Friday, April 11th, 2008
at 6:00pm
It’s somewhat obvious through my review of Twitter and the establishment of my podcast that I’m getting more and more into new media, primarily consumption of new media. One of the main ideas of the new forms of media is that there should be a two-way avenue of content being released, with those who were formerly just consumers, for the most part, becoming producers. Publishing and broadcasting is no longer limited to the big names because there are so many tools available to individuals. Of course, many of those individuals happen to be of the younger crowd, and those folks have as great a reach and probably more influence over their own demographic as do the typical of-age media groups.
To emphasize how teenagers have such a strong influence in today’s media, I’d like to hold an event where teenage media producers – primarily podcasters (audio and video) and bloggers – can meet each other and share their experiences in producing new media. Since I’m located in the New York City area, I’d like to invite teens from all over the city, and those willing to come in from surrounding Westchester, Suffolk (rather far from Manhattan) and Nassau counties, and closer towns in New Jersey, to a teen media meetup in Manhattan. My goal is to hold the event sometime before the summer and at a popular public venue in Manhattan with a very social environment. Teens of the ages ~13 to 19 are invited for this special event.
If you are a teen new media lover in the metropolitan New York area, and would like to meet others who share your interest, let me know. Leave a comment below or head over to the contact page, and tell me a little bit about yourself.
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
at 8:11pm
All of the buzz in the social communication world these days goes to Twitter. From MacWorld to SXSWI, people have been tweeting about anything and everything going on in their lives. The main goal of Twitter is to have people share their current action or thought in a 140 character message (the specific limit is set to allow use of SMS for sending updates and receiving updates from friends). In reality, Twitter is much more: a communication platform (”@” replies and direct messages), a publishing platform (integration with Seesmic and Qik; plugin for WordPress; or simply posting links to user content), and an avenue for meeting people through (check out your friend’s replies to his/her friend’s tweets).
The Lowdown: Basics of Using Twitter
The essence of using Twitter is quite simple. Sign up, give them your phone number, IM network ID, or both, and send a message to the service that tells your friends what you are doing.
Now obviously, most tweets aren’t directly saying what a person is doing. They could describe what he is thinking, who he’s speaking to, what funny picture he took recently, what video he uploaded or just watched on YouTube (and for the latter of those, as well as links to any site, Twitter integrates the TinyURL address shortening service), or just the fact that the person is awake.
Twitter for Interactive Communication
Much of the fun in Twitter is having conversations without having to set up a new environment for the “conversation instance” – no need to set up a chat room in AIM or the like. Just preface your thought with the “@” symbol followed by the name of the person you’d like to direct your thought toward. As a result, the person you addressed will receive your tweet, regardless of whether or not he follows you on Twitter. In essence, you can start a conversation with any person or group of people who is/are member(s) of Twitter.
The Addiction to Twitter
Part of using Twitter is being constantly involved. It’s quite obvious that if you tweet once a month you will end up being immensely un-popular within the Twitterverse. What many people end up doing is tweeting about anything and everything going on in their lives, in some cases almost every few seconds. In return, that person’s followers will reply, and make their own tweets, etc. There is a certain element of fun involved with being constantly updated of what your friends are doing. For me, there is so much that I almost got my phone taken away by my principal for receiving a text message from Twitter during school hours (despite that, of course, I receive dozens of them a day from those whom I follow). No wonder they call people like me Twitterholics…
Impact of Twitter on “Traditional” Social Networking
Twitter redefines social networking as we know it, mainly because the service primarily provides us with real-time updates of the things that our friends are up to. It’s provides a somewhat more personal relationship with people who we don’t actually know personally, because, essentially, we can have a one-on-one conversation with them without actually developing a real relationship.
Also, and this is strictly IMHO, the randomness of Twitter gives us a sense of relationship building. For example, I’ve been following Daniel Brusilovsky on Twitter essentially since I met him, and through both “@” replies and direct messages (a feature available to friends who follow each other), we’ve developed a much stronger relationship with each other.
In other words, Twitter provides a platform for connecting with people, not just “meeting” them. The terse nature of tweets makes forming connections faster and easier, and the real-time functionality brings us closer to those with whom we communicate.
