Twitter has evolved: Conversations are an attribute of community

I'd say, as a complete SWAG, that about a third of my Twitter traffic is some kind of threaded convo, with not much of that going past, say, three messages, or involving more than two people. Perhaps I just haven't hit a critical mass of network interconnectedness yet.

The @ convention hasn't been helping my network much, either; I still get bombarded with a few messages a day from each of a few users that are simply "Good morning @joebob!" "Hi new friend @billyboy!" I suppose the theory there is that I might be inclined to click on that new username and see if I need a new friend, too, but in an age of info overload I'm not out to meet that many Twitterers pell-mell.

Well, I think it sort of always was that way for me.. I don't really see that I use the @-sign more often, actually the linking was only introduced later by twitter as it evolved as some sort of convention.

But of course it's good that it is how it is :-)
(though I should maybe unfollow those who just post "Eating a banana now", "going to bed", "getting up".. their lifes seem pretty boring ;-)

Of course it has become a chat room. The definition of a successful Social Network is that it creates conversations. We have moved to having conversations and ideas and started to swap them and this is creating community. All without the need for dwarves and swords as well!

Hi Jeremiah -
I suppose it has, indeed, become a chat room - yet what a useful one...

When I think "chat room" I harken back to the early AOL days of sketchy, profanity-laced, sex-desperate crud, flung among strangers. By contrast, Twitter is a chat room comprised of smart, funny, helpful professionals (at least the folks I'm tracking - like a certain jowyang).

On the face of it, maybe that just makes Twitter a "professional" chat room - which sounds not only kinda lame but also implies true vulnerability, i.e., subject to abuse and invasion by less savory characters.

I don't think that's the case, though: the big, impt difference between Twitter and a traditional chat room is that each Twitterer can self-select their audience/host...each of us is actually participating in MULTIPLE chat rooms... I don't track all the people you track, and vice versa. There is some intersection, but it's not as if anyone is trapped into listening to a lamer who's hijacking the conversation.

Starting to ramble but hopefully I made my point?!

@jowyang - what @tdefren said. :-)

Suggestion to Twitterers: If you make the @username the very first part of your post, it goes to the Replies tab for easy review by the recipient. Also, it will not be seen by people who are not following both you AND @username. On the other hand, if you say, "good morning, @username" - then everyone who is following you sees the message.

I think twitter-as-chatroom is a really apt analogy, although it's a bit more functional than the standard chatroom. It's evolved such that you can respond to something someone said 2 hours ago and pick up a conversation right where it left off. And it's at a speed that's in general easier to follow particularly if you're not just sitting there watching it all day. I also use it as an alternative to my feedreader at times since the folks/services I follow on twitter point me to the good stuff. But yeah, twitter isn't just talking into the air. Networks evolve and conversations happen. It's all good in my book!

I think the notion of this @-usage is simple that they have it in their reply-tab and actually see it regarding the good mornings etc.

They say if your userbase corrupts your product for their own uses you've already won.

"What does this mean?" - Exactly what the good doctor said a while ago: Twitter is (just another way of having) small pieces (of conversation) loosely joined (http://www.smallpieces.com/)

:)

I have a post waiting in draft mode about this very subject as the use of Twitter fascinates me.

I belong to several 'communities' within Twitter (following different companies or groups of friends), where I am really active in three of them. The use in each community is completely different.

For my employer, Joyent, my gang uses it like a chat room with a very interactive dialogue each day. In fact, the one day I actually tried to keep up - I ended up posting 44 entires. I actually felt sorry for the non-Joyent people following me as I am sure none of it made any sense and it sure was a lot of postings from me.

For the Social Media Club group, I find myself simply posting about upcoming meetings and conferences I am aware of in addition to some interesting articles we found - mostly 'outbound' communications right now. This might change over time, but when there are so many people posting within a group, it is extremely hard to follow if your focus should be elsewhere.

Then there is my personal account where it is directly in the middle of the two groups above. Part outbound and tied to things on my mind (not just 'what I am doing') and part interactive where I respond to posts friends have put up.

And I do use the @ a LOT. Not only to reply to someone, but I have been using it within my post to identify who I am speaking about (if that person happens to be a Twitter user).

The one thing I would really love to see is for Twitter to bring out groups - so that I can click into a group, say Joyent, and communicate directly to everyone there. That communication would not be shown outside of the group which makes it (1) more intimate and (2) less obtrusive for those not belonging to your group.

All in all, the beauty of Twitter is you really can make it what you want and it is nice to see the fellas behind the software are letting the community define the uses right now.

**steps off soapbox**