IMCS7 Image, Identity and Media

Twitter: an Analysis on the Microblogging Phenomenon in

Relation with Community and Identity

By Renate Jacob and Scott Wu

Date: 25/04/08

Introduction

In our project we are looking at Twitter. Started in 2006, Twitter established itself as a

microblogging tool that allows users to answer the question "what are you doing?" and share it with

other users. At first glance this social networking website seems to cater to a small user group who

either have obsessions for exposing their personal lives or have too much time in hand. The rapid

growth of users suggests otherwise. Since 2007, the website received media attention from online as

well as print media, and endorsements from important figures in the blogging community. The

growth of user peaked in March 2007, but the number of new posts is constantly growing. The

Founders of Twitter “decided not reveal actual numbers of users, messages created, messages

distributed, or other data that reveals the size of our service [...] we believe the health of a product

and community is best measured by activity levels both on our site and off” (Glaser 2007). The

number of posts created by users have risen steadily even after the initial surge in user population

eased, indicating that the growth has been sustainable. To compare it with Blogs, the user on Twitter

are much more active.

First we look at Twitter and how it differs from Blogs. The usage of Twitter will be the next

thing we talk about. The usage has extended beyond answering the proposed question of "what are

you doing" to a much broader perspective. The news media, such as the BBC and The New York

Times, also uses Twitter to post the new headlines with a link to the full story and even the politics

discovered Twitter. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both an account to keep their Followers

updated. The Obama account has currently the most followers on Twitter (see

http://www.twitterholic.com/ ).

The next to sections are dealing with the community and the identity aspects of Twitter.

1
Communities on Twitter are similar to other communities and are founded to unify users with the

same interests. In the next part we talk about Identity Construction throughout Twitter. How it can

be used as a self-reflexive tool to create, maintain, and revise users identities.

Twitter

“Microblogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually

less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group

which can be chosen by the user“ (Wikipedia 2008). On Twitter the limit is 140 characters. This is

the main characteristic that differs Twitter from everything else that we knew before. The limit is

nearly the same as in a short message from the mobile phone, which is 160 characters. Co-founder

Biz Stone says: “We really like that 140 character limit because the text message limit is 160 and

we need to save some space for the user name and because we want to be device agnostic.” (Glaser

2007). But why are people using Twitter with that limitation of characters?

Paul McFedries (2007) suggests: “Probably because blogging is hard” the limitation allows

you to post short thoughts and ideas by using different ways such as instant messaging software or a

mobile phone. Twitter is also combining social networking and microblogging (see McFedries

2007). To create a community through such short blogpostings called “tweet” there are so called

followers. It is possible to see the tweets of that users that allow it to let them public for everyone, if

someone is interesting its possible to get all his new tweets by following him. So if somebody's

friend is also on Twitter it is possible to follow him. The followed person sees his followers and can

also click on their profiles. This follower/followers relationship originated a network between the

users.

There is also a way to interact directly with other users over Twitter. If might someone has a

question, opinion or thought and an other user wants to react than it is possible through @username

like in normal chat rooms. So it is possible to discuss directly over Twitter. Twitter is very easy to

use and it can be updated through many different applications. The users can just send a text

2
message from their mobile phones or through Instant Messenger. There are also a lot of applications

from third parties for Gtalk, Facebook, Firefox, Opera and so on. The easy way to update Twitter

makes the users much more active as for example the user of Blogger.

Usage

As already mentioned, the user don't use the Twitter only for answering the question “what

are you doing?”. Most posts on Twitter talk about daily routine or what people are currently doing.

This is the largest and most common user of Twitter, but there are also conversations between the

users. There is no direct way to reply a message, but it's possible to send a new message and

addressing it with the @ symbol followed by the username for replies on previous tweets. Other

people are using Twitter to share information's, URLs and news. They report latest news or

comment about current events on Twitter. (see Java et. al. 2007: 7f)

In the study published in August 2007, they distinguish three types of Twitter users. User

that are a Information Source for other users. They have a large number of followers. “This user

may post updates on regular intervals or infrequently. Despite infrequent updates, certain users have

a large number of followers due to the valuable nature of their updates. Some of the information

sources were also found to be automated tools posting news and other useful information on

Twitter” (Java et.al. 2007: 8). Many media companies discovered Twitter as a useful tool to keep the

readership updated. There aren't only Newspapers or TV broadcaster, there are also a few radio

stations that post on Twitter what they are currently playing, with a link to the online live stream.

But not only media companies serve as Information sources, also users post useful informations for

other users.

Most of the relationships on Twitter fall into the broad category Friends. “There are many

sub-categories of friendships on Twitter. For example a user may have friends, family and co-

workers on their friend or follower lists. Sometimes unfamiliar users may also add someone as a

friend” (Java et.al. 2007: 8). If friends, family and other important people are on Twitter its easy to

3
keep them updated. Just through one short message everyone of your friends who wants to know

what you are doing, can read it there. So it's easy to stay in contact with all friends.

“Information Seeker [...] is a person who might post rarely, but follows other users

regularly” (Java et.al. 2007: 8). A user that wants to be updated what happens in the news, but

doesn't feel the need to post or comment such news. New users are maybe in the beginning more

passive, just looking for information's and how everything works.

Community Aspect

Community is the explicit theme component of Twitter. A user can inform his friends about

his current status through the website, instant messengers, mobile device, and other third party

software. Twitter helps users maintaining old relationships and also providing the opportunity for

meeting new friends. It acts like an open chat room. Knowing the current status of their friends,

people can initiate conversations easily. The conversations tend to be topical, instead of just

standard greetings, and this makes the exchanges more interesting. According to a research on the

usage of microblogging on Twitter, high reciprocity between users was found, an indication of a

healthy community. Other signs of community are the high degrees of geographical correlation and

mutual relationships within groups (Java et.al. 2007: 5). The study also revealed that a user may

have “multiple intentions or may even serve different roles in different communities” (Java et.al

2007: 8). Users participate in communities which share similar interests but they may have different

intentions for joining these communities. While some act as information providers, others are

merely looking for new and interesting information. (see Java et.al. 2007: 6)

Identity Construction

Twitter is a platform for individuals to express themselves in a free flowing, casual way.

Coupled with the option for users to update from their mobile devices, individuals can do a real-

time autobiography documenting things that happen in their lives, thoughts that come across, and

4
emotions that emerge spontaneously. A questionnaire conducted by Edward Mischaud from London

School of Economics and Political Science showed that users are drawn to Twitter because the

platform allows “minute status updates”. A respondent said that updating from his mobile phone

gave it a “pseudo real-time feeling” (Mischaud, 2007). Not only does Twitter help users to share

their current status with friends more conveniently, the process also leads to self-discovery, or as

Giddens called a reflexive project of self identity. Users observe themselves in order to create,

maintain, and revise their own identities (Gauntlett, 2002). That being said, the same activity could

be done in an offline environment, where everything is kept private. However, sharing personal

experience is a crucial part in the construction of identity. Everything one does, says, and feels

contributes to the lifestyle one has or wishes to project. Individuals may tell others about

themselves through their subjective narration, the story of who we are. Equally important is the

freedom for users to observe others. Much like reality TV shows, people's lives are interesting

because we can compare our lives against others. One can look at how others express themselves

and subsequently revise his behaviours as he wishes. Only that in this case, the reflexive media

effect is facilitated in a bottom-up fashion created by other users, not the media companies.

What is it that Twitter does that a regular blog can't? From a technological stand point, there

is nothing Twitter does that a blog can't do. Bloggers can just as freely express themselves on their

blogs. In fact, without the limit on the length of each post, authors can articulate their thoughts more

clearly and include more details, add images, or even embed videos in their pages. To receive

updates from friends, one can simply subscribe to the blogs of interest with RSS feeds, so that no

update will be missed. The key element that sets Twitter apart from a blog, therefore, lies in the 140

characters limit.

An obvious outcome of the space constraint is that it forces users to be more concise, an

asset in the age when attention is a scarce resource. Another more significant effect is the free

flowing, casual culture it fosters within Twitter. Unlike blogs, Twitter is suitable for spontaneous or

unorganized thoughts because one does not need to bother with titles or tags. The simple interface

5
helps to make updating a really simple process. In comparison, blog posts are like organized formal

publications while Twitter posts are like post-it notes. Due to the length limitation, Twitter cannot

replace blogs for conveying well formed ideas, but it does provide users a place to document their

thoughts in raw form. It motivates users to post things they otherwise would not have written in

their blogs, like spontaneous reactions that may be amusing or inspiring. These fine details are

usually so small and fragmented that we find it difficult to remember, let alone turning them into

blog posts. At the same time, they are the fabrics of our personal identities that can best represent

us. It allows individuals to discover the multi-dimensional selves that are difficult to articulate.

Precisely because of the space limitation, our identities can be faithfully expressed (or constructed,

since we, at the same time, record them selectively). This is crucial because being true to oneself is

the foundation of identity construction in the late-modern society.

Surely one can set a self-imposed limit on the length of his blog posts and free himself from

creating titles or tags. However, Twitter possesses a culture of casual flow that may be difficult to

duplicate. Users on Twitter do not limit themselves on the topics of their posts. As mentioned in the

previous section, a research has shown that users have gone well beyond answering what they are

doing. There is no expectation set in this platform by the users. Random rants and incomprehensible

expressions are considered normal (Mischaud, 2007). Furthermore, it makes the environment more

welcoming for new users. Here, users do not have to compare themselves to prolific blogger who

regularly produce insightful thousand words essays. Instead, everyone is on the same ground

endowed with 140 character spaces to express themselves.

6
Conclusion

We have looked at how microblogging facilitates community building and identity

construction through Twitter. By limiting the length of each post, Twitter has effectively created a

dynamic different from regular blogging or other social media websites. Although its intention is

not to replace either, Twitter provides a platform for spontaneous expression and information

sharing.

The Limitation and the fast ways to update it, for example via text message or instant messenger,

makes Twitter suitable for spontaneous or unorganized thoughts. The user and his followers can

read the thoughts, emotions, ideas or information's. This create, maintain, and revise the user

identity. How the user is seen from the other users, but it gives the possibility to reflect on the own

thoughts, emotions and ideas. It can be seen as a tool to reflect on the self-identity.

7
References
Gauntlett, David; Media, Gender and Identity. An Introduction, Routledge, London and New
York 2002.

Glaser, Mark (2007): Twitter Founders Thrive on Micro-Blogging Constraints. On the Web:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/05/digging_deepertwitter_founders.html (23.04.2008)

Java, Akshay/Song, Xiaodan/Finin, Tim/Tseng, Belle (2007): Why We Twitter: Understanding

Microblogging Usage and Communities. On the Web:
http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/_file_directory_/papers/369.pdf (24.04.2008)

McFedries, Paul (2007): All A-Twitter. In: IEEE Spectrum. Vol. 44, Issue 10, Oct. 2007, p.: 84.

MISHAUD, Edward (2007): Twitter: Expressions of the Whole Self. Department of Media and
Communications. London, London School of Economics.

Wikipedia (2008): Microblogging. On the Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-blogging

(23.04.2008)