Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I've been avoiding my blog...or have I just been tweeting?

I knew it was a while since I posted, but really, since March is kind of embarrassing.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about it, and also reflecting on the use of micro-blogging and communally watching television via Twitter.

For those in Australia, this has been particularly evident in Masterchef. This show was a creeper for me. I watched some of the earlier episodes, and then maybe twice a week, then all of a sudden, I couldn't stop. Then I discovered that others were likewise addicted to watching - and sharing their experiences via Twitter. The show finished last Sunday, and the conversation continues.

I find fascinating this expression of getting together and in actuality, talking (and sometimes yelling) at the TV together. I joined in myself - and quickly found that I had to manage my twittering to be only in ad breaks, so I could concentrate on the show itself.

People tweeted about their favourite (and non-favourite) contestants, what they cooked on the show, shared photos of their own food creations, kept others up-to-date about progress and just generally revelled in the shared experience of what good food (and a competition around it) means to us.

So to what end, and what function? Well, community around shared experience springs to mind. Also, similar to conference/event tweeting, I found the updates very useful one night of the finals when I couldn't watch the show. I did get a sense of the atmosphere, activity and progress through the collective thoughts of a diverse group of people. And it was fun.

It's interesting to note too the spread of Twitter - more and more it's a mainstream activity - every day I see another established organisation promoting their Twitter handle and see increased use of it in general. And particularly for television shows. It's a great 'low barriers to entry' conversational tool.

For me, it's taken the place in many cases over my blogging....hence the long hiatus here!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Helen, like you it snuck up on me and i ended up a big part of the experience of the show was being able to share it with my tweet buddies from around the country. it was with some regret that the final finished,some people went looking for something to fill the gap, i will await for the next experience to emerge and enjoy it

prior to that show i had only used twitter as a tool to filter business information, now i realise it can create community

michelle

Tony Hollingsworth said...

Helen
Your post mirrors my own thinking and experience. As a family we all loved #masterchef, and watching the live tweets added so much value and fun to the experience.

I too find myself blogging less due to the convenience, community and conversation with Twitter. Lately I have joined Posterous too - it fills the gap nicely between blogs and Twitter as well.

Like all these collaborative and community tools, the barriers to entry are indeed small, but the value and benefits are big.

If you do come to Sydney you must join one of our tweetups: #nscm or the famous #coffeemornings

Cheers
Tony Hollingsworth

Helen Mitchell said...

Thanks Tony, I'm also finding the mix of ways I use to communicate end up blending into each other. (e.g. I've been thinking about what I've been doing over on my travel blog and how that relates to this blog, which is my 'professional' one. And Twitter links the two together.)

I've seen Posterous around and haven't tried it out yet, so I'll take a look.

Thanks for letting me know about the Sydney tweetups too. :-)

cheers
Helen