"The result of using Twitter to stay connection with friends, relatives, and coworkers is that you have a sense of what folks are up to but you are not expected to respond to any updates unless you want to. This means you can step in and out of the flow of information as it suits you and it never queues up with increasing demand of your attention." - Twitter Web site
Twitter, another major social networking site, has a 140 character limit. Twitter exists solely for users to provide updates on what they are doing and thinking. Twitter began in 2006 under a parent company. By 2007, the site had grown so large that Twitter became its own incorporated business (Twitter.com). As of April 2009, 14 million people used Twitter to provide quick updates as well as links to other web sites and photographs – called “Twitpix” (New York Times, 2009).
Some commentators suggest that Twitter allows the news to come to the user. Twitter has no in-box, merely a feed of recent updates from those people whom a user follows. Although users can download other applications to view Twitter, the typical on-line feed displays 20 updates, or “tweets.”
Twitter users “tweet” (update) their status by entering no more than 140 characters that answer the question “What are you doing?” It is impossible to go over this limit. Users can reference other users by replying using the @ symbol as in this example:
SeanHolihan @notlarrysabato It's nearly 12 and I can't sleep. Better than playing Super Smash Brothers I guess.
This comment, made by SeanHolihan, is directed at the user using the alias notlarrysabato. Anyone who follows the tweets of both these users can see this exchange. Twitter users can also “retweet” status updates made by other users. A retweet merely re-posts information, making it available to those who follow not just the original poster, but also the one who re-tweets. See below:
cjdumler RT @UVAMaggie: They don't call 'em Chokies for nothin'! #vatech
In this example, the user cjdumler has re-tweeted my rather snide remark about Virignia Tech’s football team. The “#vatech” marker is used by Twitter to discern trends among topics. If enough hash tags followed by a certain subject appear in the course of tweeting, the subject will be noted as a Trending Topic on the front page.
Twitter may sound confusing, but as we’ll see later, it has enormous possibility as an engaging, tech-savvy assessment tool. But is this service reducing our thoughts outside of Twitter to 140 characters?
Twitter, another major social networking site, has a 140 character limit. Twitter exists solely for users to provide updates on what they are doing and thinking. Twitter began in 2006 under a parent company. By 2007, the site had grown so large that Twitter became its own incorporated business (Twitter.com). As of April 2009, 14 million people used Twitter to provide quick updates as well as links to other web sites and photographs – called “Twitpix” (New York Times, 2009).
Some commentators suggest that Twitter allows the news to come to the user. Twitter has no in-box, merely a feed of recent updates from those people whom a user follows. Although users can download other applications to view Twitter, the typical on-line feed displays 20 updates, or “tweets.”
Twitter users “tweet” (update) their status by entering no more than 140 characters that answer the question “What are you doing?” It is impossible to go over this limit. Users can reference other users by replying using the @ symbol as in this example:
SeanHolihan @notlarrysabato It's nearly 12 and I can't sleep. Better than playing Super Smash Brothers I guess.
This comment, made by SeanHolihan, is directed at the user using the alias notlarrysabato. Anyone who follows the tweets of both these users can see this exchange. Twitter users can also “retweet” status updates made by other users. A retweet merely re-posts information, making it available to those who follow not just the original poster, but also the one who re-tweets. See below:
cjdumler RT @UVAMaggie: They don't call 'em Chokies for nothin'! #vatech
In this example, the user cjdumler has re-tweeted my rather snide remark about Virignia Tech’s football team. The “#vatech” marker is used by Twitter to discern trends among topics. If enough hash tags followed by a certain subject appear in the course of tweeting, the subject will be noted as a Trending Topic on the front page.
Twitter may sound confusing, but as we’ll see later, it has enormous possibility as an engaging, tech-savvy assessment tool. But is this service reducing our thoughts outside of Twitter to 140 characters?
