Adventures in the Twittersphere

Since this week is all about Twitter, I thought the best way to get a better understanding of this new, and increasingly popular form of social media was to get involved. So, with some trepidation I signed up for an account.

But first, a bit of background...
Twitter has only been in existence since 2006, and in that time, has managed to attract 140 million users, who send over 1 billion tweets every 3 days (Hernandez, 2012). Not a bad effort! Twitter's impact and reach has also grown in that time, with it quickly becoming a resource for journalists and businesses, a way for celebrities to connect with their fans on a more 'personal' level, and an indispensable tool during times of crisis, such as the Japan earthquake and tsunami, and the recent Hurricane Sandy in the U.S.
Vanity Fair writer Vanessa Grigoriadis likens Twitter to the high school experience, labeling it "an enormous popularity contest" (Cross, 2011). My experience with Twitter has certainly led me to agree with that comment - I appear to be no more popular in the Twitterverse than I was at high school. But more on that later.

My understanding of the world of Twitter prior to this week was minimal - I was confounded by the hash tags, and couldn't really see the point of broadcasting to the world in 140 characters or less what I was doing. Who would care? Why would they want to know what was happening in the land of Nemshich? Still, I thought it would be a good experiment, and a great way to inform my blog. Stay tuned for next weeks instalment - that'll be a tweet on blogging. Heh heh.

 

Image Source: Site Reference, 2012 <http://site-reference.com/articles/twitter-lawsuit-targets-spammers/>

As a starting point, I thought I'd follow some more prominent tweeters, and connected to Huffington Post, Ashton Kutcher, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Ellen de Generes, plus a few local accounts that were related to my work in the non-profit education sector.

Within about ten minutes of signing up, I already had 2 followers. Both are still following me almost one week on. I do not know these people. Intriguingly, one of them follows over 1,000 tweeters, yet has never posted a tweet herself. Can someone explain that to me because quite frankly I don't get it!
Over the course of the week, the vast majority of tweets were from Huffington Post. I saw nothing from Ashton Kutcher or Taylor Swift, maybe two or three from Lady Gaga, with maybe 10 or so from Ellen. Yet these people are listed amongst the top ten celebrity tweeters (Xinhua, 2012). What's the point of subscribing to these people if they're never on there? I'd heard Ashton Kutcher was a mad tweeter, yet there was nothing from him, not so much as a peep (pardon the pun).

 

I did get plenty of posts from my local connections, who included some local politicians and a local newspaper.
I even managed to retweet a couple of posts - hoping this might increase my exposure and allow me to pick up some more followers. I also tried hash tagging, with no success. Don't think I've quite figured that one out yet. I replied to a couple of posts - no response. But somehow, by midway through the week, I had 6 followers. Still didn't know any of them. Not even sure how they found me - if anyone could enlighten me, I'm most intrigued!

Now, almost one week on, I'm down to 5 followers, but I do know 2 of them, which is somehow comforting. I'm still trying to figure out the point of Twitter, and how to make the most of it, something which will obviously take more than a mere 5 days. I can see how it can be utilised for businesses and celebrities, and the like, but for an individual like little old me - well, what is it other than a popularity contest?
But it's been an adventure, and a learning experience, and hopefully one day soon, I'll get the hang of it.

References:
Cross, M, 2011, Bloggerati, Twitterati: how blogs and Twitter are transforming popular culture
Praeger, California

Hernandez, B.A., 2012, Twitter Rewind: big highlights from 2012 to 2006, Mashable, accessed 4 December 2012, http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/history-of-twitter-timeline/#4712116-Japanese-Earthquake-and-Tsunami

Site Reference, 2012, Twitter suit targets spammers: what it means for your sites, Site Reference, accessed 9 December 2012, http://site-reference.com/articles/twitter-lawsuit-targets-spammers/

Xinhua, 2012, Top ten celebrities on Twitter in 2010, Xinhua English.news.cn, accessed 4 December 2012, <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/photo/2010-12/19/c_13655604.htm>

Mind your (mobile) manners

Is there anyone out there who doesn't have a mobile phone these days? And if so, how on earth do they manage to survive without one? These handy little devices have revolutionised the way we communicate with each other, and the devices themselves have undergone massive transformations over the last 15-20 years.

I still vividly recall, as an excited 18 year old, my Mum thrusting her enormous black brick of a phone into my hands as I was about to leave for a night out. What?? That thing's not going to fit in my bag! And how embarrassing to have to lug it around with me all night, just so I can ring home if 'something goes wrong'. Thankfully since then, the phones have become smaller, lighter and much prettier to look at, not to mention all the myriad of functions they now come with. But with the advantages they have brought - being constantly connected to loved ones, increased feeling of safety and security, is there a downside? Are we paying the price of the convenience of a mobile life?

The mobile revolution has happened so rapidly that there are no established rules of etiquette around their use (and abuse). As noted by Anne Kingston, any rules are 'being established on the run'. In other words, we're making it up as we go along. So what is the accepted standard of mobile behavior? Well as it turns out, this seems to partly depend on your age. Apparently the younger you are, the more tolerant you'll be of 'electronic distraction' (Kingston, A, 2011).

Some common complaints include people texting during meetings, dinner dates, ceremonies, but even this seems to depend on the situation and who is there. In fact, a recent survey by Retrevo, a consumer electronics company, found that 10% of people under the age of 25 thought it acceptable to text during sex!! I'm sorry, WHAT??!!! This brings up a number of questions, the least of which is how exactly is this achieved? Never mind WHY would you want to text during sex (are you bragging? Looking for tips? Looking for a way out of a bad choice one-night-stand?) and what about your poor partner - what are they supposed to think? 'Am I that boring in bed?'

A survey by Intel Corp, conducted in the U.S, found that most people would rather see someone pick their nose than use a mobile device in front of them (Kingston, A). Now doesn't that say a lot about how far our manners have come?

Personally, I admit to being addicted to my mobile phone - it goes everywhere with me, and I'm constantly checking it for emails, messages, Facebook updates, and to take photos. But I'm not alone - 1 in 5 adults admit to checking their mobile before getting out of bed in the morning (Entertainment Close-Up, 2011). I'm definitely one of those!

Augme Mobile, 2011, Using your smartphone in bed 

So what's the way forward? For starters, it would probably be helpful to have a discussion with your nearest and dearest about their expectations of what's appropriate, or not. Then probably best to follow their lead, or risk being ex-communicated. Sorry, bad pun. But somehow we need clearly defined rules, or even just guidelines, to help us direct our mobile behavior, so we can make sure we're not offending anyone.

References:
Augme Mobile, 2011, Using your smartphone in bed, Augme Technologies, viewed 2nd December, 2012, via http://augmeblog.com/using-your-smartphone-in-bed/

Entertainment Close-Up, 2011, Intel Survey: 'mobile etiquette' mishaps or running rampant? Viewed 28th November 2012, via (http://ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=66360424&site=ehost-live&scope=site)

Kingston, A & Ballingall, A, 2011, Public displays of disaffection, Maclean's, volume 124, issue 36, viewed 29th November, 2011, via EBSCOHost (http://global.factiva.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ha/default.aspx)

Me... & blogging

The world of blogging is exciting for me. It's a place where opportunities abound - to get noticed, be heard, be part of the digital revolution. As a writer, this new format opens up a whole new world, a chance to be seen, to put myself out there into the blogosphere in the hope that someone, somewhere, will like what I have to say.

I tend towards verbosity, and I get carried away by what I'm writing about, but I will try to keep you all in mind and be concise. Time is limited and a precious commodity, so I don't want to be wasting it.

As well as being a novice blogger, I'm also pretty new to reading blogs. The few I have looked over seem to vary hugely in content, style, length and tone but I guess that's the beauty of it. The freedom to say whatever you want, whenever you like, about whatever takes your fancy. According to Technorati, the top 3 blogs (as at 24th November, 2012) are Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/)- a blog of news and reviews about technology trends and products; the Caucus (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/) a politics and government blog produced by the New York Times; Jezebel (http://jezebel.com/) a general interest blog for women that covers anything and everything from politics and current affairs, to fashion and celebrity gossip.

I can certainly see the appeal, and the movement towards 'citizen journalists' where the public become media producers rather than passive consumers. I can also see, with the right conditions, how the blogosphere can represent a Fifth Estate, someone (or someones) to make the Fourth Estate of traditional journalism accountable. Having said that, I'm sure there are plenty of bad blogs out there. I did try to find an example of one, but googling 'bad blogs' doesn't turn up much, and I suppose after all 'good' and 'bad' are subjective. No doubt there's a willing audience for just about any topic!

I'm hoping that someone out there, apart from my classmates, will stumble upon my humble little blog and enjoy what I have to say, and perhaps post the odd comment or two (just don't criticize me - I don't take it well!). So until next time, goodbye and good blogging.