danah boyd posed an open questionnaire to her blog last week about twitter use. I thought I would answer it here. danah, feel free to use any/all of my info. 🙂 – joi
1. Why do you use Twitter? What do you like/dislike about it?
Admittedly, I use twitter because I want to find out what all the fuss is about. I am nowhere near a twitter-aholic. I have to remind myself to post actually. This has become easier lately with my download of the Firefox plugin, Twitbin.
2. Who do you think is reading your Tweets? Is this the audience you want? Why/why not? Tell me anything you think of relating to the audience for your Tweets.
Honestly, I don’t think anyone is reading my tweets. If they are, I am not thinking about it. I use it more as a random, not up to date GPS log of my day and random thoughts, actually, more than anything.
3. How do you read others’ Tweets? Do you read all of them? Who do you read/not read and why? Do you know them all?
My favorite feature is the public timeline. Even more than the people I follow/friend. It’s like walking into a crowded room and lazily eavesdropping/people watching. The international conversations at various parts of the day are cool to watch too.
I will say though, I was rivetted to the developments of NickWilson‘s wife’s labor on twitter the other day. He (non-graphically, thankfully) gave play by plays of her trip to the hospital and the announced when the baby was born. I have never met him personally or virtually, only read his blog by association with other blogs I read. But that was good twitter, imho. Although, admittedly, not very repeatable.
4. What content do you think is appropriate for a Tweet? What is inappropriate? Have you ever found yourself wanting to Tweet and then deciding against it? Why?
I think random musings are the best tweets, even though I use it more as a status check. Again, the labor tweets were very interesting diversions
I don’t understand the “@so-and-so” mentality that some use it for. I wouldn’t call it inappropriate, just seems like there are better mediums for person to person communication.
5. Are your Tweets public? Why/why not? How do you feel about people you don’t know coming across them? What about people you do know?
My tweets are public. I, in many regards, am more public that the average person, but I am hyper aware of how I am public. I don’t think some people are – or if they are they are, they don’t mind what other people may think about them from random, out of context conversations.
6. What do i need to know about why Twitter is/is not working for you or your friends?
If I like it, I will pester my friends to early adopt it along with me. I haven’t reached that point yet. I am casually bringing up the fact I am using it, but the pestering has yet to begin.
Joi Podgorny 