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Participant Experiences in an Informal twitter.com Sub-network
PROCEEDINGS

, Old Dominion University, United States

E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education, in Orlando, Florida, USA ISBN 978-1-880094-83-9 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), San Diego, CA

Abstract

Offering only 140 characters to communicate a thought, the twitter.com microblogging platform is one of the most popular social networking destinations. This paper reviews a qualitative case study which explored participant experiences within an informal sub-network of twitter users. From a multiple source analysis, this study found that the sub-network participants formed reciprocal following relationships based on a shared interest in education and technology and participated in complex interactions within an always on stream of communication. While access to people, information, and resources motivated users to follow the communication, participation was also driven by a desire for membership within a learning or professional development network. As such, transparency and reciprocal contributions were forms of network currency offered to others to gain network membership.

Citation

Maddrell, J. (2010). Participant Experiences in an Informal twitter.com Sub-network. In J. Sanchez & K. Zhang (Eds.), Proceedings of E-Learn 2010--World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 2018-2023). Orlando, Florida, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 19, 2024 from .

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