Abstract
Twitter.com is a web-based communications platform combining Instant Messaging and SMS
that enables subscribers to its service to send short ‘status updates’ to other people. Beyond
its hybrid platform, Twitter’s unique feature is its overarching question “What are you
doing?”, which acts as a ‘guidance note’ on how users should phrase their postings. Although
it is a ‘soft restriction’, meaning that other formats and styles are possible, this study
investigates the extent to which users of Twitter are responding to the question. In the case
that people are going beyond “What are you doing?”, are there commonalities in the ‘other’
uses thereof? To develop this premise, a content analysis of 60 users’ postings was
conducted to seek for deviations and to categorise them accordingly. To acquire a better
understanding of why people use Twitter to disseminate messages, several users
participated in a questionnaire to provide insight into the platform. Based on the content
analysis’ results, it is possible to conclude that the majority of Twitter users observed are
appropriating the platform beyond “What are you doing?”. The findings are discussed within
a theoretical framework exploring the role of society in shaping technology and the influence
a technology’s design may have on how it is used.
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