This is my final post to this blog because all good things must come to an end. Coincidentally, this is also my 42nd post to this blog. Forty-two, a significant number in its own right. It is a number that stirred some Deep Thoughts inside my mind. Thoughts about the ultimate answer to the question “why do we tweet?”. So, for a few months or so, I have observed how people use Twitter and what their motivations for tweeting could be. Of course, I have also put google to work and also picked some use cases from here, here and here. The result of all this is a list of 42 Twitter use cases. which are listed in the table below.
But, before you jump to my list, I should explain that I have rather simplified the notion of “Use Case” for my purpose. You will see no pre- and postconditions for example, let alone actors. You could argue that the “intended result(s)” are the postconditions, so feel free. This post isn’t about the nits and grits of writing use cases (you should jump to Alistair Cockburn’s website for that in stead).
# |
description |
intended result(s) |
1 |
assess a new follower: check bio, check activity, read some of that user’s latest updates, check who else is following this user |
knowing whether this user is worth following back |
2 |
reply to another twitter user’s update |
have that user follow you |
3 |
acknowledge another twitter user’s update (retweet) |
strengthen your current |
4 |
comment on another user’s blog post (modern blogging systems allow you to tweet comments you leave behind) |
strengthen your current |
5 |
share a link to your latest blog post |
have people visit your blog |
6 |
share a link to an |
strengthen your current |
7 |
tag an update (using a |
reach people outside your |
8 |
share conference impressions |
have people know you are at |
9 |
submit live comment while |
let other people who |
10 |
share pointless babble such |
An sense of enormous well |
11 |
share your impressions and |
other people buying the same |
12 |
report news you are |
feel like a news reporter, |
13 |
take polls (e.g. what mobile |
whatever |
14 |
store a thought so you won’t |
an online memory of your |
15 |
post your resume (using |
get job offers |
16 |
get live feedback throughout |
see early feedback allowing |
17 |
report a problem you are |
get support, either directly |
18 |
wish for a feature in your |
get a response telling you |
19 |
publish news updates around |
have people know the |
20 |
ask people to join your open |
more project participants, |
21 |
inform your followers about |
get a larger audience, gain |
22 |
post job/career oportunities |
job candidates |
23 |
share details of your |
increased popularity, votes, |
24 |
find free beer (simply by |
get drunk at someone else’s |
25 |
share your current |
get into contact with people |
26 |
track someone’s whereabouts |
knowing where someone is and |
27 |
Submit status (“come on |
share a very cool thing with |
28 |
thank a new follower for |
interaction, based on a |
29 |
semi-urgently reach someone |
almost guaranteed and quick |
30 |
find out what people are |
reassurance about the |
31 |
find out what other people’s |
reassurance about using the |
32 |
find names for your unborn |
suggestions for names, |
33 |
search for a topic of your |
real-time news about that |
34 |
solve Ajax programming |
tips and suggestions on how |
35 |
submit the next step in the |
set an interesting example |
36 |
submit the state – open or |
set an interesting example |
37 |
sell your twittername (via |
a comfortable sum of money |
38 |
Recommend nice people to |
gain more followers |
39 |
Promote obscure sites that promise you loads of followers within weeks |
get people to visit a site |
40 |
Promote supposedly easy ways to become rich |
get people to visit a site |
41 |
Contribute to an opera |
Being part of a crazy but |
42 |
Fight a mobster |
Virtual respect, gain more |
My personal favorites are number 27 and 41. The latter especially for its collaborative nature. I also found that for roughly a quarter of the above use cases, gaining more followers is one of the intended results. Based on that I can only conclude that the ultimate answer to the question “why do we tweet?”, is “mostly out of vanity, but we like the interaction too”. Myself, I tweet because I hope to get interaction with interesting people and use Twitter as a tool to know what is going on right now in my fields of interest and my network (and don’t dare to pollute it!).
—
Mark Nankman is no longer a UX Architect and Web 2.0 thought leader at Capgemini, but his public brain waves can still be followed on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mnankman