Yesterday I was interviewed by a researcher from the University of Manchester who is working on a collaborative research project examining the use of social media platforms such as Twitter. The project aims to explore how people use social media in their daily lives and the extent to which people’s use of social media reflects local issues, events and concerns. It is part of the Manchester eResearch Centre which exists to explore how the recent explosion in social media and the interactive web opens up opportunities for understanding societal issues and concerns. So far so interesting...
Yesterday I was interviewed by a researcher from the University of Manchester who is working on a collaborative research project examining the use of social media platforms such as Twitter. The project aims to explore how people use social media in their daily lives and the extent to which people’s use of social media reflects local issues, events and concerns. It is part of the Manchester eResearch Centre which exists to explore how the recent explosion in social media and the interactive web opens up opportunities for understanding societal issues and concerns. So far so interesting...
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Having already interviewed a community forum, the police, city council and local MPs, the researcher is in the process of recruiting and interviewing individuals who live in South Manchester and are 'well-networked users of Twitter.' She'd got in touch with me via someone she met at a networking event, who had given my name as someone who he thought would fit the bill. I was slightly surprised - I tend to think that I don't really know what I'm doing with Twitter, and I'm an extremely long way removed from the major league 'twitterati'. Aside from that, I don't use Twitter all that much to share information about or discuss local issues, so I wasn't convinced I was quite what she was looking for.
I tend to think that I don't really know what I'm doing with Twitter, and I'm an extremely long way removed from the major league 'twitterati'.
Nevertheless, I agreed to be interviewed, not least because I was keen to hear more about the research project, and mindful of potential connections or overlaps of interest that might emerge through having the conversation. I wasn't disappointed. Aside from anything else, it was interesting to be on the other side of the voice recorder for once - there's a lot to learn from being interviewed rather than doing the interviewing.
Answering questions on my use of Twitter, the role it plays in my professional life, my personal life, and the connections between my use of Twitter and the community in which I live made me think about all these things in a particularly reflective way.
I was asked questions relating to how I use Twitter to provide information to other people, to organise debate and discussion, to gather support and interest and to portray sentiment in relation to various local issues, concerns and events. Like I've said, I don't really think of myself as someone who really knows how to use Twitter to great effect, so it was curious for me to discover that I had at least something to say in relation to each of these lines of questioning.
On one level, Twitter has facilitated the democratisation of news creation, information sharing and agenda setting. On another, it does little to engage, empower or enable members of society who are, in various ways, isolated or marginalised.
In answering the questions, I began to give examples and the discussion turned to the inclusiveness or otherwise of the Twittersphere. On one level, Twitter has facilitated the democratisation of news creation, information sharing and agenda setting. On another, it does little to engage, empower or enable some members of society who are, in various ways, isolated or marginalised. Aside from those members of society who do not have access to an internet enabled device, there are those for whom Twitter simply doesn't appeal. It isn't everyone's cup of tea, and why should it be?
My interviewer mentioned one member of the community forum she'd interviewed who was deeply negative, resistant, and unable to see any potential benefits of using social media to engage with the local community. We talked about professionals such as teachers, nurses and social workers, whose day jobs are are structured in such a way as to make it very difficult to be tweeting all the time alongside doing the job.
They may also already be part of existing communication networks that they are used to and that work well for them, or they may feel that using Twitter is a quasi-work activity that they'd rather not get involved in after hours. There's the public bodies for whom it is very difficult to use Twitter in the organic, instantaneous way that it needs to be used because of the need to adhere to policies and have all public communication formally approved and signed off. And there are people for whom Twitter is confusing, off-putting, boring or simply not their medium of choice
I'm sure I'm not the first person to suggest that Twitter is a sort of bubble - a group of relatively similar people talking to each other about the things that matter to them. It is easy, when you're part of that bubble, to imagine that all the important voices are being heard, that anyone who wants to be included in the debate will be. It's also easy to feel - if you find yourself amidst a storm of retweets - as though you're really making a difference, that the important people are listening and that you're at the heart of the action.
But there's also a world out there that doesn't live itself out on Twitter. For all the unique opportunities and connections that Twitter may facilitate, there are plenty of people outside the Twitterverse who may be doing really important and valuable things without tweeting about it, or whose voices are easily overlooked. The research I took part in is due to be published this summer and it will be fascinating to find out more about the ways in which Twitter represents, enables or excludes people from participating in community life. In the meantime, I'm very happy to hear any thoughts. Use the comment function below, write me an email, post me a letter (wouldn't that be novel?) or, if you really want to, you can even send me a tweet.
Thomas Neumark Jones
17th April 2013
In general I agree, social networking sites often replicate what happens off line, so people normally talk with people they are similar too and middle class people are better at using their contacts for advancement.
However, there are a few novel things about the internet. For example, people feel more comfortable talking to friends of friends online than they do offline. The internet makes it cheaper and easier to stay in contact with distant friends or relatives which means people can feel less lonely or isolated. Finally, it's cheaper to mobilise people than ever before, this can be used to fundraising or petition writing and so on.
In addition, I think we get into very tricky territory when we start talking in negative terms about people's social networks. It's easy to start off by saying people live in a bubble, or that negative traits such as obesity or smoking are influenced by friends' behaviours but it's only a short step from this to talking about improving or optimising people's connections.
I prefer an approach that gives people a chance to critically reflect on their networks and then supports them to increase or diversify them if they so choose. Martin Webber's work in the field of mental health is an excellent example of this approach. More details here http://connectingpeoplestudy.n...