TwitterHow is it Postmodern?

Background information on

Twitter• Twitter is a website which is owned by Twitter Inc.

• It offers a social networking and micro blogging service.

• It enables its uses to send and read messages called Tweets.

• Tweets are text based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the users profile page.

• Tweets are publicly visible by default.

• Senders can restrict message delivery to just their followers.

• Users may subscribe to other users’ tweets - this is known as following.

• Subscribers are known as followers or tweeps (Twitter and peeps)

Background Continued...

• All users can send or receive tweets via the Twitter website, compatible external applications (such as an Ipod, Iphone or Smart Phones), or by SMS available in certain countries.

• Services are Free!!

• The website is based in San Francisco.

• Since its creation in March 2006, and its launch in July 2006, Twitter has gained popularity worldwide.

• Its estimated to have 190 million users.

• Generated 65 million tweets a day.

• Handles over 800,000 search queries per day.

• It is sometimes described as the “SMS of the Internet”

• This is a Blue Print Sketch made in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, envisioning an SMS based Social Network.

How is Twitter Postmodern??

Fragmented Structure/Non Linear Narrative

Means: a series of fictional or non fictional events.How a plot or story is told.

Twitter is personally structured by posts, the network has no control on what is said. Twitter also has posts which comment on fictional and

non fictional events.Some of the posts are very random.

Challenging of the Meta-narrative

•Twitter has created a celebrity obsessed culture.

•People are spending more time on the internet than going to church for instance and following the Bible, a Meta-narrative which brings society together.

Playing with time and space

• Someone halfway across the world could tweet and at the same time you would receive the message saying a tweet has appeared on that persons page.

• However because of the time difference, it could be mid day where it was written, but the tweet could be read at the same time at mid night.

• For instance, I have a friend who lives in Japan, and tweeted him to check that he was still alive after the tsunami, and he tweeted back saying that he was fine. It was 7 o’clock in the morning in Japan, but I received his message at midnight.

Self Reflexivity• Twitter is similar to Facebook, in the

sense that it is based on status’, talking about personal experiences, whats on their mind or just general chit chat.

• This is like the computerised version in comparison to the film 24 Hour Part People, when Winterbottom uses self-reflexivity to have Tony Wilson commenting on how he feels about what he is thinking.

Contents of Tweets according to Pear

Analytics

News - 3.6% Spam - 3.8% Self-Promotion - 5.9% Pointless babble - 40.1%

Conversational - 37.6% Pass-along value - 8.7%

Emphasis on Style over Substance

•Many of the tweets that are posted on Twitter is generally a load of rubbish. This was shown on the previous slide.

•With the highest percentage of the tweets being pointless babble at 40.1%

Ask Questions, not giving answers, allowing audience

interpretations• Twitter is a very special website which is

completely different to other social networking sites such as Facebook, which is interactive with other people, commenting on other people’s status’ and chatting live to one another.

• Twitter is completely different, only being able to Tweet what you are thinking, or an opinion on something, without getting feedback from others.

• Unless two people are following each other, they are not able to converse with each other privately.

Web 2.0 and new technologies allowing people to become producers/celebrities outside traditional/mainstream methods

•This sums up Twitter in a nutshell.

•Twitter allows people, both celebrities and non celebrities to have Twitter, and technically have their own website, who, without Twitter wouldn’t be able to.

Meaning and purpose holds more significance that the skill involved in

making it

•It’s very straight forward to use Twitter, very easy to Tweet.

•Once, like anything, when you get use to it its as easy as pie.

•It’s easy to follow anything, linking people together simply.

•It’s easy to follow celebrities, which normally wouldn’t have a link with.

Cult of the Celebrity Culture - Celebrity obsessed society -

style over substance•Twitter was created to bring ordinary people to feel that they are closer to celebrities.

•Without actually breaking the definite line between the two.

•Many celebrities on Twitter has thousands of followers.

•For Example, Russell Brand has 858 followers, Rihanna has 4 million followers and Chris Moyles has 986,458 followers.