Research

Twitter was founded in 2006 and has grown be one of the largest sites on the internet. Twitter allows users to post 140 character updates, called tweets. What has set Twitter apart in its short but fast development history is how users have taken to use Twitter in ways that it was never intended for. What was initially considered as only a micro blogging platform has quickly become a tool used by communities to gather around events and topics. For example, Twitter has been used as political tool for gathering public opinions and survey results and to physically and geographically organize communities, and much more.

Trying to understand the phenomenon of micro blogging has become the focus of my research interests. However, my research extends beyond examining individual behaviors. Instead, I propose to focus on how individuals gather online to create groups. In turn, these groups co-produce online experiences that impact individuals. For my thesis I will complete observations leading towards a study of how a collection of users have become designers by turning Twitter into several different kinds of communication/collaboration platforms. Specifically, I will be study how the use of Twitter affects the experience of participating in a conference.