[26343] in resnet
Re: Facebook and Twitter use
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Kevin Guidry)
Thu May 12 11:26:12 2011
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Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 11:23:58 -0400
Reply-To: Resnet Forum <RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu>
From: Kevin Guidry <krguidry@gmail.com>
To: RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu
In-Reply-To: <BANLkTinBkyJW7ZSTZb_ahJ6a42V+_LfwUw@mail.gmail.com>
On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 10:33 AM, Doughty, Marc <marc_doughty@brown.edu> wrote:
> Thanks for the numbers. They confirm my suspicions about Twitter, which is
> that it gets a lot of press/hype, but almost nobody actually uses it.
The number of users is relatively small (8% of U.S. Internet users:
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Twitter-Update-2010/Findings/Overview.aspx)
but don't completely dismiss Twitter as a useful communications
medium. Given the relatively low number of users I don't think it's a
very good medium for trying to advertise or conduct other
broad-spectrum communications. But there are some professionals that
are making great use of Twitter to meaningfully network and
collaborate with others in their field; I'm currently studying student
affairs professionals who are doing this to great effect (one aspect
of these interactions is explored at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3_NpscCwJQ&hd=1). There are tons of
limitations with Twitter but it seems to be working for them.
> It would seem Facebook is much more robust and reaches a much larger audience; I still can't imagine anyone wanting to subscribe/friend something like a computer lab or
> campus network status, though.
Agreed on both counts. I've seen some snazzy Facebook pages made by
colleges and universities but I have yet to hear of any dramatic
success stories (and most people don't even know how to define
"success" in this area). It's frustrating and time- and
energy-consuming but it seems that we have to use multiple media to
communicate with students (i.e. throw a bunch of mud at the wall and
hope that some of it sticks). But this has always been and will
always be true to some extent and it's not at all unique to this
generation.
Kevin
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