What is Twitter Good For? Nature Show Commentary!
Suburban Bear on the way to Work
For those of you reading my Twitter and Facebook feeds, you may have noticed that today was filled with a series of bizarre updates revolving around the day in the life of a suburban bear.
It was actually a full day Twitter experiment.
I had looked at Twitter in the past but didn't see any added benefit beyond what other Social Networking sites such as Facebook or LiveJournal offered. In fact, it appeared to offer less in the way of interaction and activities than what other social networking sites provided. I have a few friends that use Twitter as their primary application but they couldn't really explain what it was exactly that they liked about Twitter. In fact, this inability to explain the attraction of Twitter seems to be a recurring theme with the service.
However, after a stimulating lunch with the Oakland University faculty (most of whom were from Writing and Rhetoric) at the E-Learning brown bag, I decided to give Twitter a try. I could see almost immediately how it was an effective application for businesses and entrepreneurs who needed to frequently update their followers about current offerings, meetings and whatnot.
I also appreciated the links posted by some of the Rhetoric faculty who attended that eLearning brown bag. And there was also the pleasure of getting to know new people through their updates. However, using Twitter to update others of your day to day activities and interesting articles you have encountered is something that I do already in Facebook. And, frankly, I enjoy reading people's comments to each other's updates and links in Facebook. In Twitter, I frequently feel as if I am only hearing one side of the story. I still couldn't figure out why some many people consider Twitter to be a big deal or how I could use it to communicate better with others. However, I put in an effort to use it to post my own tweets and to follow the tweets of some of my friends and some businesses (if you consider "The Onion" or "Somecards" to be tweeting about business).
So what does this all have to do with suburban bears?
Well, for some reason this morning as I was getting ready for work, I was thinking about Twitter and wondering how else I could use the application. It was then that I came up with the idea to post Twitter updates during the day in the form of a story (I think this was partially inspired by blogs posted by a friend of mine for "Blog Like its the End of the World" Day). For some reason, I decided to post them in the form of a nature documentary focusing on "Ursus Unfamiliaris" - the suburban bear. This "twitter-mentary" focused on the day in the life of a specific bear whom I called "Cee."
I then posted about the events during my day as if they were happening to Cee the Suburban Bear and being commented upon by the narrator of the documentary.
It was actually a fun experiment. It was very challenging to explain what was happening with a 140 character twitter update, to restrict the updates to just the major events in the day, to maintain the story line throughout the day while trying to also be entertaining.
Judging from the comments to my posts on Facebook, I think some people were entertained, others were probably confused and a couple joined in the fun with one friend in particular expanding on the Twitter update with storyline.
This experiment allowed me to think more flexibly about Twitter and how it can be used.
I know it was fun enough that I want to spend another day making narritive Twitters throughout the day.
For those of you who missed the Day in the Life of the Suburban Bear Twitter-mentary, here are the posts:
11:15 PM: We conclude this day with Cee and her family secure in their den, contemplating the universe through the windows of their laptop screens.
8:06 PM: The mothering instinct is strong in suburban bears. "Cee" feeds and nurtures both mature family members and canine companions. AMAZING!
6:35 PM: Suburban bears form lasting pair bonds and greet each other enthusiastically after even relatively brief separations.
2:44 PM: Unlike most animals (who search their environment for fruit and berries), "Cee" the suburban bear, is searching her campus for monitors
12:50 PM: Cee wages battle with the computers in the computer lab! The howls and roars are terrifying!
9:25 AM: Cee searches the parking lot for signs of friends or foes before entering Pryale Hall.
9:06 AM: Familiar with her surroundings, Cee successfully forages for eggs, grains, roots and coffee on the way to work.
8:46 AM: "Cee" grooms herself carefully knowing that her status will be judged by the appearance of her glossy fur.
8:38 AM: Today we have the rare opportunity to observe a mature female of the species Ursus Unfamiliaris (more commonly known as the "Suburban Bear")
X-posted to Analogy and Creativity Blog