Social Media Project summary

Twitter was a very interesting experience. Before this we have never logged in or tried twitter before. After using twitter a few times we were able to notice the effectiveness that it has as well as some of the limitations. We agreed that it was a very effective communication tool, and completely simple to use. Having the ability to notify your followers of any particular information that you would like your audience to know. This helps to save time rather than contacting each individual separately, and if you choose to only want to contact certain individual(s) then you have that option as well by sending direct messages. The service also allows you to block anyone that you don not want to know or follow your tweats. Although it is useful, most social media site such as facebook, and myspace has same or similar ability. Thus we did not quite understand what are the key competencies of this website, and we were sure that we are not the only ones. One competency that we found out later on though is that it is just like text messaging on mobile phone, and considering how much people text now days to communicate, it does make sense that this site got popular.

The size of the information that one is able to post is rather small (only 140 characters) in some situation for both the poster and the reader. Yet, it is making it simple, quick, and convenient to post a twit. Also, it is very easy to read a sentence rather than a paragraph. Twitter allows the user to use it as a mobile service instead of a stationary communication tool. We did research as to why the question “What are you doing?” is the standard inquiry. The answer was simple and made complete sense. It helps the average and individual who wants to post a response answer this effortlessly and helps users initiate a conversation. “Because you are always doing something, even if it is incredibly mundane.”

After a little research about twitter we were able to find out their goals and a few ideas, and it sounds like they have a bigger picture in mind than what they have already created. Wanting to become a global communication tool using any device that is available to the user at any particular time. Everyday there are many suggestions as to what twitter should do to improve but there can only be certain changes and improvements that will and can be made at certain times. Twitter is trying to maintain the original concept that everything works together rather than a single touchpoint. One of their main goals is to adjust how the UI works.

Some of the limitations for twitter would be the number of characters that are allowed per posting. Only allowing so much information to be transmitted can be frustrating if you have to explain a little more with out having the message misunderstood. Users are limited to the amount of posting they are able to make in a particular time frame. we think one statement said that it was like 70 in an hour. We were not able to experience this and I would be extremely surprised if someone actually complained about that. Another would be being able to follow a conversation (conversation threading). we did experience this through our twittering experience that we are conduction through our group project. We have like 50 followers and it is hard to see if they are talking to you and you have to search for the last thing that they posted. We are able to send direct messages but then there might be certain information that you would still like others to see, especially if it is a frequently asked question. The main posting would possibly help others be enlightened of what they might inquire or might inquire in the future. Uncertainty or just not knowing can be dangerous. We were able to keep a conversation thread with Neil and John’s group only because they were online the same time as we were (This is mainly because we are using PC to use twitter though. As mobile twitter user increases, this will no longer be a limitation). One of the last limitations that we noticed was that we were only able to post texts and links, and not photos or videos. This might be something that they could consider modifying.