Liminality and Communitas

in Social Media: The Case

of TwitterJana Herwig, M.A.

Dept. of Theatre, Film & Media Studies

University of ViennaEmail: jana.herwig@univie.ac.at

Twitter: @digiom Blog: digiom.wordpress.com

Point of Departure:

Can anthropological concepts of ‘rites of passage’ help us understand early social media use?

Rite of Passage (Turner):

1 - Subject is stripped of its social status

2 - Subject goes through a transitional phase

(liminality) marked by anti-structure, chaos and

egalitarian relations between initiands (communitas)

3 - Reintegration with an elevated status

0 friends 0 followers 0 updates

Detachment from Social Status:

Chaos or confusion:

Usernames level hierarchies:

pic by @mimimixer

Can these concepts also help us understand

the role of social media

in society?

“I see [the liminal] as a kind of institutional capsule or pocket which contains the germ of future social developments, of societal change [...]”Victor Turner, From Ritual to Theatre, 1982, p. 45

“ Innovation [...] most frequently occurs in interfaces and limina, then becomes legitimated in central sectors”Victor Turner, From Ritual to Theatre, 1982, p. 45

How can these concepts

be applied in the analysis of Twitter

and Social Media in

general?

Pt. I - InterfacesAnalysis of the symbols

that shape liminoid experience

Pt. II - UsersChronological close

reading of individual timelines

Pt. III - Social Media

Services ‘Early adopters’ vs ‘mainstream

users’

Preview Pt. III:‘Early Adopter’ vs‘Mainstream user’

Activity

Sample 1: signed-up Oct’06 - Mar‘07

94% (15 out of 16)went on a hiatus of

≥ 28 days, 75% (12) did so

in first 2 monthsSample 2: signed-up Mar’09 - Jul‘09

9% (1 out of 11) stopped updating

for ≥ 28 days(max. time on

Twitter: 6 months)

Sample 1: signed-up Oct’06 - Mar‘07

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 12.5% women

(2 of 16 active users, randomly identified)Sample 1: signed-up Oct’06 -

Mar‘07

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 91% women

(10 of 11 active users, randomly identified)

Part I.

Interfaces

1. The Threshold Page

Log-in

Sign-up

Log-in:Symbol of inclusion and of exclusion,

asks user for (secret) name and password,

tests the user (‘Treshold Guardian’)

Sign-up:Symbol of inclusion and of exclusion,

esp. used in beta stages, as a marketing strategy and ‘early

adopter’ token (e.g. Google Wave, invite trading sites)

Sign-up?(how cynical…)

Log-in

Sign-up

Service Description

Service Description

Service Description:

A preview of what is to become of the ritual subject if s/he

decides to sign-up

Liminoid experiences are optional, therefore have to

compete with another.

Often they are commodities, which one selects and pays for (movie,

play in a theatre, but also social media platforms

New HP: Caters to (potential) initiands

AND non-usersService Description

Service Description for non-members

Service for non-members

Log-in

Sign-up

Liminal vs. Liminoid:Update of the concept of liminality

for post-industrial societies (Turner

1982).

Liminal phenomena: tribal or early agrarian societies; no distinction of work and play (all part of ‘work

of the Gods’)

Liminoid phenomena: optional, a matter of individual choice

rather than of collective rhythm

Part I.

Interfaces

2. The Sign-up Procedure

0 friends 0 followers 0 updates

Detachment from Social Status:

Optional anonymity:

Username check, but no real name check… yet

(Project Verified Accounts)

Anonymity in Social MediaStructures competition between

platforms:

Facebook: Oppressed. Accounts with ‘fake’ names are

suspended.

4chan Random board, /b/: Enforced. Derogatory terms fors users w/ names.

Twitter: Optional Anonymity;Incentives to give up anonymity.

Anonymity/notoriety options:Statement of one’s real, full name.

Real name as nickname (impersonators!)

Picture of oneself as an avatar.

Link to a website w/ personal information.

Linking Twitter with email address book

Meeting other Twitterers face-to-face

Communitas is volatile:With real names and ‘meat space’ relationships, social structures and hierarchies are re-injected

into Twitter

How did it feel when your boss (colleague, high school mate,

mother ...) started following you on Twitter?

(email me: jana.herwig@univie.ac.at)

Scenario I: People addressing each other by usernames in face-to-face situations

pic by @mimimixer

Scenario II: People with social capital gained in other social spheres maintain their status

Example 1: With its more than 2 million followers,the account @oprah receives several replies in an hour, and has replied six times in its first seven months – only once to a non-celebrity.

Scenario II: People with social capital gained in other social spheres maintain their status

Example 2: Although the

informal ‘Du’ is typically used between German-speaking Twitter users, the account of Austrian TV-anchor @ArminWolf is mostly addressed with the formal ‘Sie’.

Part II.

Users

1. Activity Patterns

Sample 1: signed-up Oct’06 - Mar‘07

94% (15 out of 16)went on a hiatus of

≥ 28 days, 75% (12) did so

in first 2 monthsSample 2: signed-up Mar’09 - Jul‘09

9% (1 out of 11) stopped updating

for ≥ 28 days(max. time on

Twitter: 6 months)

‘Early Adopters’Sample 1:

16 users signed up between Oct ‘06 and Mar ‘07 who were still active in May 2009, identified

via whendidyoujoin.twitter.com.

The single user (User O) that did not experience a hiatus also attended the

biggest number of events where social media is

used (e.g. SXSW, CES, flashmobs).

User A

User D

User G

User K

User L

The used visualization tool tweetstats.com starts with the first update; User L wrote the first update 600 days after signing-up.

User O (‘Lead User’)

Video with all activity patterns in sample 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhPdQaZ_Wu4

Part II.

Users

2. Contexts in which Twitter use emerges

Method: Close readingWhat do people write about when they first use or when they return to Twitter?

Four contexts were identified:

Interest in or view on Twitter as:- a web technology- part of a mobile gadget culture- a social sphere- a liminal challenge

View on Twitter as a web technology

“Testing this twitter Flex interface”

“wondering if there’s a way to push Adium / Facebook updates to Twitter

automatically”

“Just twitting from my DOS console”

“Trying to figure out the twitter api”

View on Twitter as part of a mobile gadget culture

“Loving my Touch. Mobilicious.”

“Got a nokia e61i now... Getting connected to everything mobile”

“Google Latitude... Cool... http://is.gd/ijOV”

View on Twitter as a social sphere

“thinking about next season as a Happy Hammer - prompted by a fellow fan now following me.”

“@xxx You are not the only one in the UK that is glad to see AmberMac back on here, Shame

Net@Nite is no longer recorded live though ”

Twitter as a liminal challenge

“Testing this gadget”“Testing twitter”

“back”“ASDf”

“mic check, 1-2”

“i totally forgot about twitter, i suck”

“trying to remember how to use twitter”

Part II.

Users

3. Early Twitter Experience, or:

Making Twitter into a social medium

Twitter as asocial mediumIn a user’s early phase, activity is

dominated by the interface:

In their very first update, 87.5% (14 out of 16) reported what they

were doing. (one reported what he was going to do, another posted a sequence of arbitrary

characters).

Study by Mischaud 2007: 41.5% reported what they were doing

(Content analysis of 5767 tweets from 60 users)

The social dimension

Are users aware of the presence of others?

(User L’s sixth update, posted on day 745 on Twitter,

responding to someone with a similar nickname)

Twitter as a social medium: the @-response as indicator

After having posted their first @-response, 75% of users in the ‘early adopter’ sample did not experience another hiatus.

Part III.

Social Media Services

1. Social Mechanisms on Twitter: ‘Early

Adopters’ vs ‘Mainstream Phase

Users’

The 1st @-responseEarly adopters wrote 1st @-

response within21 to 745 days (average: 411

days)

It was contained in update no.3 to 302 (average: update no. 68)

The 1st @-responseEarly adopters wrote 1st @-response

within21 to 745 days (average: 411 days)

Mainstream users achieved this within

1 to 25 days (average: 8 days)

It was contained in update no.3 to 302 (average: update no. 68)For mainstream users it was update

no.1 to 64 (average: update no. 14)

Types of Social mechanismsDefault social mechanisms:

Built into the system, could be triggered automatically, e.g. @-

response.

Emergent social mechanisms:Result of collective experiment with social-semantic opportunities of a

text field,e.g. retweeting, hashtags

Emergent mechanisms may be turned into default ones (cf. Twitter’s

Project Retweet)

When did # and RT emerge?

Hashtags: Allegedly popularizedduring October 2007 #sandiegofireFirst use in sample 1: 8 January

2008(‘Lead user’ O, referring to #CES)

Retweeting: unknown. First use in sample 1: 30 April 2008

(‘Lead user’ O, about a flashmob)

Appropriation of # and RTHashtags:Early adopters 292 to 957 days (average 697)Mainstream 1 to 143 days (average 45 days)

Retweeting:Early adopters 405 to 947 days (average 701)Mainstream 1 to 94 days (average 39 days)

N.B. These mechanisms had presumably not yet emerged when sample 1 signed up.

Part III.

Social Media Services

2. Gendered Twitter-Phases?

Presence of CelebritiesDifferent from sample 1, there is a

strong presence of celebrities in the updates generated by the mainstream phase

sample.

Within the first 100 updates, C2 sends @-responses to 15 different celebrities (musical artists, TV hosts, Hollywood actors); another, E2, writes to

11 celebrities, including fake accounts and accounts of fictional characters from a TV series.

User M2 communicates almost exclusively with band

members or fans of NKOTB.

Sample 1: signed-up Oct’06 - Mar‘07

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 12.5% women

(2 of 16 active users, randomly identified)Sample 1: signed-up Oct’06 -

Mar‘07

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 91% women

(10 of 11 active users, randomly identified)

Gendered Twitter phases?Hypothesis 1:

In 2006/2007, Twitter was eagerly adopted by people with an interest in the web and

IT industry, the majority of which are men. Signing up to secure a nickname is a

practice common in this group.Hypothesis 2:The 2009 influx of celebrities is likely to

have been an incentive for people with an interest in celebrity culture – the

majority of which are women – to join Twitter.

Conclusion:

Anthropological concepts of ‘rites of passage’ help us understand several

aspects social media use:

Creation of a Liminal Subject < First steps on Twitter

Communitas as anti-structural community >< Forms of community that become possible (and

are also precarious) on Twitter

Role of Liminality within society >< Social Media as space for social innovation

Social Media exist at the interface of technology, individual practice & society.

Questions or Feedback?

Send an email to jana.herwig@univie.ac.at or,

preferably, post a comment on my blog. You can also download the draft paper (with comment and

annotations) from there:http://digiom.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/coming-to-grips-with-twitter-200607-vs-2009

Short link: http://wp.me/peBnE-u4