"Twitter isn't about following people you already know; it's about engaging interesting people from all over the world"                          

... Really?

Twe Twe Twitterlidee dee

Am I missing out on anything by not paying attention to a world built on 140 character posts -  known as the twittersphere?

To find out I start my journey with a quick zip through the beginners guide to twitter, which usefully gave me the guiding pearl of wisdom quoted above.

Then a bit of research.  Firstly who is on twitter?

Alexa.com reveals over the last three months twitter was the tenth most visited site globally (popular!), attracts a younger age demographic,gains most visitors from USA (20.7%) Japan (9.1%) and India (6.7%), last month spent 10-16k on ppc advertising - leading to 5-6k worth of clicks and interestingly had roughly 12% of visitors who either (or both) came directly from or went directly to Facebook.

Twitter was made huge during the 2008 USA elections but in my mind I think it is a phenomenon mostly based on the USA, or for teeny boppers who want to tell eachother everything (do you detect cynicism ) - perhaps I am wrong... 

According to a comprehensive study by beevolve: twitter has notable penetration in other countries.   In most countries women are slightly more likely than men to have a twitter account (India is a pronounced exception).

Female twitter users outnumber males till the age of 25 but from 35, female users start dwindling relative to males.  Teeny bopper alert - 74% of users fall between 15 to 25 years of age and only 6% fall in the 46+ age category.  Interestingly only .45% of user disclose their age, the most popular category of talk is family followed by entertainment and  25% of Twitter users have never tweeted.  

Deep breath, time to take the plunge (or perhaps flight is more apt?) and open an account 

 Which happened to be very easy.

Interest piqued I search twitter out for the most popular tweets of the year, Obama breaks records with his victory tweet - a photo of a hug with his wife - thought: mmm we can add photos. No 2 most popular tweet of 2012 - Justin Beiber - thought: mmm feel my optimism drain.



Ok well back to the account - what is trending now? 'Welcome back wild hazza' - some band member that has returned to the UK - thought: interestingly people are tweeting for other people to make the hashtag trend.  Second biggest trend 'mentionagoodcouple' some funny, bland and silly answers - thought: wow a global conversation on a get to know you/bustop topic - interestingly someone posts that it has being trending for 5 hours - thought: oh so this whole thing is a bit about being real time and temporary - good to know.

MM back to google - surely there is more to the global phenomenon that is twitter?  I look up twitter and activism - wow.  A simple synopsis of some of the ways twitter can help make changes opens my eyes, and this article on how the USA government asked twitter delay scheduled downtime amazes me.


Back to twitter I go

I have an interest in digital literacy, and type in the term - ha - what great results and links, and I really like that I can see photos of the people who are contributing.  I think this is one tool I should keep on the radar and investigate more.

 - what is your experience of twitter?

Mobile, Mad and Magnetic! The connected world.

Are you a Cyborg? Would you cry if you had to live without your mobile phone for a week? 

I use my mobile as my alarm clock, time piece, diary, sole phone, and on most days am usually less than a metre from it. If i had to live without it for a week I believe I would have to quite significantly re-organise my life. Chris Bye and Brian Brossman in their blog post 'Are you a Cyborg?' ask mobile dependant people like me:

"to consider the idea that you're a bit of a Cyborg being already... I sleep next to it. I eat with it. I carry it with me everywhere and if even a wall separates us, I get nervous and check my pocket compulsively the way I used to tongue around my gums for a missing tooth. Maybe the skin that separates us is a negligible barrier. Don’t I already treat my phone like an essential expansion of my eyes, ears and mind? Aren't I basically a cybernetic organism already?"

I don't know - even with the amazing power of the internet in my palm I don't feel a cyborg - do you?

Where to next? 

An interesting question - especially as technology advances.  Many people have theorised about the integration of machine and man - in some ways we are already there - think of the way machine and man combine in the case of pacemakers.  Imagine a your work week without any digital devices.  Really pause for a moment and imagine it.

Technology for many of us is everywhere, and it is likely to become even more ubiquitous.  One example of how is Project Glass - eyeglasses that can see, record and project all that your world and the internet have to offer.

Project Glass - Google Promotional video

A tested prototype can already stream the wearers movements in real time - and by 2014 Google anticipate providing a model that can be used to take photos, make phone calls, read email, and retrieve and display information from the web. 

Getting wired

The OECD predicts ”Internet development is on the cusp of a potentially large expansion to objects typically not associated with communication capabilities. Electricity plugs, auto-mobiles and even light bulbs for instance are increasingly connected to the Internet as a way to introduce new functionality. This forthcoming third wave of Internet connectivity is expected to connect anywhere from ten to a hundred devices per family “(OECD, 2012)

Going back in time - Where I am now

I think we all find mobiles a little maddening, and magnetic. 

 I love my mobile - but a little while ago it occurred to me that it was changing me too much.  I started to experiment with going out for short trips without it (or any of my other digital devices - like the iPad, the laptop, the iPod, the car navigator), then longer trips, sometime extending to a whole day.  At first there was trepidation, then a growing sense of freedom, a sense of not being on call, of being un-interruptable (yes, the feeling deserves a made up word!).  

Then issues arose - mum sounding worried because I hadn't responded to any of her five texts,  a dinner missed because the location and time changed last minute.  Amidst the scoldings I decided to re-educate my friends - I am not available. I will not always get your last minute changes.  They became amenable, created the 'Ash' category of communication - falling between the 'grandparent not connected' category and the 'always on' category of many of their friends and colleagues. Humans are adaptable.

Connected But Alone

Sherry Turkle talk at TED

Bigger questions - Alone time? Identity?

Gluesing* talks of how digital devices - particularly the mobile phone - have blurred the divisions between work and home.  Gluesing talks of how identity now is more flexible and plural - sticking with traditional stereotypes - a working mother can still keep in touch with her children through texts and phone, a working father can bring his work home. Hans Geser** calls mobiles 'pacifiers for adults' and argues that they serve as tools to reinforce these stereotypes, and draw our worlds smaller by giving us the power to connect with those we know in times of need and thus avoid having to reach out new communities.

Sherry Turkle in her TED talk 'connected but alone' mentions that by over relying on digital snippets - be they texts or quick calls or tweets - we are short changing ourselves of deeper interactions - interactions where we don't get to pre edit, or delete. She goes on to say that there is a new regime of constant connection – I share and therefore I am – and if we don’t have connection we don’t feel or know ourselves and thus set ourselves up to feel isolated/ unable to be alone.  Sherry emphasises the need to spend time alone to re-set, to integrate ideas and to form and know ourselves.

My experience

I have found the social costs of being switched on 24/7 to be detrimental.  Whilst a thread of anxiety runs through me - I love the free feeling of leaving my digital world behind and being unavailable, completely unto myself and my own resources.  I would not want a world without the ease and mind expanding access to people, ideas and new ways of being that these digital devices give me - but realise I have a lot to learn about managing them so they work for me - not the other way around.  Google maps is great - so can be being lost. 

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References:

• Images: Created in Microsoft word with Clipart images
• Video 1: Google Glass by Google and posted on Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c6W4CCU9M4
• OECD (2012). OECD internet economy outlook 2012 highlights http://www.oecd.org/sti/interneteconomy/internet-economy-outlook-2012-highlights.pdf 
• Video 2: Sherry Turkle talk at TED posted on the TED - ideas worth spreading website: http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html 
• *Gluesing, J. C. (2008). Identity in a virtual world: The coevolution of technology, work, and lifecycle. In T. J. Meerwarth, J. C. Gluesing, & B. Jordan, (Eds.), Mobile work, mobile lives: Cultural accounts of lived experiences (pp.70-88). NAPA Bulletin, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
• **Geser, H (2006). 'Is the Cell Phone Undermining the Social Order?: Understanding Mobile Technology from a Sociological Perspective', Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 19, 1, p. 8, MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 2 December 2012.

Related Tools

In thinking about this topic I expanded my research to include finding a few suggestions on how to better manage digital tools.  My favourite two finds are the app chronos which helps track where and how you spend your time - from sleep, to work and family, and the blog post '10 ways to separate work and life' by Heather Huhman.