social media

I actually followed the Twittter feed...for the first time in many years,I was not in a campaign office on election night and was trying to capture that sense...

So-called social media may be second best to actually socializing, but for me it represents a desire to connect rather than disconnect, and I believe that is a good thing. Where it will go is anybody's guess, but keeping us interacting with one another is at least an improvement on the passivity of watching the TV results...

VivianLea

I followed the feed too, when I could.

I tend to respect your opinions and read your contributions here with interest so I'm curious to know what you found 'positive' about the Tyee Twitter experiment.

In other elections Tyee had a live blog which I found much more interactive and, to borrow your term, social.

Maybe I'm missing something so I'd be pleased to hear in more detail what you find useful about Twitter.

Be careful how you twitter...the Thought Police are watching.

Whistler journalist Pina Belperio latest entry in her Olympic blog "Word On The Rings" details how police can follow social networking sites:

"....If that's not scary enough, the National Security Agency (NSA) is developing a tool that George Orwell's Thought Police might have found useful: an artificial intelligence system designed to gain insight into what people are thinking. It's known as Aquaint, which stands for "Advanced QUestion Answering for INTelligence."

As more and more data is collected-through phone calls, credit card receipts, social networks like Facebook and MySpace, GPS tracks, cell phone geolocation, Internet searches -it may be possible to know not just where people are and what they're doing, but what and how they think."

Here is link to blog-Pina also details how some Whistler residents are being approached by police so they can become informers on neighbours!
http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/word-rings/2009/05/thought-police-working-overtime-whistler

G West: made me blush :)

This deserves a thoughtful response, and I’ll give it my best go…truthfully, I was exhausted by the huge efforts of the final semester of my degree – last exam May 11 – and dispirited by the election results the next evening. I do believe a little poetry and smiley emoticons have revived me a little, and I will try to live up to your graciousness.

The rise of social networks is a phenomenon that can’t be ignored; here’s a quote from Jeff Rayport (2007): “Comparing 2005 and 2006, it's striking to note that portal businesses grew page views by 10 percent; e-commerce grew by six percent; and entertainment sites grew page views by 21 percent. By contrast, social networking sites grew page views by 285 percent. Now that's consumer engagement!” Rayport is speaking in the language of marketing; marketers have a keen interest in social networks because of the decline in “consumer engagement” in other media – TV, newspapers, etc.. So as a student of marketing, I have tried to analyse this a little – but it begs to be analyzed from the perspectives of sociology, psychology, anthropology…and, of course, the political perspective. What does it mean, and what are the implications?

I am going to resort to the particular here; in my own life, the intensity of the task I set for myself has meant a lot less social interaction. My favourite activities – long conversations over dinner, drinks, coffee – have become a thing rarely enjoyed in the recent past, just as, for example, I was unable to participate in the campaign as I did in years past. Mindful of my friends and family, I have spent a lot more time emailing and participating in the interactive web – and even Twitter! Communities develop too, as the “irregulars” on the Tyee will attest.
Perhaps we are accustomed to thinking of social media as a kind of substitute for social, when in reality it is, maybe, more about the impulse to connect in whatever way possible. The Tyee’s Twitter feed on election night was a reminder of poll results being posted in campaign offices of elections past…

I’d welcome a ‘conversation’ happening on this… KWD? Patrick McEvoy? Frank? RossK? Dorothy? Rod Smelser? Bailey? S**t – I’m bound to have forgotten someone particularly insightful…

Me too.

Actually, there's a kind of informal 'community' of invited folks (includes some - but not all of the people you listed) who got to know each other initially here at Tyee.

I can't think any member of the group would disagree with my suggesting you might be interested.

If you are, send me an email and I'll fill you in:

And, no pressure - of the 20 or so folks in the group I've only actually met one of them face to face.

Participation is voluntary and intermittent and only by invitation.

But, no one wields a blue pencil there either....

Cheers.

Twitter is novelty only

I echo GWest's feelings. The Tyee columns and comments allow the user to get a handle on an idea and (usually) get to participate in seeing it thought through.

Lets leave it to the kids to find out if they can progress beyond titillation to genuine utility.

The Emperor's Clothes

"It promotes social democracy"

This has been said about internet and all of its accouterments for years, with little evidence supporting this. Wait five years and see if that quote is anything other than laughable. Five years is an eternity in this day and age - no Facebook in 2004, not really that much MySpace - the big thing was (remember?) FRIENDSTER!

I am with G West - it's a fad. A sad, antidemocratic, antisocical trend that undermines true democracy and social change. Why get involved when you can tweet or join a Facebook group? It's popularity has to be partly due to the criticism media took for not being up on prior trends like blogging and Facebook. So they have gone totally to town on this, dropping the T-word at every possible opportunity.

What can be said in 140 characters? Logistics? Pat comments on a subject with no context and no ability to craft an argument or point of view?

Would anyone who actually has anything to say use a medium that constrains your ability to say it?

Forget about it now, or forget about it in two years. It's over.

not the news

twittering is not the news and really only generates hype for telephone companies to pawn their latest gadgets and plans. I hope the recent successful appeal for public support to report on the election does not then turn into an interpretation of a mandate to "tweet the news". EDITED FOR INSULT -- TYEE MODERATOR

Just right

I think The Tyee used Twitter perfectly during the election: announcing stories, taking the pulse of the digitally engaged and interacting with its readers.

Twitter may be the next big thing but that's not important. What is important is that it's the current thing. Along with Facebook, it's the main place where people are having public, instantaneous discussions online. I found the #bcelection experience quite amazing, reading and reacting with people of all political stripes across the province.

Yes, Twitter may be gone one day. Maybe one day soon. But for this election cycle, I think The Tyee would have been missing an opportunity if it didn't use Twitter.

Plus, 250 new followers can only help the audience, the ad sales and the vibrancy of this site.

Nice work, Tyee.

I agree--good work on this

I agree--good work on this one, Tyee.