TwitterStorm 2008
May 24, 2008 by Colleen Coplick
Filed under Social Media
I’m pretty shocked at the moment. So much so that I wasn’t even really sure how to start this post….
A tiny bit of background. Ariel Waldman is a popular blogger and heavy twitter user. She claims that she has experienced almost a year’s worth of harassment via the popular microblogging platform. There’s a ton of coverage on this already. All over the place.
The reason this has twigged my interest is not only because I am a huge Twitter advocate and a heavy Twitter user, but also because I have a close friend who has a nasty stalker. It’s been going on for close to two years, and it’s just mean spirited and cruel.
From a user perspective, I’m shocked that Twitter has taken the stance that they are simply a common communications carrier, and not a community at all. Twitter is a community, and it becomes more of one every day. There are actual friendships made and strengthened through Twitter; business deals are made and bonds forged with people you’d likely not have the opportunity to meet thought your own day to day life. I know that there are people that I have met through the site that I wouldn’t have had an opportunity to otherwise.
As a communication utility, Twitter does not get involved in these disputes between users over issues of content except in limited circumstances. Twitter is a provider of information, not a mediator. Specific physical threats, certain legal obligations, privacy breaches of specific types of information (e.g. SSN, credit cards), and misleading impersonation are some cases where we may become involved and potentially terminate an account. [from a post by Biz Stone]
After doing some reading about this situation, and reading both sides of the messy situation, I’m inclined to believe what Evan Williams has said in response in the comments of another post [source]. But it’s not really important what I, or anyone else frankly, believes. There’s always three sides to every story – yours, mine and the truth.
What is important to me is that Twitter gives its head a bit of a shake and sees that they are more than just a communication utility. They’re a community, and a big one at that. One that is becoming more and more complex with every passing moment. Yes, users will revolt, and they can be extremely annoying and difficult to manage, but ultimately, they’re an important part of a social-media site’s evolution. [CNet]
I don’t think Twitter is A community…it’s lots of little ones, most of which are small (less than 80 people) and most of which never get involved in anything like this because it is being used to communicate amongst a group of friends and not in the wider ’social media’ sense of friends.
There is a larger, much more vocal ‘community’, just look at the names that consistently turn up on Get Satisfaction and commentaries about Twitter. But that’s just one, small aspect of the site.