Twitter

My initial impression was that Twitter was obsolete in the face of, well, Facebook and that sms-ing via mobile phone was too indirect - may as well just sms straight to the people you want to. I thought it would be convenient for the person at the computer, but it still costs the other people to message back, so still not efficient.

However, after everyone had signed up their names and phones, it started to evolve into something, fun.

People would use it to write down random thoughts (or spam) and everyone signed up and following would receive the update, whether it was relevant to them or not.

In terms of what we've covered in the lectures, this program can be used in all different aspects of the time space matrix. People in the same space, at opposite ends of the lecture room used it to comment on the content - albeit in a non-constructive way. On the other hand a person can post at their computer or from a phone and people will receive it on their phone or computer, where-ever they happened to be.

This free messaging to my phone means I get random updates from people as they have a free moment (of despair), letting me know what they are up to. In this way, I am constantly reminded of Twitter and will turn on the computer just to sign into it. Also, because of the random stream-of-conciousness comments twittered, I know that messages coming to my phone won't always be directed to me, or require me to message back.

The nature of messaging on Twitter is to throw out a thought space and see what reaction it gets.

Problems I have now are watching what I say, incase people take what I say the wrong way. Some people don't have a problem with saying what's on their mind, but I think they would benefit greatly by thinking about what they're saying and their audience. In this situation, the usual anonymity of the net doesn't apply, as most people in the course know each other.