Presentation at SITE 2010 Conference (http://site.aace.org/conf/)

1. Is Twitter an
Individual Mass
Communication Medium?
Helga Wiesenhofer, Martin Ebner, Walther Nagler

2. Technology enhanced Learning
http://flickr.com/photos/powerbooktrance/289992273//

3. uLearning and m-Learning
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovietuk/141381675

4. Twitter grows 1382%
within one year
http://flickr.com/photos/nettsu/1365343292/

5. What are we doing?
107% Learning
-96% Sex

6. What are we doing?
57% Leisure
-95% Money

7. Twitter Stream
at ED-Media2008

8. Research Question:
Can we find an appropriate
http://flickr.com/photos/nettsu/1365343292/

9. Basic communication forms
(Littlejohn, 1992)

Interpersonal communication
(face to face)

Group communication
(more than two persons)

Organisational communication
(in large cooperative networks)

Mass communication
(public and mediated
communication)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nuagedenuit/276092250

10. Basic Transmission Model

11. The field-schema of Mass
Communication (Maletzke, 1963)

12. Model Adaption to Twitter (1)
Adaption to the definition of mass communication:

Messages (Tweets) are sent public by different
communicators (Twitter users) through a medium
(Twitter application) to different receivers
(Followers/public timeline)

Tweets are indirect and unidirectional for an
undefined public

13. Model Adaption to Twitter (2)

Interpersonal Communication → Directed Tweets

Group Communication → within a group of
followers

Organisational Communication → Tweets outside a
group of followers

Mass Communication → Tweets in general

14. Model Adaption to Twitter (3)

15. Conclusion
compatibility between traditional
communication models and Twitter
Tweets are public, indirect
and unilateral and get
through an electronic
medium to an undefined audience
Twitter enables
mass communication

16. Unlike traditional
media like TV, radio
and newspaper Twitter
offers the possibility of an
individual mass
communication
media
http://www.flickr.com/photos/161/

17. SOCIAL LEARNING
Computer and Information Services
Graz University of Technology
Walther Nagler, Martin Ebner
@walthern, @mebner
http://elearning.tugraz.at
http://elearningblog.tugraz.at