Twitter: The New Language

I am taking an instructional technology course that requires participants to join and take part in Twitter dialogue. Up to now, I was not part of the 175,000 million registered users (McMillan, 2011). Although the number of users is quite impressive, it has been discovered that the actual number of users and followers is much smaller. It is reported that of the 175 million registered users, 90 million have no followers and 56 million follow no one. These statistics should be considered when setting-up educational learning activities using Twitter. Why are people not being followed? Is it the presentation of ideas? Is it a lack of understanding how Twitter works? Is it a generational behavior? Similarly, why are there no followers for approximately 56 million users?

Generational differences may affect who is tweeting and who is following. Communication with Twitter may not be a comfortable format for generations not born during the computer age. Generation AO, the Always On generation, has grown up communicating digitally. For example, my 17 y/o son rarely talks on the phone. He texts, tweets, and sends instant messages. Shorter versions of thoughts and ideas are shared with this technology. For example, Twitter messages have a maximum word count of 140. Similarly, text messaging and instant messaging have limits. Because of the limitation, thoughts may be expressed in letters instead of words. For example, ttyl means talk to you later. Many times I have resorted to asking my son what some of these letters represent in communication. It is almost like learning a new language.

Reference

McMillan, G. (June 2011). How many people are really tweeting? Time Techland.Retrieved June 11th, 2012 @ http://techland.time.com/2011/04/01/how-many-people-are-really-tweeting/