“So let me get this straight…you’re just letting people know what you’re doing when you do this?”
“Right.”
“And you call it ‘Tweeting’?”
“Well, uh, yeah. It’s kinda like a bird letting you know where he’s at, I guess.”
“And you do this how often.”
“Depends. Maybe 4, 5…10 times a day. It doesn’t take that much time, really.”
“Like how much time?”
“Dunno…maybe 10-15 minutes, total.”
“And all you’re doing is letting your friends know what you’re doing, right? At any given moment.”
“Right. But they’re not all friends in the standard sense. I mean I’ve never met some of these people.”
“And they let you know what they’re doing.”
“Right.”
“Even people you don’t know.”
“Right”
“Why?”
“Dunno.”
“Like that guy teachanlearn is ‘Reading RSS’ and he wants you to know that?”
“Um, I guess. But he also wants me to click the link there too.”
“Well, where does that go?”
“Dunno…let’s find out…it’s a blog post about a new WordPress theme.”
“And he felt the need to ‘tweet’ that?”
“Apparently.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I know. It’s kinda hard to explain. I mean I didn’t really get it at first…still not sure if I do.”
“You know all these people…how many?”
“Twenty-eight right now. They’re all in my network.”
“The network.”
“Right. My teachers…my classroom…remember? We talked about this.”
“Right. And these other people, these ‘followers’. How many?”
“Um, 209 right now.”
“209! And they want to know what you are doing?”
“I guess so, though I can’t imagine why.”
“But you only follow 28.”
“Right.”
“Does that upset them?”
“Who?”
“All those people who are ‘following’ you that you’re not ‘following’.”
“I dunno. I hope not. I can’t follow more than this many right now.”
“But I still don’t get it. Why do you want to follow them at all?”
“It’s just another layer of the connection, I think. I mean on some level, I like knowing that Chris missed his plane or that John’s doing a wiki workshop or whatever. It’s not important stuff on any major level, but it adds something.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Just…just…presence. Just this weird presence thing. And depth. I can’t really explain it.”
“Presence.”
“Well, more than that. I mean a lot of people post links and resources and ask questions and stuff. I learn from it too.”
“And people answer? So it’s like IM, right?”
“Um…no. I don’t do this for conversation, though it turns into that sometimes.”
“I don’t think I get it.”
“I don’t either.”
“Then why do you do it?”
Technorati Tags: twitter connections networks
I don’t get it either. I use it, daily, and I don’t know why. The layer of connection is a plus. I follow people I know and people I don’t.
The piece I’m finding frustrating is following someone who’s not following me.
Someone will ask a question or put a piece of information out for comment and I’ll post my comment and no reply will come. This leads to me heading to the person’s twitter page and learning they haven’t seen anything I’ve posted because they’re not following me. It feels like being in a room where a group of people is having an engaging conversation, attempting to contribute and watching the conversation go on as though you’d said nothing. Interesting new socialization process.
I don’t get those folks that are following 11,00, but I think the more quality people (educators) you follow, the more interesting the “conversation”… Mind you I only follow folks who I have had contact with in some form or another…through conference contact, NECC, Classroom2.0 ning, blogs I read, etc… Being in professional development and spending my summer creating resources for teachers, I don’t have to look far when I have twitterific running. As a matter of fact, in the time I have been writing this response I got a great tip from Sue Waters (who was kind enough to reply to a twit from Vicki Davis that I was looking for someone to demo skype one evening in a workshop….)
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html
would NEVER have found that on my own… and all while reading my bloglines. It is a conversation of a different kind, that’s all.
And Zac… I understand your question of watching the conversation as if no one is listening…know that some folks are hearing you:)
I had this same conversation in my department today. Isn’t this just another time zapper? The people who are using twitter aren’t sure of its value and they can’t seem to explain why they think it’s cool. I’m not on the bandwagon yet.
A moment of ‘twitter-shock’:
Asked students at my high school if they had heard of twitter.
Nope.
Said that they might want to check it out.
Nope.
Asked them why.
Adults use it.
It’s all about the messenger, I guess.
Funny, this post reads just like the internal monologue I had going as I was signing up for Twitter last night. Still did it, though, and once I did, had the inexplicable urge to tweet a few times, knowing full well no one knows me, is following me, or is looking out for me.
I don’t find it conventionally practical in the least – email, IMs, and even blog posts are far more direct methods of communication, unless you’re tweeting someone who’s following you (which isn’t guaranteed, as Zac noted). I think it speaks more to the sense of connectivity that the Internet provides. It reminds me of when I was 15 and calling into BBS teleconference rooms and typing stuff just to see who’d respond and where people were from. By eliminating that direct 1:1 connection, it creates a huge audience for whatever you want to say (digital soapbox?) that you know will get seen, unlike posting on a forum, blog, or wiki that may or may not get hits. The functionality that Kristin describes seems to me like an added bonus.
I guess it’s kinda like shouting into a giant room and wondering who’ll hear you. Practical? Maybe not for 1:1 communication, but there’s still merit to it as a means of connecting people around the world, whether they realize it or not.
Tangentially, I can’t help but wonder if all this global (largely, but not strictly, faceless) communication that the current batch of tweens to teens takes for granted will in any way help to reduce xenophobia, racism, and other assorted social ills. Maybe lessen the impact of those factors in their immediate environments?
A presenter at a mini conference of tech trainers from various places in Virgina this past week presented Twitter to the group. Most of them had never heard of it and the few of use who had were hard pressed to explain it.
The best I could do was to describe how some people were using Twitter at NECC to essentially live blog some of the sessions. I guess you could also say there was a conversation since others not in the session were twittering comments and questions back.
Other than that example, I’m not why I would want to use it for everyday use. I can’t see why anyone would want to keep track of the details of my life.
Maybe I’m too old… or, based on Ken’s discussion with his students, not old enough. 🙂
I’m new to Twitter, yet what I like about it is:
Think of how often you think of other people you know or admire and you wonder what they’re doing. “Gee, I hope Howard’s flight went OK,” or “I know this person whose blog I read is presenting at NECC. I wonder how their session went.” That sort of thing gets translated somewhat through Twitter.
What I really like about it, though, is that when a new resource comes about (i.e. Jing Project) those who like to “play around” with new ideas finally have a sounding board. I saw a Scrubs rerun recently where the two male characters had walkie-talkie watches and were constantly commenting on the other’s life or giving advice. While no one wants that extreme of a scenario, I’m sure we can all relate to times when we wish we had someone who thinks like us or has the same interests could comment on what we’re currently learning.
And, call me what you will, I actually like hearing about the mundane, day-to-day life experiences these people whom I only know virtually & professionally are having. Is anyone really interested in the fact that I had fried green tomatoes last night? Probably not; yet if we ever meet f2f, they’ll know (or can guess) that I’m from the South and enjoy the occasional fried delicacy. We’re making personal connections before actually meeting…something that I think is going to become more and more common (perhaps even expected) in the next few years.
I didn’t ‘get’ the purpose of Twitter until BLC when I could follow where people where and what sessions were worthwhile, etc. I could see this being especially useful on a college campus where everyone is physically close by as well as always connected.
Twitter is for adults… because young people have facebook, which lets you do almost the same thing… you post your status… check your friends status… and can talk about it on message/wall. Why would students break into twitter when they have that?
Twitter is yet another connective tentacle that is so hard to explain but once up and running, so hard to walk away from. I think the fact that it can be contributed via txt means you can post in without a PC connection. The network that I have constructed (roughly 100 people either way) is a way of being in touch on a slightly more personal level with educators who’ve I’ve only known through their blogs and comments. But even that’s not true because twitter has also hooked me into new voices and led me to their online presences (not just blogs – podcasts, wikis, nings).
It’s a little bit like going into a crowded Aussie pub with a sea of people milling around – you recognise some of them, say “G’day” to some and strike up conversation of varying depth with others. Like the pub, people come and go according to their routines so I’m arriving just as others are about to head home (North Americans), or some are on their lunch break (Europeans) so you just catch whoever is around. Except you can leave those @messages for others (even those who don’t follow you) and just like the noisy pub, your conversations are short sharp bursts so that you get your message across in a succinct way. And sometimes at the pub, you can locked into a conversation that only means something to your close mates who know what you’re on about.
Just another mode of human interaction – working out what makes other educators tick is probably part of the attraction as well. I think I get twitter but it is very difficult to explain.
I echo the minor frustration of tweeting and knowing that no one is following, but then I live in Brazil and my second language is Portuguese so I’m used to only getting 1/2 of a conversation (amazing how much you can still understand). I like it for the quicker than rss feature about new posts. If I have time I can check right away, if not, let the rss pick it up.
I don’t know. I still don’t get it. I can barely follow the minutiae of my own life, let alone the minutiae of others!
I didn’t get Twitter at all when I heard about it. I thought it was a “waste of what little time I have.” Why would I Twitter when I can barely keep up with my Blog? I “made” myself finally try it, and I have to admit, it took about an hour of use to finally see what people were talking about.
I signed up for an account in time for BLC07 and the night before the conference, I watched Darren Kuropatwa’s saga unfold in real time –his computer crashed big time with 3 presentations looming– and the amount of support he received by people who were just a “twit away” was astounding. In some ways, I see Twitter as the “Bat Signal”. Just ask and you shall receive.
I also like how it changes my consciousness. Seeing “blips” from people I know and care about pop up on my screen throughout the day has to be a good thing.
Example:
Twit: Oh, look what’s Cheryl’s doing. I’m now thinking of Cheryl. That’s nice.
Twit: Oh, look. Dean’s on his way home. I’m now thinking of Dean. I hope he has an easy and safe journey.
In some small and sometimes big ways, the connections we all have are popping up on my screen throughout the day. They remind me of these great people, they put me in the present here-and-now of their lives, pulling me out of my own. Twitter as meditation. Twitter as “prayer beads.”
While driving back from DC last week, whenever the family needed a pit stop, I twittered in on my phone. Sometimes I updated my own whereabouts, sometimes I just caught up on what others were doing. The twits sometimes gave me a chuckle, sometimes gave me something to think about. When we got back in the car, often I’d update my wife about what someone was currently doing/thinking/writing. Often this would start us off in a new discussion topic for the next 50 miles or so. Twitter as conversation starter, thought provoker. Much like a micro “book group.” Very nice when traveling.
One of my favorite things about Twitter is when people announce that they’ve just published a post on their own blogs. This pulls me away from what I’m currently working on more than anything else. Twitter as “hot off the press.” Freshly baked cookies.
I “made” myself try twitter for a “30 Days” experiment to see if the technology could change me. Looks like it has.
Tweet!
In the time it took me to read your post, Will, and all the comments, I missed probably 5 new tweets… and I am suddenly finding myself in this odd parallel/second universe (like the Seinfeld episode, I suppose) where I’m finding blog posts to be somehow playing catch-up in a world where they used to be leading the band.
Love your word “presence”. Can’t imagine a better way to describe, save to point to the Neo freezing the bullets in the Matrix, watching them, turning them over, realizing that each was a small part of a larger construct of existence. Like tweets. Flying at you hard/fast if you don’t ‘get it’; a waste of time. If, however, you dig the “presence” vibe, than they slow down…and real value suddenly begins to appear.
Agree with Bob Sprankle. In some senses, Tweets have replaced my RSS feed updates re: new blog posts. Rarely reading my feeds; but looking throughout my Tweets for updates of new pieces of blog writing (et al). Love the “hot off the press” comment from Bob, too! Even better, the cookies!
Well written (as always). Well posed (as always). Thanks on both fronts!
Cheers,
Christian
As far as education is concerned what do you think about twitter being used for a collaborative project between to schools geographically separated? One classroom is working on one part and another classroom is working on another part. Skype or even a chat might me overkill, because constant communication at that point in time may not be necessary. However if one classroom has an “idea” and just wants the other classrooms thoughts twitter might just be the tool needed for this type of communication. Or let’s say one group made a funny joke while working and wanted to let the other group in on that. Possibilities exist for education.
We are by nature, I believe, connectors. When I read Dov Seidman’s book, “How”, his introduction, “The Spaces Between Us”, really resonated with me. He uses the analogy of the working units of our brain, neurons.
“Neurons have excitable membranes,…that allows them to generate and propagate electrical signals. When a neuron wants to act, it sends out a small signal, like an email, to the parts of the brain with which it wants to connect. That signal, in order to get where it wants to go, must jump a series of small gaps, each called a synapse, that separate one neuron from another.”
He goes on to say, “Where synapses are strong, they allow for the free-flowing transmission of energy from neuron to neuron that enables the vast range of human capability.â€
He concludes, “By analogy, in the realm of human behavior, everything that affects the spaces between us affects our ability to get things done.â€
So it seems logical then, that we are by nature, designed to connect. And with our technological ability to connect to almost anyone, anywhere at any time, it is not surprising that we would have an innate attraction, and some might argue a fundamental need, to do so.
I’m definitely a tech newbie, having just started blogging with my class about a year and a half ago, and I’m a bit nervous to even comment along with all the “real” tech people. However, I just had to say that I took the leap and invaded Facebook in spite of the fact that I’m forty-something, and I’m having a blast!
Recently, my college-aged brother told me that Xanga and My Space were “so yesterday”, and Facebook was where I needed to be if I wanted to read his posts now. So I did it, and I’m addicted.
I’ve spent the summer looking up all of my old students, and I’ve found many. (All of the ones I’ve found have let me be their friend so far too, bless their hearts.) Facebook has a Twitter-like spot to fill in as often as you like, and surprisingly, it has turned out to be one of my favorite features. There’s something about knowing what my brother, my niece, my old students, . . . are thinking about and doing in their everyday lives that makes me feels more connected with them in a comforting way.
I must confess that the whole Facebook experience has been the most fun I’ve had with technology ever–like blogging, e-mailing, sharing your photo album, twittering all in one.
It’s an amazing world we live in.
It’s interesting that I followed this link from G-town wondering about similar things and feeling that I didn’t understand the usefulness of Twitter but having read the interesting replies have a different feeling and more interest in thinking about the usefulness of the tool. I can envision a staff of teachers twittering with each other on a daily basis on how the day has gone, how they are using technology to deliver instruction, asking for help similar to Darren’s saga mentioned above,or having student’s twitter about how they felt the day went as an end of the day activity–endless uses. It’s interesting how one’s feelings and thoughts can be changed as they read what others have to say and then incorporate pieces of those conversations into their own consciousness.
I am fascinated by this new Twitter just by reading Will’s blog and all the comments. I can’t wait to try it out now! I think teens will like it, but I agree with what someone said above that they DO have facebook and myspace. I have a myspace account, but I’m not nearly as excited about it as my 15 year old cousin who uses it all the time to keep in contact with all her friends at school and she likes to let them know where she is and what she is doing, sort of like the twitter factor. I guess I don’t really get that part: why would someone be interested in MY life? but the curiosity thing has bitten me and I wouldn’t mind “following” some people around for a while just to see what it’s like.
A friend of mine recently sent me an invite to facebook too so I suppose i should check that out too, just to see the difference between that and myspace.
I just heard someone tell me, or maybe I read it somewhere, that facebook and myspace is sort of like a class thing: facebook is for the “popular crowd” and myspace is for all those people that don’t fit in anywhere else. LOL. what do u think?