The debates over the quality of social interaction and interpersonal relationships across computer-mediated communication, whether it is 140 characters or unlimited, runs the gamut. At one end, people argue that the lack of social and emotional cues impedes our ability to form complex emotional connections and contributes to isolation. At the other end are theories that say the need for connection motivates people to exchange the contextual cues necessary to develop rich interpersonal impressions. Some even argue that the range and depth of exchanged psychological-level knowledge can make computer-mediated connections preferable to face-to-face interaction. (In other words, you find out a lot more of the important stuff faster.) We worry about giving out too much information and, at the same time, we also worry being conned by inaccurate information. (Social media does allow selective self-presentation, but I am not sure that’s much different from dressing up for a date.)

I am still getting the hang of using it, but here ten things I like about Twitter;

1. Even though some (or even many) of the posting are inconsequential, knowing that my friend’s dog is sick in more or less real time is a way of sharing the process of life. When I was a kid, I knew all the inconsequential stuff my friends did. It created a foundation that allows us to still be friends some 30-plus years later. I don’t care if I am hearing it in 140 characters; I like knowing what’s going on in my friends’ lives.
2. It is, frankly, fascinating to watch other people use Twitter. I have had some very interesting discussions about the motivations and psychologies that drive different types of contact, message construction, and content.
3. It feels good when people “follow” you on Twitter. I know it doesn’t mean any more than, say, passing a stranger who smiles at you on the street, but they both feel good.
4. Researcher report that some people read but don’t post on social network sites (aka lurkers) because they don’t believe that their social connection needs will be satisfied even if they do post. On Twitter, however, the content quality hurdle for jumping into the conversation is pretty low. Twitter allows people to wade into the stream slowly. There are, after all, cognitive and social benefits in social modeling.
5. In The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg argues that people need “third places” as an anchor of community life to facilitate wider and more creative interaction. Twitter is kind of like the local pub only you don’t have to drive home drunk.
6. The whole Twitter ambience is playful and that in itself is uplifting. Even the “fail whale” image, which indicates network trouble, looks happy enough to have been adopted as an expression of contemporary experience (network overload.)
7. Twitter is a window on a collective intelligence that can tell you everything from the top news story to who will be voted off on American Idol.
8. Twitter is a great tool for procrastinating, although procrastinators do not need Twitter to get the job done. Believe me, however, it is much better than cleaning the bathroom when you have a project you don’t want to start.
9. If you are actually trying to get something done on Twitter, there are many tools to manage the apparent chaos in useful ways. The structure of Twitter, however, exposes lack of transparency and authenticity pretty quickly, which is a good thing.
10. And finally, I find it very inspiring to see the energy people invest in Twitter messages, add-ons, apps, and positive uses such as Twittering behalf of social causes from political campaigns to not-for-profit fundraisers (i.e. The Not-for-profit Tweetup)

Human beings are order-seeking creatures. We create order by making sense out of things so we can file them away in our brains. Sometimes I think the need to file makes us take things a little too seriously. Twitter isn’t a cosmic event—it is a tool and how people use it gives us a glimpse and bit of insight about our creativity and humanity.

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Photos: istock photos, Twitter.com, Twitter banner: http://siahdesign.com

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Out of control and ripe for manipulation.

by Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D.

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Tags: character limit, computer mediated communication, contextual cues, continual flow, daily show, early adopters, emotional connections, emotional cues, gamut, human desire, interpersonal relationships, jon stewart, level knowledge, new tools, psychological level, psychology, psychology today, self presentation, social interaction, sound bite, twitter