www.twitter.com is the newest craze on the Internet. It is a social networking site that allows you to update it using different kinds of media. You deliver updates through its website, www.twitter.com, over instant messaging or by Short Messaging Service (SMS) from your mobile phone.
By making it more accessible, Twitter.com allows users to update their profiles at the point of time when he or she is experiencing it. For example, I could be out shopping and I can update my Twitter profile, describing what I am about to buy, while standing in line to pay for it.
Imagine Friendster, blogging and instant messaging all in one website.
Now the question of the week: is Twitter.com an online community? I believe it is. Wikipedia states that an online community is a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the Internet (‘Virtual Community’, 2007). Containing the following elements: social interaction, a shared value system and a shared symbol system, Twitter.com belongs to one of the four realms of community, the social realm. It encompasses social interaction, solidarity and both individual and institutional interaction (Fernback and Thompson, 1995).
Social interaction is a dynamic, changing sequence of social actions between individuals, or groups, who modify their actions and reactions according to the actions by their interaction partners (‘Social Interaction, 2007). By posting a question or a comment open for discussion on your profile on Twitter.com, it allows social interaction take place. One might want to add their two cents worth by replying your question or by disagreeing strongly with it. For whatever reason, the ability to give feedback can allow social interaction to develop from an accidental one to a regulated interaction.
Signing up for Twitter was part of my assignment for my COM125 class. Along with me, about fifty others had to do it. Inevitably, all my friends on my Twitter profile are my classmates. So naturally, work from school would be our primary interest. This is a form of solidarity as this is a community of responsibilities and interest.
Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) is a revolutionary way for humans to communicate with each other. One of the characteristics of CMC is that communication can be effected one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many. This allows me to communicate with one classmate individually, or have a discussion on a certain topic with many classmates simultaneously on Twitter.
While online or virtual communities claim to be free, fun and open to anyone, there is a certain degree of privacy about it. Who we are, as private individuals, constitutes our membership to certain communities (Fernback and Thompson, 1995). Take the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) for example. One would have to be a homosexual if he or she wanted a sense of belonging in a homosexual channel, as they need to contribute in order for that particular ‘gay’ channel to thrive. A person who is not homosexual will, naturally, not enter that channel.
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Reference:
Virtual Community
Retrieved on 16/03/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community
'Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?', Fernback and Thompson, 1995
Retrieved on 16/03/07
http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html
Social Interaction
Retrieved on 16/03/07
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_interaction
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