Liminality and Communitas in Social Media: The Case of Twitter Jana Herwig, M.A. Dept. of Theatre, Film & Media Studies University of Vienna Email: [email_address] Twitter: @digiom Blog: digiom.wordpress.com

Hum? Tendovaginitis Microlearning Conference Innsbruck Holiday My Twittering according to Tweetstats.com

Rite of Passage (Turner): 1 - Subject is stripped of its social status 2 - Liminality: Subject goes through a transitional phase marked by chaos, anti-structure and egalitarian relations between initiands (communitas) 3 - Reintegration with an elevated status

0 friends 0 followers 0 updates Detachment from Social Status

Chaos and anti-structure

Levelling of hierarchies pic by @mimimixer

Interfaces Analysis of the symbols that shape liminoid experience Users Chronological close reading of individual timelines Social Media Services ‘ Early adopters’ vs ‘mainstream users’

Interfaces

Analysis of the symbols

that shape liminoid experience

Users

Chronological close reading of individual timelines

Social Media Services

‘ Early adopters’ vs ‘mainstream users’

Symbols of inclusion/exclusion Log-in Sign-up

Sign-up? (how cynical…)

Optional anonymity: No real name check… yet (Project Verified Accounts) Creation of liminoid subject

Why anonymity (rather: lack of notoriety) matters Communitas is volatile: With real names and ‘meat space’ relationships, social structures and hierarchies are re-injected into Twitter. How did it feel when your boss (colleague, high school mate, mother ...) started following you on Twitter? (email me: jana.herwig@univie.ac.at)

Why anonymity (rather: lack of notoriety) matters

Communitas is volatile: With real names and ‘meat space’ relationships, social structures and hierarchies are re-injected into Twitter.

Example 1: With its more than 2 million followers, the account @oprah receives several replies in an hour, but has replied just six times in its first seven months – just once to a non-celebrity.

Example 2: Although the informal ‘Du’ is typically used between German-speaking Twitter users, the account of Austrian TV-anchor @ArminWolf is mostly addressed with the formal ‘Sie’.

Anonymity structures competition between Social Media platforms Facebook : Oppressed. Accounts with ‘fake’ names are suspended 4chan Random board /b/ : Enforced. Derogatory terms for users w/ names Twitter : Optional Anonymity; Nuanced negotiation of Anonymity/notoriety Incentives to give up anonymity

Anonymity structures competition between Social Media platforms

Facebook : Oppressed. Accounts with ‘fake’ names are suspended

4chan Random board /b/ : Enforced. Derogatory terms for users w/ names

Twitter : Optional Anonymity;

Nuanced negotiation of Anonymity/notoriety

Incentives to give up anonymity

Sample 1: signed-up Oct’06 - Mar‘07 94% (15 out of 16) went on a hiatus of ≥ 28 days, 75% (12) did so in first 2 months Sample 2: signed-up Mar’09 - Jul‘09 9% (1 out of 11) stopped updating for ≥ 28 days (max. time on Twitter: 6 months)

User A

User B

User D

User G

User K

User L The used visualization tool tweetstats.com starts with the first update; User L wrote the first update 600 days after signing-up.

User O (‘Lead User’) Video with all activity patterns in sample 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhPdQaZ_Wu4

What do people write about when they first use or when they return to Twitter?

What do people write about when they first use or when they return to Twitter?

View on Twitter as a web technology “ Testing this twitter Flex interface” “ wondering if there’s a way to push Adium / Facebook updates to Twitter automatically” “ Just twitting from my DOS console” “ Trying to figure out the twitter api”

View on Twitter as a web technology

“ Testing this twitter Flex interface”

“ wondering if there’s a way to push Adium / Facebook updates to Twitter automatically”

“ Just twitting from my DOS console”

“ Trying to figure out the twitter api”

View on Twitter as part of a mobile gadget culture “ Loving my Touch. Mobilicious.” “ Got a nokia e61i now... Getting connected to everything mobile” “ Google Latitude... Cool... http://is.gd/ijOV”

View on Twitter as part of a mobile gadget culture

“ Loving my Touch. Mobilicious.”

“ Got a nokia e61i now... Getting connected to everything mobile”

“ Google Latitude... Cool... http://is.gd/ijOV”

Sample 1: signed-up Oct’06 - Mar‘07 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 12.5% women (2 of 16 active users, randomly identified) Sample 1: signed-up Oct’06 - Mar‘07 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 91% women (10 of 11 active users, randomly identified)

View on Twitter as a social sphere “ thinking about next season as a Happy Hammer - prompted by a fellow fan now following me.” “ @xxx You are not the only one in the UK that is glad to see AmberMac back on here, Shame Net@Nite is no longer recorded live though ”

View on Twitter as a social sphere

“ thinking about next season as a Happy Hammer - prompted by a fellow fan now following me.”

“ @xxx You are not the only one in the UK that is glad to see AmberMac back on here, Shame Net@Nite is no longer recorded live though ”

Twitter as a liminal challenge “ Testing this gadget” “ Testing twitter” “ back” “ ASDf” “ mic check, 1-2” “ i totally forgot about twitter, i suck” “ trying to remember how to use twitter”

Twitter as a liminal challenge

“ Testing this gadget”

“ Testing twitter”

“ back”

“ ASDf”

“ mic check, 1-2”

“ i totally forgot about twitter, i suck”

“ trying to remember how to use twitter”

Early Twitter as asocial medium In their very first update, 87.5% (14 out of 16) reported what they were doing. (one reported what he was going to do, another posted a sequence of arbitrary characters). Study by Mischaud 2007: 41.5% reported what they were doing (Content analysis of 5767 tweets from 60 users)

Early Twitter as asocial medium

In their very first update, 87.5% (14 out of 16) reported what they were doing.

(one reported what he was going to do, another posted a sequence of arbitrary characters).

Study by Mischaud 2007: 41.5%

reported what they were doing

(Content analysis of 5767 tweets from 60 users)

The social dimension Are users aware of the presence of others? (User L’s sixth update, posted on day 745 on Twitter, responding to someone with a similar nickname)

The social dimension

Are users aware of the presence of others?

(User L’s sixth update, posted on day 745 on Twitter, responding to someone with a similar nickname)

The @-response as indicator After having posted their first @-response, 75% of users in the ‘early adopter’ sample did not experience another hiatus .

The @-response as indicator

After having posted their first @-response, 75% of users in the ‘early adopter’ sample did not experience another hiatus .

The 1 st @-response Early adopters: within 21 to 745 days (average: 411, median: 404) It was contained in update no. 3 to 302 (average: no. 68, median 34) Mainstream users achieved this within 1 to 25 days (average: 8, median: 4) It was contained in update no. 1 to 64 (average: no. 14, median: 6)

The 1 st @-response

Early adopters: within 21 to 745 days

(average: 411, median: 404)

It was contained in update no.

3 to 302 (average: no. 68, median 34)

Mainstream users achieved this within

1 to 25 days (average: 8, median: 4)

It was contained in update no.

1 to 64 (average: no. 14, median: 6)

Types of Social mechanisms Default social mechanisms: Built into the system, could be triggered automatically, e.g. @-response. Emergent social mechanisms: Result of collective experiment with social-semantic opportunities of a text field, e.g. retweeting, hashtags (may be turned into default ones)

Types of Social mechanisms

Default social mechanisms:

Built into the system, could be triggered automatically, e.g. @-response.

Emergent social mechanisms:

Result of collective experiment with social-semantic opportunities of a text field,

e.g. retweeting, hashtags (may be turned into default ones)

Appropriation of # and RT Hashtags: EA 292 - 957 d (average 697, median 708.5) MS 1 - 143 days (average 45, median 31) Retweeting: EA 405 - 947 days (average 701, median 705) MS 1 - 94 days (average 39, median 34,5) (N.B. These mechanisms had presumably not yet emerged when sample 1 signed up)

Appropriation of # and RT

Hashtags:

EA 292 - 957 d (average 697, median 708.5)

MS 1 - 143 days (average 45, median 31)

Retweeting:

EA 405 - 947 days (average 701, median 705)

MS 1 - 94 days (average 39, median 34,5)

(N.B. These mechanisms had presumably not yet emerged when sample 1 signed up)

Creation of a Liminal Subject < First steps on Twitter Communitas as anti-structural community > < Forms of community that become possible (and are also precarious) on Twitter Role of Liminality within society > < Social Media as space for social innovation Social Media exist at the interface of technology, individual practice & society.

Creation of a Liminal Subject

< First steps on Twitter

Communitas as anti-structural community >

< Forms of community that become possible (and are also precarious) on Twitter

Role of Liminality within society >

< Social Media as space for social innovation

Social Media exist at the interface of technology, individual practice & society.

Questions or Feedback? Send an email to jana . [email_address] . ac .at or, preferably, post a comment on my blog. You can also download the draft paper (with data, comment and annotations) from there: http: //digiom . wordpress . com/2009/10/05/coming-to-grips-with-twitter-200607-vs-2009 Short link: http: //wp . me/peBnE-u4 Longer version of this presentation (optimized for lack of audio) is on slideshare, username anaj