Twitter is the new Third Place
You know Twitter, it is the most recent early adopter craze, and to those on the outside, it’s a giant in-joke (for a great explanation of Why Twitter, click here) Members post short updates (less than 140 characters) to a site where people “follow” you because they think you’re interesting, and you follow people you think are interesting. Really cool people have lots more followers than people they follow, just like at school. Also, like school, people who are “in” on Twitter spend a lot of time working on their in-ness. It takes work to stay hot on Twitter: wit, constant updates about things that aren’t patently boring (there are plenty of those on Twitter), and other hip people following you. Certain of Washington DC’s media elite seem to have perfected this.
I don’t really Twitter. It’s too high maintenance and it intimidates me, like a party where everyone is engrossed in conversation except you. Also, I find it very confusing because Twitter language looks like gibberish. Here are two recent examples of popular Twitter feeds:
Randomdeanna: @benpolitico good luck today! Waving from next door (actually, at @audiciaray, too, heh)
Translation: This is Deanna, probably Twittering from her mobile, telling a Twitterer named @benpolitico (who is the Politico.com writer Ben Smith) good luck, and I guess also waving to someone named audiciaray.
RT @Michael_Hoffman: Lets make #skittles the brand that saved Iraqi
Refugees http://twurl.nl/nszdcx (please RT) #p2 #topprog #rebelleft
(This is an online activist named Michael Hoffman launching a very cool campaign to bring attention to Refugees International http://www.refugeesinternational.org/iraq by using the “juggernaut” that was the re-launch of the new Skittles candy site. He’s asking those people who go to the Skittles Twitter page to use the tags #p2, etc., to raise awareness of the refugee cause, and to track the action. All the hash marks are actually a complicated taxonomy system that’s pretty brilliant, if confusing to the eye. I can get past the language weirdness (but as Deanna Zandt, aka @randomdeanna says, “Do you read lolcats”? Oh, do I!)
I’m starting to feel left out because I’m not a Twitterer. How can I feel left out of a website? How nerdy is that?
I feel left out of Twitter because it is a social gathering. I think Twitter and its ilk (Facebook, MySpace) are the new third place for many. In sociology, the Third Place is a key element to the social fabric. In social capital theory, third places are what keep a society, or even a neighborhood, together; they turn acquaintances into relationships and breed good will. It’s where you go when you don’t want the ties of family but you don’t want to be alone. In the UK, it might be the pub. On TV, it was the famous bar Cheers. In olde America, it was also the Bowling Alley or the Rotary Club meeting (see Robert Putnam’s http://bowlingalone.com/ Bowling Alone for more).
My friend Sarah Granger, Managing Director of FutureCampaign (who has a rich offline life) spoke honestly of the attachment her Twitter community created this past election cycle:
“And by the time it was election night, I was so accustomed to the community, I honestly had more fun on Twitter than I did in this huge room full of people in San Francisco – I was there physically cheering with them, and the in-person crowd feeling was great, but I felt more happiness sharing the moments with friends via Twitter, if that makes any sense.”
I asked Deanna (aka @randomdeanna), Twitter fan, about Twitter immersion. Texting, iPhone and blogging were bad enough before. Now with Twitter everyone is even more engrossed in a third place. If life is happening on your mobile screen, it’s not happening in your house, at your dinner, your coffee date. There’s even a http://pistachioconsulting.com/twitter-presentations/ great recent blog post advising presenters what to do at a conference when everyone is Twittering while you speak on stage.
Deanna wrote back,
“I think there’s definitely a boundary problem that some people have when it comes to their toys. People get hurt feelings, while the folks who are doing the Twittering think they’re doing them a favor by sharing their moment together. (Really, I think we Twitter folk think that. heh.) On the other hand, the line between our digital lives and our tangible lives is clearly blurring– I for example, have stopped saying “in real life;” now I say “online” and “offline.” For many people, twittering their tangible live is fluid and makes sense. It’s jarring for those that have a different worldview, tho, for sure.”
It is jarring indeed. But for many, Twitter is the Third Place of choice, and even though to me it feels like a big inside joke I’m not invited to, it is open to all, much like the bar Cheers. Boldface names mix with ordinary people, and they all sound like they’re sharing one big secret handshake. But bold face names may choose to follow us ordinaries simply because we tweet interesting things. And that’s quite cool. Not like school at all.
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About Me
Morra Aarons-Mele utilizes social media strategies to help employers, employees and communities connect. She also consults with leading organizations on how women can use the internet for professional and personal development. In her spare time, Morra enjoys blogging about women and politics. Read her full bio >>
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