Four ways of looking at Twitter

Thoughts on Twitter, after using it for a week plus:

1. How often do people cross between Twitter and the rest of the world? Do people move from email to Twitter, or respond to seeing a Twitter update with a phone call?  When I see something on a friend's Twitter that I'd like to comment on, I reach for Twitter's message service.
2. What is the use value of one's Twitter archive?  It must be something like a diary, being able to scroll through self-reflective notes over time. Can we do things with the archive, long-tail-ishly?
   
3. Can we use Twitter in the service of storytelling?
4. It's about microcontent.  I jump in (or tab over), type in a few words, and I'm good.  No worries about site design, page layout, multimedia.  (Arnaud Leene, how does Twitter do on your microcontent rating?)

Comments

[martin]

thinking about similar things, no real results yet, though. but twitter has some real Second Life potential which 3D has not(for me). and: it's a further step on aestheticizing one's life by "duplication", both in reading and writing. (of course it is no real duplicate at all, like all Media in general, which are creating semiotic layers that can be experienced like first life - like an "urban first life", to be exact, which is a construction in itself - that way creating a Second Order Life, as we go 'using' them.)

[Bryan Alexander]

This is a great point, Martin: "aestheticizing one's life by "duplication"". Like blogs, Flickr, etc. Life in the age of personal microcontent reproduction.

Quick observation or question, based on Martin's "some real Second Life potential which 3D has not(for me)" - just how wide is the gap between web 2.0 and Second Life? As each develops, and especially as web 2.0 becomes planetary-scale enormous, the two seem to be articulating very different affordances. Some people use web 2.0 platforms to support SL, but we're not seeing many other connections, are we?

[Steven]

In response to your third question, I point to Eric Rice:

However, that said, I DID find a use for Twitter that will surely piss people off. Especially Steve Rubel.

Character blogging, er, twittering.

By setting up a character-driven, fictional Twitter account, not only can I do a sultry little dance on the fine line of ARGs (alternate reality gaming), but that 140 character limit is the BEST thing to ever happen to the creative process.

Developing a storyline can be tough and quite wordy. I have this in-born need to ramble. Yet with Twitter, I can’t do that. I don’t want to do it. I need to drop a single thought– a single line– as it comes to me. The limitation forces me to make every character count– it makes each space and letter or word carefully scrutinized, and has resulted in a detailed analysis of exactly how clear I am in telling a story. True or not.

[martin]

@bryan: what do you think is the win of these "duplicating" practices? (i think i stumbled over the idea when reading Horkheimer/Adorno)
@steven: fascinating. i spontaneously had thought of something like that too (but not practiced it): using twitter as a microcontent editor. one part of a bigger personal microcontent foodchain.

[Chris L]

I'm fascinated by the possibilities of twitter for storytelling, poetry, nanoblogging, etc., but have only had time for a most cursory glance at some of the possibilities...

[Bryan Alexander]

@steven: Excellent catch, Steve. Good to see Eric Rice on that.

@martin: the win? Hm, not sure I follow - say more? I would like to explore Adorno's model of identity logic and domination in terms of digital services aimed at replicating the world, from Second Life to Google Earth.
(You picked one of my favorite books, too, for sentimental reasons.)

@Chris: I look forward to seeing where you go. What's your Twitterhandle?

[Arnaud]

What is your Twitter page/feed? I miss the social aspect in twitter.

[Bryan Alexander]

http://twitter.com/BryanAlexander, Arnaud and everyone.