Nobly Ho & Jeffrey Leonardo
Executive Summary:
Title: Usage and behavior pertaining to Twitter.
Discussion of your methods:
- For our research we had three different ways in collecting data. One being surveys, we generated our questions on the website SurveyMonkey. We each individually posted the link through email and facebook. At times, we handed out hard copies of our survey questions for our classmates to fill out. There wasn’t anything too difficult about the surveys, majority of our participants were very willing to help us answer our questions. The best part about this survey was that it was anonymous; therefore participants weren’t hesitant in providing their honest opinion.
- As for interviews, we set up meetings with co-workers and friends who we knew were frequent users of Twitter. Since interviews are more personal and time sensitive, it was imperative to ask them over phone calls, text, or in person. Interviews were challenging because of everyone’s different schedules but we made it work by being mindful and lenient towards their free time. We scheduled interviews on their free time rather than having them compensate with us on ours; this allowed them to give us a certain date and time for when they were free.
- As for focus groups, we used the same contacting methods as we did for our interviews. This was the most difficult out of the three because we each had to schedule and gather 8 people all at once to be free for an open discussion. One of the biggest challenges that occurred when it came to focus groups were the lack of privacy, some participants who started to tell their stories before others were hesitant to share the full story. They withheld information because they didn’t want to be judged by others. The way we overcame this challenge was by opening up about our personal experiences with Twitter. By having something to relate to allowed them to feel more comfortable in sharing their stories.
How and why [do] people use Twitter?
- People use Twitter to connect with people worldwide, to express their thoughts when there is no particular person that they want to say it to. Users follow each other merely because they have mutual friends or share similar interests.
- People also use Twitter for news consumption in a quick convenient way. They can also link articles in their tweets.
- Businesses use Twitter in order to promote themselves and their products. This allows them to connect with their customers on a more personal level. In the case of emergencies, it is an effective way for employees to maintain their reputation.
- Hypothesis:
- People utilize Twitter to narrate their lives.
- Examples from the data
- It was not surprising to us that the majority of the users we interviewed said they used Twitter in order to express their inner thoughts, no matter how menial.
- The majority of people said that Twitter allowed them a chance to stay updated on the lives of their friends and family who do not live nearby.
Summary:
In the 9 years since Twitter has been released and the 288 million users it has accumulated, people have varying uses for the app. The majority of people say that they use it in order to express their everyday thoughts; stay caught up on news and stay updated on the lives of their followers.