DISQUS

Rotkapchen · 1 year ago

The same is obviously true for companies, not quite prepared for new transparency via the flow: http://twitter.com/rotkapchen/statuses/911071921

Matt · 1 year ago

My only problem with Twitter is that having the ability to record my passing thoughts has discouraged me from ever assembling them to create larger narratives.

For instance, this morning I tweeted that I just donated my old car to charity. For some reason, this makes it less likely that I'll ever sit down and actually write a reminiscence of all the great times I had road tripping in the Monte Carlo.

Not sure why this is. Just my personal experience.

warrenss · 1 year ago

I too loved the article. The whole concept of "ambient awareness", its impact on relationships and loosely joined networks is simply amazing--so astute. It may affect how companies view the land rush to Twitter and value of conversations occurring there.

mtlbbg · 1 year ago

Nice article. One problem I see is that social media, no matter what site we’re talking about, forces users to play to the room, and this just creates a false sense of deeper conversation. Now, college kids may grow up immersed in this world, but at it‘s best, social media will remain more social than deeply personal. I f I want real conversations, I’ll call, IM or email someone.

Can’t help but also think we’ve had enough pseudo scientific terms by sociologists and others to describe what is at heart basic conversation. ‘Ambient awareness’ and the like sound cool, but they’re just more terms that people will once again feel obligated to know, or made to feel guilty about NOT knowing, especially when a new term pops up next week to replace it .

As for boring details from someone‘s life 30 days later building into something bigger? Eh, not sure about that. Boring is still boring. ;-p

David Burn · 1 year ago

I like the article Alan, but is any article from a newspaper talked about years after its day in the sun? I'll talk about it now, but later, not so much.

@bg - glad to see your push back. another term to know that i heard on Thursday is "illusion of proximity." it's basically a refutation on "ambient awareness." not that it doesn't exist. just that it's not that intimate (or important).

Alan Wolk · 1 year ago

Interesting commentary. Basically the article is important because it's outside the usual geekosphere bubble and has the imprimatur of social science.

Ambient intimacy may be a phrase du jour, but I think it's a good one and that plus the placement in the Times means that it should be getting a lot of traction since it's the first place many non-tech journos will go for insight into "that whole Twitter thing."

toad's sixth reader · 1 year ago

but what if there's a power outage? what happens then?

i'm not a twitterer. simply don't have the time. i got a blog. i'm on facebook. i got three kids.

but i can see how a younger generation (who do have the time) would effortlessly adapt to this "always on, always transmitting" behaviour. or a specialized group (adgeeks perhaps!).

it does have very interesting implications for the idea of identity and it has already sprouted brand new varietals of human relationships.

John Johansen · 1 year ago

I wrote about the effect of social media on parasocial relationships too. I think it's a real phenomenon.

Brian Link · 1 year ago

I really like the way you've broken this down into the sound bites that ring through so loud and clear. This piece is a defining moment and I'm glad to hear you call it out as such. It may take a long time for the concept of ambient awareness and tools like twitter to catch on, but they will. It's where the younger generation lives and is gradually seeping into more and more people's lives.

Curious Ted · 10 months ago

Anybody able to find the original source of the Danah Boyd Quote? An article online perhaps?

Alan Wolk · 10 months ago

Ted: I actually did a bit of poking about for you and came up empty-handed as well. You might want to write Danah Boyd, she seems as if she'd be open to it.