Thursday, March 15, 2007

QotW7: Twit - ter "the" - Twitter

Is Twitter an online community? Yes, Twitter is an online community. Here is what an online community means before I reason out why twitter falls under the category of an online community.

When we think of the term, online community, we usually think of it as a place where people communicate and exchange views. According to Wikipedia, an online community, also known as the virtual community is said to be “a group of people that may or may not primarily or initially communicate or interact via the internet.” (Virtual Community, 2007) Not only that, it plays the role of allowing people who already know each other to communicate online.

With such advanced technology, many ways of communicating on an online community is applied. For example, the use of pseudonyms where you need not use your real name in order to chat and share ideas. Everyone has control over the information they want to share and receive. Just like LetsSingIt.com, forums are used for such purposes. Also, rules as usual are stated in order to maintain the harmony going on within the community. “The advance of technology brings nations together and narrows the differences between the experiences of their people.” (Fernback & Thompson, 1995) Here, people from different parts of the world can come together just by contributing in an online community. The online community is open to just about anyone as long as you have internet connection.

Now, why is Twitter an online community? I signed up for Twitter on Thursday afternoon to get a feel of what it is like just because it is required for this assignment. Had it not been for the experience, I would not have got a feel of how an online community really works. First of all, I do not own a Friendster account just because I fear the computer at times, in whether it will break down on me any time soon. Twitter seems straight forward for me as every step such as signing up, leaving messages and adding friends are clearly showed. Twitter seems like a blog, yet not really a blog because it has limited words for you to leave comments. However, Twitter allows connects you to many of your other friends just like how Friendster does and how blog shows links to others. With such similarity, it brings a step closer for Twitter to fall under the category of an online community.

In Twitter, you have a section for your personal profile, the ability to add friends from any part of the world while communicating and exchanging ideas just like the functions of MSN - “Without regard to race, creed, gender or geography.” (Wellman & Gula, 1996) That is exactly how we have come together on Twitter, especially for class com 125. Everyone is now in some way or another linked.

In conclusion, Twitter is an online community just because it is similar in its functions and how it works when compared to other online communities. With ongoing interaction of the individuals in the community, it is no doubt an online community.




REFERENCES

Fernback, J. & Thompson, B. (1995). "Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?" Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html

Wellman, B. & Gulia, M. (1996). "Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities." Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://www.acm.org/%7Eccp/references/wellman/wellman.html

Wikipedia (2007). Virtual Community. Retrieved March 15, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities

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