Is Twitter Really as Conversational as We Think It Is?

By Scott Hepburn | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

One Way SignWarning: Vaguely unscientific research ahead!

Is Twitter really conversational?

While the chattering classes (me included) laud Twitter’s usefulness as a conversation enabler, you could argue that many of our conversations are, in fact, monologues.

We’re quick to criticize anyone who portrays Twitter as a sea of people making trite, insignificant statements into the void. “You’re missing the heart of Twitter. You’re missing the conversations,” we say. But have ever looked closely at Tweet stream? We know conversations take place on Twitter, but do they even represent a simple majority of Tweets?

I did a highly unscientific Tweet analysis. I looked at 100 tweets from people I follow. All of the Tweets were sent between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. Each Tweet fit into one of the following categories:

And here were the results:

Do the data above tell us anything about the nature of conversations? Are we using Twitter mostly for dialogue or monologue? Does the ratio of statements to @replies indicate anything about how hard it is to start a conversation?

I love this line from Wikipedia (yeah, yeah…I know): “For a successful conversation, the partners must achieve a workable balance of contributions.”

What do you think? Is Twitter really as conversational as we think it is? Post a comment or follow me on Twitter and weigh in.

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Topics: Social Media
  • I work with two Twitter accounts. On our company's account (@axiompr) during the day, when I take a quick scan of the stream, it does seem to me that most of the Tweets begin with @. If that is how we would measure conversation on Twitter, then it would seem like things are pretty back and forth. On my personal account, I am following less people, and it seems like there are fewer @ tweets in the stream. What do these things show? Maybe that I am not following the right people on my personal account. Or maybe that conversations might spark on Twitter, but continue on a blog or a DM. I believe that Twitter is conversational, but in my opinion, its what you make of it. Many just broadcast themselves and make no real effort to converse, but that does not diminish the people who are actually using it to connect.
  • I agree with your unscientific survey. What gets me about Twitter, which was on particularly egregious display during SxSW, is how it gets used as a giant IM tool. Largely, though, it seems like your stats bear out what I see on Twitter. I really don't see too many "Oh, man, what an awesome sandwich I just ate" tweets. But I do question it's conversational value, mostly because Twitter lacks context and is virtually impossible to follow. If only it were like "All My Children" which you could stop watching for 20 years and jump back in and see Erica Kane and Adam Chandler right back at it again.
  • I'm gonna pretend you didn't just demonstrate your encyclopedic knowledge
    of "All My
    Children"...

    ;)

    Original Message:
    -----------------
  • Well, true confession: my mother was on AMC all through the 80s. She played Pat Baxter, mother of Angie of "Jessie and Angie" fame. There! I've said it!
  • Okay, you get a pass. But if I find out your uncle is actually your father
    and that you have a twin brother you never knew about, we're gonna have
    trouble.
  • What's All My Children? :)
  • Whether Twitter is conversational or it's not It all depends on the circle of people you're in. In my stream, conversations happen almost every time and at times it's almost like a chat room. Other times, when this chatty group is not so active, it can be a stream of unidirectional information.

    As you said, your research is unscientific and it is based solely on your circle. I follow close to 600 people and I can tell you conversation is alive.
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