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In the spirit of all things Twitter, I am going to try and keep this blog post a little shorter.

Awfully amateur drawing by yours truly
'Olivia's Facebook vs LA Twitter Peeps'

In Los Angeles, I am friends with many people in the entertainment industry and Twitter is their main way of communicating to the world. When I spent some time there, I was an avid Facebook user and by god, they sure did make me feel like I was from the past! My friends used Twitter for everything: posting mysterious (almost but definitely not pornographic) drunken photos, advertising their latest art project or bragging about the next person they would be collaborating with.

While this was totally normal and acceptable to them, from my outsider's perspective I initially found it off-putting. To me, it seemed like a platform for everybody to brag and suck up to each other. Eugh.  But who am I to judge? I bet soon enough, I will be doing the same. I’m unsure if it is a matter of extreme individualist American Culture (Cotto, 2012) or, perhaps, it’s an industry norm due to the collaborative nature of the creative film business.

Roush, J 2012 'guess who?'
(it's actually a wrist and an armpit)

Howard Rheingold, renown author and theorist who I referred to in my first post, views social media platforms as providing countless opportunities, both beneficially and disadvantageous, for humans to form virtual communities.  One advantage that Rheingold points out is that virtual communities provide an escape from information overload (Rheingold 2008 p.4). 

This is evident on Twitter within the search bar and hash-tag facilities.  One of the disadvantages he mentions is inability to communicate nuances such as irony and compassion via text alone (Rheingold 2008, p.5). I have run into countless problems with on Twitter because of this - if only they could see my face or hear my voice, those misunderstandings could have been avoided!

• Check Back: Next Monday, after talking to a wide variety of people (I might even ask my Grandma), I’ll divulge the verdict - are these common attitudes of Americans on Twitter a reflection of the narcissistic culture? Or is it the creative, collaborative industry?
• Tell Me: Am I full of it? 

References:

Cotto, J. 2012. America's culture of "Me, Myself, and I"- Discussion with Dr. Morris Berman. [online] Available at: http://www.sott.net/article/255056-Americas-culture-of-Me-Myself-and-I-Discussion-with-Dr-Morris-Berman [Accessed: 27 Nov 2013].

Rheingold, H. 2008. Virtual communities - exchanging ideas through computer bulletin boards. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 1 Available at: http://jvwr-ojs-utexas.tdl.org/jvwr/index.php/jvwr/article/viewFile/293/247 [Accessed: 13 Nov 2013].Watts, M. (2003). Interlude: A Conversation with Howard Rheingold, Founder of the Well, an Online Community.New Directions For Teaching And Learning, (94), 69-74

Roush, J. 2012. 'guess who?. [image online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4108917401413&set=pb.1237418805.-2207520000.1385521643.&type=3&theater [Accessed: 27 Nov 2013].