency of writing as it is about content. If I haven’t heard from someone in awhile via twitter, even an inane tweet like “going to the gym finally” is a meaningful way that i can touch in with their life and their emotional state. but if they’ve just sent seven twitters to my phone of this sort then i’m way beyond connecting with their day and rapidly getting bored with their one sided conversation. so it’s something about frequency, wanting to have an emotional connection, and what kind of tweets create that connection. one tweet i loved recently was a friend who woke up to the sound of rain on their skylight, and i could really picture her in that situation and the experience. that tweet was wonderful to receive. but it’s fine if they’re not all things i particularly enjoy. but something that shares some intimacy, what’s going on in their life that’s meaningful, seems to be what i enjoy more. So what’s inappropriate for me is a high frequency of tweets that don’t measure well on that scale. Or just a high frequency in general. Similarly, I find myself sometimes wanting to tweet and then holding off because I’ve already sent a couple in a day and feel i should only send something particularly interesting.

5. Are your Tweets public? Why/why not? How do you feel about people you don’t know coming across them? What about people you do know?
Yes they’re public, because I keep things relatively clean and straight forward, rather than trying to have a more intimate but constrained set of people i’m interacting with. I am somewhat worried about non-friends reading them, but therefore keep the content self censored so it’s generally consumable.

6. What do i need to know about why Twitter is/is not working for you or your friends?
It’s not working for close friends, particularly, because of low adoption among friends. but it is making me feel closer to the people i know who are using it so i feel like it is valuable; it’s creating value for me - in the form of greater connection and as little reminders to think about my friends at times i wouldn’t otherwise. i’m not sure how my friends view it, haven’t asked them yet.

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