Twitter is Not a Chat Courtesy of Action Datsun @ www.creativecommons.org
In a recent New York Times article called “I’m so Totally, Digitally, Close to You”, Clive Thompson talked about the concept of “Ambient Awareness” in explaining the popularity of Twitter and other micro-blogging sites. It seems that Social Scientists feel that Ambient Awareness is like being physically close to someone and picking up the person’s mood through little signals like the way they sit, or the tapping of their feet or hands. In other words, the total is greater than the sum of its parts, and each individual piece of communication, though useless in itself, contributes to the larger picture, like a picture mosaic.
Twitter is not a Social Network, its a “commons” like the lunch room in High School. Its a “walk down the street, Hi How Ya doin?, Keep on walking” kind of thing. If you want to just listen, that’s fine. If you want to converse, that’s fine. If you want to throw out a random though or quote or link, that’s just fine too. And because of that, it creates an instant buzz that lasts only as long as you like.
At first blush, Twitter confuses most new users, and some people give up on the site before they absorb enough unconnected pieces of the conversation to formulate an appreciation of the overall Gestalt created by the tweets of the participants. Those who persevere, develop a sense of the lives of the people they follow which generates bonds of trust and friendship that are, on the surface, almost unreasonable to expect. For example, at a recent meeting where Twitter was being discussed by a group of high level real estate professionals, the comment was made ” Why would I follow someone on Twitter. Why do I care if someone’s flight is on time?” Well, you might not, but then you would have missed the article I quote here – because he was the one who told me about it on Twitter.
In my opinion, Blogging is still an important method of creating trust and identity in the web 2.0 world, but Twitter is an even better way to generate quick response to a blog, photo, video, or website you want to share, because people that have that “ambient awareness” of your life, trust you enough to want to check out what you’re checking out.
Tags: blogging, Social Media, Twitter
