underserved but ready to engage: minority communities’ use of twitter and opportunities for news...

7/31/2019 Underserved But Ready To Engage: Minority Communities Use Of Twitter And Opportunities For News Organizations

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Underserved But Ready To Engage:

Minority Communities Use Of Twitter And Opportunities For News Organizations

A recent study byPew Research Center found that minority Internet users are more than twice as likely as

white Internet users to utilize Twitter, and that young Internet users are also significantly more likely than

older Americans to adopt the social network. This mixed-methods study makes use of in-depth interviews

and data based on a survey built from those interviews to examine how young people and minorities are

using Twitter and its potential to allow news organizations to reach and engage younger and minority

audiences. For many, it is not only a site used for entertainment and connection with like-minded others,

but also for keeping up with news and giving them a voice on national or local issues they may not have

previously perceived they possessed. The results of this study provide insight into how news organizations

not only can envision how to reach different groups on Twitter but also tap into the motivations different

groups bring to the medium as a way of fostering community and news engagement.

March 2012


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Underserved But Ready To Engage:

Minority Communities Use Of Twitter And Opportunities For News Organizations

Twitter use continues to grow rapidly, although it still attracts just 13 percent of American Internet users.1

However, minority Internet users are more than twice as likely as white Internet users to utilize Twitter. Young

Internet users ages 18-29 are also significantly more likely than older Americans to adopt the social network2, which

was launched in 2006.

This paper explores the hypothesis that Twitter represents a new opportunity for news organizations to

connect with underrepresented communities as both sources and audiences for news. As newspaper readers and

viewers of national television news broadcasts age3 and the nation rapidly diversifies,4 it is essential that journalists

attract a new generation of loyal audience members. The ideas guiding this research are that those who consume the

news often are engaged in their community, and that social media is a particularly useful tool for capturing a user

base for both purposes. Thus we are interested in how different groups may be using social media differently,

because that could provide a window into how news organizations should be targeting different user groups,

particularly in minority communities traditionally underserved by news.

Research has found that Twitter may be uniquely suited among social networks to offer a venue for the

purveyors of news and information. More so than Facebook, where people go primarily to connect with their

friends made offline,5 Twitter users find the site especially valuable as a source for news and information.6

Minorities appear more likely than whites to identify social media as an important way to keep up with what is

going on in their neighborhoods.7 Minority adults are also significantly more likely than whites to believe that

government outreach using social media helps people be more informed about what government is doing and

makes government more accessible.8

Through in-depth interviews with Twitter users between the ages of 18-29, and then a follow-up survey

based on those interviews, this study examines opportunities for journalists to use Twitter for reaching and engaging

underrepresented communities. Subjects were recruited from a diverse population and results analyzed by

race/ethnicity and other variables. This study shows how Twitter has become an emerging source of news and

information for young people, and explores whether Twitter can engage its active participants in the news process.


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It also examines how Twitter affects credibility of and level of engagement users have with mainstream news

organizations.

Literature Review

As social networks have boomed in popularity, numerous studies have explored who is using these sites,

how they use them, and what motivates them. Yet few have focused on the implications for journalism. Most social

networking studies are aligned with the active audience paradigm of mass communication theory, in which people

actively shape meaning from media instead of passively consuming it. This body of theory is particularly relevant to

social media, given its interactive nature, and the relative ease and low-cost means of amateur media production.9

Within this paradigm, uses and gratifications has often been applied to the study of social networks, seeking to

understand how audience members use media and the fulfillment they get from their media choices.10 Uses and

gratifications theory is relevant for journalists as a way to understand and target their audiences needs, ultimately

ensuring the best return on investment with social media.

Because Twitter is relatively new, much of the current published work focuses on Facebook, its massive

predecessor, or on MySpace, which also preceded Twitter but is now declining in popularity. However, there is a

small and growing body of literature on Twitter, a social network that allows users to broadcast information to

others using just 140 characters, interact with each other publicly or privately, and follow other users. Unlike

Facebook, reciprocity is not required on Twitter; users can follow others even if others do not follow them in return.

Although Twitter attracts a relatively small percentage of Internet users, its growth has been rapid. In 2010, Twitter

added 100 million new users.11 While many new users check the site infrequently or never, one-third check for new

material posted by others on a daily basis or even multiple times per day.12 Twenty-one percent of Twitter users

follow more than 100 people, and 16 percent now have more than 100 followers.13 People are also becoming more

willing to disclose personal information. In 2010, users were significantly more likely to provide a biography (69

percent), full name (73 percent), location (82 percent) and website URL (44 percent) as part of their public profiles

than they were in the previous year.14 Edison Research also found awareness of Twitter has exploded. The

percentage of Americans who say they are familiar with Twitter rose from 5 percent in 2008 to 87 percent in 2010.15

Twitter uses and gratifications


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Research on Twitter uses and gratifications has found people are using Twitter as an important source of

news and information, even though social needs remain an important aspect of user motivation.16 One 2009 study by

Johnson & Yang17 found Twitter users are most satisfied with the ability to pass the time, meet new people,

communicate with many people at the same time, participate in discussions, express themselves freely, and see what

others are up to. Numerous studies have confirmed that the dominant use of social networks more generally is for

communication with others and maintaining or developing personal relationships.18 Especially where Facebook is

concerned, more relationships move offline to online rather than vice versa. Study after study finds social networks

provide a convenient and immediate way to maintain contact with family and friends and facilitate weak-tie

relationships with acquaintances.19 Users of social networks also utilize them to explore shared interests and build

relationships among others with similar hobbies or passions.20 While this use of social networking is less relevant to

news organizations, it suggests users of social networking sites are conditioned to engage with others and build

relationships, not just passively consume broadcasted messages. As a result, niche communities have congregated

around particular interests within social networks that may be tapped as sources or consumers of certain types of

news stories.

Although connecting with others is one of the uses and gratifications of Twitter identified by Johnson & Yang,

subjects reported they had less fun using Twitter than they expected upon signing up, and that their primary gratifications

ultimately came from its ability to serve as a one-stop shop for obtaining information. Subjects reported that Twitter

served as a filter, allowing them to easily access information recommended by friends or trusted contacts. Aberran et. al.

found similar results among Latinos. When young adult Latinos singled out uses of Twitter from Facebook and MySpace,

Twitter emerged as the clear leader for accessing news and information.

Johnson & Yang noted in analyzing their results that Twitter appeared to take on some characteristics of both an

interpersonal and a mass medium. Indeed, social networks have become key drivers of traffic to Web sites through shared

links. Pew Research Center reported 55 percent of Twitter users share links to news stories, and about one in 10 do so at

least once a day.21 Facebook passed Google News as a driver of traffic to news sites in early 2010.22

Similarly, search-based ad network Chitika conducted a study that found news is important to Twitter users.23 They

looked at all ofthe Web sites in the companys network that received traffic from Twitter and found 47 percent of those sites

were news-related; technology and celebrity/entertainment sites accounted for 10 percent, movies six percent and how-to


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articles four percent. A study by Barracuda Networks, a Web security company, described Twitter as more news feed than

social network, finding the majority of Twitter users follow others but do not post messages themselves.24 However, uses

may be shifting. More recent research indicates people are becoming more active on Twitter.25 A survey by market research

firm Kamaron Institute found more people use Twitter for business or professional purposes than for social reasons. 26

Another use of social networks relevant to news organizations is creative production, or the desire to share

information with others to gain visibility, establish a reputation, or simply for enjoyment.27 Creative production includes

posting self-created articles, essays, blog posts, photos, video, or other media. Urban youth (40 percent) are somewhat more

likely than suburban (28 percent) or rural (38 percent) to be media creators, and young women, especially teens, are more

likely to engage in creative production than young men.28 A study of Latino youths social network use found high levels of

uses and gratifications around sharing music and video content, both personally and professionally made.29 Pempek et. al.30

found many people use Facebook to share content created for their friends, including videos and other self-produced material

While much of this creative production may serve an identity-building or self-expressive purposePempek et. al. described

it as being the star of their own life, this drive to create content may be harnessed by news organizations looking for

citizen contributions to their work that not only help to report breaking news but tell stories about the community and its

people.

Twitter and diversity

A number of studies have examined the demographics of Twitter, which reveal relatively large segments of users

who are typically underrepresented as news sources and consumers. In its recent study, the Pew Research Center found that

minority Internet users are more than twice as likely as whites to use Twitter; one-quarter of all online African Americans use

the service, compared to 15 percent of whites. Additionally, Twitter use spans income levels. Ten percent of Internet users

with middle-class household incomes between $54,000 and $74,999 use Twitter, the same proportion as those with less than

$30,000 household incomes (10 percent). In addition, urban residents are twice as likely to use Twitter as their rural

counterparts. Women and those with a college degree are slightly more likely than average to use the service.31

Much of the rise in Twitter use may be part of a broader trend of more diverse and widespread Internet and

broadband adoption, as well as the proliferation of mobile technology that makes Tweeting easy. Between 2000 and 2010,

the proportion of Internet users who are African American or Latino nearly doubled, from 11 percent to 21 percent.


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Additionally, African Americans and Latinos are more likely to own a mobile phone than whites.32 African Americans have

surged in laptop ownership; 51 percent own a laptop compared to just 34 percent in 2009.33 Twitters 140 character limit was

conceived as a text message service, and today it remains closely connected to mobile technology for many,34 with a

proliferation of applications available for smart phone users and lower technology options for regular mobiles. An Edison

Research/Arbitron study found a significantly greater number of users access and update Twitter from their mobile phone

compared to the average user of other sites and services. Americans in general are also becoming more wired and more

mobile; 85 percent have a cell phone;35 one-third of households have a smart phone; 68 percent have a laptop or netbook; and

many utilize these technologies to multitask while watching television or doing other activities.36 This growth in technology

adoption has been rapid. In 2006, just 30 percent had laptops.37 Young adults are among the most mobile, with 95 percent of

18-29 year olds owning a cell phone of some kind. Minority Americans outpace whites when it comes to actually using cell

phone non-voice data applications and features like Twitter.38 On average, whites use 3.8 of 13 non-voice apps measured by

the Pew Center, while African-American cell phone owners use 5.4 and Latinos 5.8.39 These trends may help explain the

rapid growth in Twitter use and may bode well for its future rate of adoption.

In terms of types of use, research generally shows minorities use social networking sites in similar ways as whites.

For example, maintaining friendships and connecting with others is the primary use.40 Edison Research/Arbitron data

indicate African-American Twitter users may be using the medium more conversationally than other racial/ethnic groups,

although more research is required.41

In addition, racial, ethnic, and income stratification between sites such as MySpace and

Facebook has been observed.42 Hargiattai suggests users from different racial and ethnic groups may be drawn to different

social networking services given the real-life stratification between these groups and the power early adopters to shape who

comes after them on social networking sites. Although Twitter users are more diverse than those on other social networks,

some have speculated that there may be self-segregating within the service itself, with many people choosing to follow or

interact primarily with people of a similar racial or ethnic or income background.43 However, this has not yet been

empirically studied. Hargiattai warns each social network is different and making generalizations across them are difficult,

which is why this study examines Twitter specifically to see how diverse communities use the service. It is also important to

note a number of factors, including gender, context of Internet use, and online experiences all shape the level of each

individuals intensity of engagement with social network sites, further confirming the difficulty of making generalizations in

the study of social networking uses.44


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Among the most interesting statistics for journalists hoping to find new and diverse audiences hungry for public

interest information, minorities were active technology users during the 2008 election campaign.45 Minorities were

significantly more likely than whites to place a high value on government outreach via social media and to use tools like

social networking sites to stay informed with local issues.46

The popular and industry press have described and debated about what some call Black Twitter, a term that has

engendered its share of controversy. Slate magazines Farhood Manjoo47 argued that young African Americans use Twitter

differently, forming tight clusters who follow each other and engaging in more conversation and message amplification

through replying and retweeting others messages. He suggested this allows them to more easily dominate the trending

topics with popular hashtags, sometimes called Blacktags, that often comment on race, love, sex, and stereotypes of black

culture. Indeed, Brendan Meeder, a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon interviewed in the piece, said network effects do predict

that hashtags can rise faster in popularity when they start in dense communities of highly connected people. Meeder also

says early research suggests African Americans who start top trending topics are using Twitter as a kind of public instant

messenger service, talking to others but doing it in public. In his piece, Manjoo offers the caveat that these hashtags are

popularized by a subgroup of African Americans on Twitter, are not representative of black culture more generally, and

clearly not all African-American Twitter users are participating in these tags. His piece sparked controversy,48 with others

arguing there is nothing unique about how African Americans use Twitter, and questioning the impetus to look at uses of

Twitter through a racial or ethnic lens. For example, Jessica Faye Carter49

wrote the tendency to focus on ethnic heritage as

the definitive aspect of a persons identity presents a major challenge to discourse on culture and social media, because it

ignores the layered existences in which mostpeople reside. She argued that people replicate memes for a variety of different

reasons, and that some focus on blackness in the rise of some popular memes because they mirror stereotypes about blacks,

even though whites, most notably the large Justin Bieber fan base, also propagate memes in similar ways. The academic

literature in this area remains thin, but most studies have revealed that when looking at social networks generally, the

tendency for relationships to move from the offline world to the online one means groups that limit their interaction with

others in the real world will continue to do so online.50 However, some have suggested that highly engaged Facebook users

crystallize relationships that might otherwise remain ephemeral,51 facilitating greater interaction with people from different

backgrounds.52 Writing for the Atlantic, Jackson53 argued that in fact, social media in some ways allows us to escape these

large demographic groups because they allow people to organize around interests instead. One interesting study by Yardi and

boyd54 found that Twitter conversations are unique in that people often do not come into a discussion intentionally but rather


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witness a conversation and get drawn into it, given that Tweets are public and easily visible using hashtags and replies.

However, the speed in which these topics ebb and flow can make meaningful conversation difficult, they also found.

If indeed densely connected groups of Twitter users from previously underrepresented groups have the ability to

raise the popularity of certain hashtags globally, it could follow that important issues neglected by the mainstream media

could be surfaced via Twitter. This happened in January 2011 when an Ohio mother was convicted of a felony for falsifying

her residency to get her children into a better, safer school district.55 Propelled in part by Twitter and other social networks,

the story spread widely and made headlines around the country, attracting the attention of national outlets like the New York

Times. This is one case of a story that might not have spread without the amplified reactions via social networks of lower-

income groups, who are most affected by struggling schools.

In terms of gender, few studies have identified significant differences between men and women in use of social

media, although women generally have larger networks and spend more time communicating with others.56 Women are more

likely to value the maintenance of existing relationships and ability to pass the time on social networks, while men are more

likely to value the ability to meet new people.57

Twitter and journalism

Few studies so far have explored the ways in which Twitter could benefit news organizations, despite the growing

numbers of journalistic efforts on Twitter. For example, NBC recently acknowledged Twitters importance in local news

coverage by launching a program for its affiliates called The 20, which will tap local influencers Tweets to learn what

people are talking about and identify the most important local issues.58 Many reporters and editors from numerous

organizations from CBS News to the New York Times have Twitter accounts they use regularly.

Twitter provides one opportunity for traditional news organizations remain viable among young and

diverse communities. According to the State of the Media Report 2010 by the Project for Excellence in Journalism,

young people and minorities are significantly less likely than older people and whites to consume mainstream news

sources. For newspapers, the youngest age bracket had the lowest readership levels; fewer than two out of three 18-

34 year olds said they had read the previous days daily newspaper. Twenty-six percent of Latinos, 32 percent of

Asians, and 37 percent of African Americans reported reading the newspaper, compared to 44 percent of whites.

And readership numbers across all age groups, races and ethnicities dropped between 2008 and 2009. Similarly, the


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report found network television news is failing to attract younger viewers; the median age in 2009 for viewers was

62.3. These media consumption trends dovetail with a population that is rapidly diversifying. Recently released

Census data show about 48 percent of Americans born last year were members of minority groups.59

Twitter offers journalists opportunities to reach out to people of color, not just by sharing links to news stories, but

also by engaging in dialogue.60 In a multicultural society, people pay attention to media that pay attention to them, as

professor of journalism and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California Flix Gutirrez said.61 If

journalists can join the conversations going on in communities of color online, it may not only improve the quality of

dialogue about tough subjects, but also provide news organizations with a much-needed infusion of new audience members

who reflect the America were becoming, Cheng wrote in a column for the Poynter Institute .62

Research has also confirmed that Americans are increasingly getting their news through the web incidentally, as a

headline catches their eye while they are doing or searching for something else.63 Instead of seeking out news, it is finding

people through sources like Twitter. Even people characterized as news avoiders say they come across news accidentally

online; often the incidental nature of discovering news strengthened peoples emotional reactions to the story, with some

respondents reporting feeling happy they discovered something they might have otherwise missed.64

Methodology

This two-part study consisted of 19 in-depth interviews conducted with a diverse sample of primarily African American

regular Twitter users ages 18-29 from three universities, and a broader follow-up survey. Interview data was used to shape

survey questions. To qualify for participation in the study, interview participants were required utilize Twitter on a daily or

near-daily basis, outside of any specific requirements for university coursework. Therefore, their responses can be used to

ascertain the motives of frequent Twitter users, as opposed to those who may have an account but use it rarely. Interviews

sought to answer the following research questions:

1. How do African Americans, ages 18-29, use Twitter?2. Are there any differences in how whites and African Americans use Twitter?3. How do African Americans, age 18-29, respond to efforts by journalists to use Twitter to share information

and engage with their audiences?

Interviews were conducted in-person and lasted between 30 and 50 minutes. Participants were recruited via Twitter with


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follow-up emails sent to individuals who expressed interest. Participants began with general open-ended questions about

how the subjects use Twitter, allowing the subjects to describe their uses in their own words rather than utilizing pre-

determined categories. Answers were then probed to elicit greater detail, and subjects were asked for more specific details

about when they use Twitter, how often they utilize specific functions, such as replying to or retweeting messages of others,

what kinds of technology or applications they use to access the service, how many people they follow (and who follow them)

that they know offline, how often they engage in conversation with others on the service, whether (and if so, how) they use

the site for news and information and how and if they interact with reporters or news organizations.

The three different participating universities vary not only in geographic location but in demographic composition as

well. The first one in the MidSouth is a public, urban commuter school with 22,000 students; about 46 percent of those

students are racial/ethnic minorities and 40 percent are African American. The second school is a large state university with

29,000 students, about nine percent of which are minority. The third school is a small liberal arts private school with 6,000

students in a city with a 31,000 population; about 13 percent of those students are minorities. Though researchers chose these

schools primarily as a matter of convenience, their demographic variation allows for a diverse sample.

The second stage of this research was to use the qualitative data to build a survey (see Appendix) that would

allow for more generalized observations about the populations we studied. The researchers used Survey Monkey to

collect the data, sending the link to the survey specifically to students using university email listservs and Twitter

itself. Respondents were offered an inducement of a gift card drawing in order to encourage responses. The survey

consisted of more than 100 questions and asked about specific types of Twitter use, such as hashtags, in addition to

motivations for use and specifically news and information uses. The survey drew an initial response of 154

responses, but after the data set was cleaned to remove unfinished responses we ended up with a final N of 110.

This research employed an abridged version of the Web Motivations Inventory scale Web Motivation

Inventory,65 with the understanding that because Twitter is sometimes used on the Web and sometimes used in

mobile, we might see different patterns emerge. Respondents were asked how often they used Twitter for various

psychological and social reasons on a scale from 1 (never) to 5 (very often). Factor analysis using Varimax rotation

and eigenvalues over 1 revealed four dimensions which accounted for 70.7% of the variance and became the scales

used in this study to describe Twitter motivations. The first, connectivity (scale = .89), describes use for social

reasons, typified by questions such as I use Twitter to get to know otherpeople. The second, information (scale


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I Tweet a lot, so Im on there the majority of my day, because it just gives, me, I dont know, its

enjoyment, but its informational, and I love that I can interact and talk with people all day about common

interests and common viewpoints all day, so Im generally on there all the time, sharing thoughts, and you

know.

The majority of African American respondents interviewed reported that, as previous academic work has

found about Facebook, they know many or even most their followers and the people they follow offline. This

indicates that Twitter may be used by some students in similar ways to the larger social network, a way for young

people to build and maintain relationships with friends. Indeed, some students suggested that while they also used

Facebook, Twitter had become the preferred outlet for connecting with others they know. Typical replies to

questions about their connections are illustrated by participant A, a 27-year-old African-American male, who said I

have 256 followers. I probably know maybe 50 of them, or about 25 or 30 percent; participant C, a 22-year-old

African American male, who said I just reached about 600-something, and out of that, Id say I know about half of

them; participant E, a 20-year-old African American female, who said I know, generally, about 90 percent of the

people I follow, and that makes it better, that makes it easier to communicate, you know; and participant M, a a 22-

year-old mixed race female, who said I probably know about half of the 150, and probably half of those are people

from home. Probably about 50 are from here and the others are in different parts of the U.S.Of course, its

important to recognize that this finding represents a subset of social networking population that has enthusiastically

adopted Twitter and probably does not represent younger people more broadly.

While many participants cite Twitter as a means to continue and enhance previously existing relationships,

others claimed the tool helped initiate new relationships away from their hometown and strengthen dynamic bonding

with individuals involved in their daily collegiate interactions. For example, participant R, a 22-year-old African

male, responded,

Twitter seems like a big party to me with my friends, sometimes several parties at once. I like

how we talk about serious stuff, silly stuff, and it reflects a lot of my daily life I get with myfriends. I think it has deepened my friendships, especially with my friends in the BSU (Black

Student Union). Ive gotten to know them as thinkers and as people. We trade reading lists and

ideas on there and it has really opened my mind up a lot. The BSU is a group that has a lot of

haters here. Whites hate it because they dont thinkuniversity name has a race problem. And some

of my black friends dont want to be associated with it because its controversial with whites. So

the BSU group is pretty tight and Twitter has helped me reach out to them and get to know them I

guess.


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Although some students seem to use Twitter within this collegiate subculture, bonding within a supportive

minority environment, several participants said this was not necessarily intentional, noting that any segregation on

Twitter was simply a mirror of that in the real world. For example, participant S, a 21-year-old African American

female, noted, I dont not follow white people because of a race thing or anything. Its just because Twitter is really

my close friends and thats it.

With few exceptions, all communicated primarily with a similar demographic in terms of age. Many expressed

reservations about parents or other family members joining Twitter and/or following them. Many participants voiced

their desire to be part of a social network that allows users more anonymity than more popular platforms, such as

Facebook, and the ability to talk only with their friends rather than a larger circle of acquaintances, family members,

and authority figures that now use Facebook. For instance, according to participant N, a 22-year-old African

American male, My family doesnt know Im on there and I dont tell them. I talk about a lot of stuff that probably

would freak them out if they knew. A lot of our hashtag chats are about drugs or sex and they wouldnt like it.

Similarly, participant P , a 24-year-old African American male, notes, My friends and I like it a lot. I havent told

my non-university namefriends about it so I dont know what theyd think. I dont want my parents to see it. Thats

what Facebook is for.

Several individuals claimed to have an affinity for categorizing elements of their posts via hashtag, either for

whimsys sake or for fostering conversation, such as participant N, a 22-year old African American male:

Im a hashtag all-star. I love the ones that my friends start to use a lot. Lots of inside jokes. My

favorite one lately was #sidechickgifts, and my bros and I were joking about things wed get our

imaginary side chicks for Valentines. I use them to joke around, pretty much, and only after my

friends have started using them.

Participant L, a 22-year-old African American female, also demonstrates the kinds of informal communication

she has with friends on Twitter:

I tweet songs more than anything else. Song lyrics. I love music and if Im feeling some way Ill

tweet a song lyric. But its also like a diary for me, because if anything happens and I cant write it

down Ill just tweet it. And my phone has a twitter app so Ill just tweet from it. I tweeted once,

when financial aid was making me mad, that I was going to blow up the financial aid office. That

might have gotten me in trouble if something would have happened. (But) people were like,

theyre going to blow it up, too. So it wouldnt have just been me (laughs).


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She also mentioned another friends Twitter activity to explain how using Twitter as a form of self-expression

can connect you to others:

My best friend goes to Howard and she has like 2,000 followers and 100,000 tweets. I think shes

a celebrity. She pretty much says everything shes thinking, she doesnt have a filter. But people

enjoy that, when youre free to say everything you feel or think. Because theyre probably

thinking it but dont want to say it. And she says it, so its like, oh my god, she said what I was

thinking, but Im not going to say it because its kind of vulgar or provocative.

Fun and entertainment

Many of the participants reported using Twitter just for fun and to consume entertainment in a participatory

environment where they could also interact with what they were hearing or watching. Many reported following one

or more celebrities, and several, such as participant L, a 22-year-old African American woman, describe their ability

to directly interact with celebrities as a benefit of Twitters communication democracy,

Initially I got it two years ago because all the celebrities are on twitter and I wanted to stalk them.

The first celebrity that I followed was Trey Songz because Im like in love with him. And its like

you get to see another side of him, because he like tweets things that my best friend would say and

Im like, Oh my god, youre not supposed to say that, youre a celebrity. So it makes him more

human, I guess. I try to mention them so they can mention me back. One time I tweeted something

about Dawn Richards from Dd Dirty Moneys new song and she retweeted me, and Im like, Oh

my god, she retweeted me. The other day my best friend, it was his birthday, and he is like the

biggest Brandi fan ever. And she tweeted happy birthday to him and he almost fell over.

In addition to the absence of traditional celebrity gatekeeper, numerous participants, such as participant Q, a 22-

year-old African American female, described Twitter as an agent of authenticity,

I feel like I understand famous people more. Their Twitter is really real, you know? They dont

have their thoughts being edited by the media so you have like access to their thoughts and their

mind. I find myself caring more about whats going on with them and thinking about things from

their point of view, so I think Twitter has taught me a lot about what famous people go through.

My friends, I feel like its more of a way to keep up with them than get to know them. Although I

have learned some really interesting and embarrassing things about them.

Many of those interviewed said they often Tweeted about what they were watching on television

or what music they were listening to, and often engaged in conversations with others about the shows,

combining traditional passive entertainment with the interactive capability to discuss it with their friends.

For example, Participant E, a 20-year-old African American female, said:


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Its a lot of random stuff, just basically whats going on, if its a TV show, like tonight is a big

show that everyone watches, so its, you know, tune in tonight at 9 oclock at this channel.

Professional networking

A subset of participants used the site to develop contacts and learn about their future careers. The distinction

between the personal and professional are best illustrated by participant L, a 22-year-old African American female,

If Im going to use it for professional reasons I want to make sure that my tweets are

professional. So if Im going to follow professional leaders Im going to make sure that my tweets

are professional.

The participant subsequently noted,

But with Twitter, my friends and also athletes just post what theyre doing nonstop. I thinkbecause you can do it from your phone, it just makes it easy to say youre eating a bowl of cereal

or running to Kroger or whatever. And its very self-centered, so its very this is what Im doing,

this is where I am, this is who Im with.

Perhaps an equally reflective example is participant M, a 22-year-old female of mixed race, who

manages the Twitter account of a student organization focused on womens issues. The participant reported

she tweets professionally from the organization account, then uses her own account for personal

interaction.

Some participants discussed their transition from personal to professional Twitter uses, and how their current

use reflected elements of both. For example, participant P, a 24-year-old African American male, noted,

So I used to use Twitter for guy talk more but now its all kinds of stuff, including conversations

with people about education and things going on in my field. I also think Ive had to tone it down

a little bit because Ive realized that the way I used to use it, with lots of inside jokes and sex

humor and stuff, wouldnt make me look good to people I might wan t to hire me.

Information

Although participants reported that news and information was a less important use for Twitter than

connecting with others, it did emerge as one of the ways young people use this social network. Twitter users seek

out information specific to their interests as well as general and local news.

Participant D, a 21-year-old African American female, exemplifies how it can be used to get the news:


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People retweetthe traffic in the morning. Ive clicked on several links, several from Katie Couric,

and Im like, this is really cool, its instant, its right there in my face, so I dont have to try to find

a television or a radio station, if Ive got my Wi-Fi and my computer everywhere. Ive got it right

here, in my hand, what I need, even the Egypt stuff, it was constant, so I got an update, I knew

what was going on.

Participant E, a 22-year-old African American female, said,

Um, its just random things, you know,whats going on campus, at the UC [University Center],

there may be a meeting about, you know, whatever, so Ill be like, okay, I want to go to that.

R2: Are there any differences in how whites and minority groups use Twitter?

It is important to note that no generalizations can be made from this relatively small sample of interviewees, but

the data allows us to examine in greater depth whether any of the differences between how different racial and

ethnic groups use Twitter discussed in the popular press are valid.

Some participants said they didnt notice any differences in how racial or ethnic groups used Twitter, but also

noted that many of the people they follow or who follow them tended to be primarily people of same racial or ethnic

group. Several others, for example participant N, an 22-year-old African American male, noted a distinct difference

in how different races utilize it:

My new followers are different. They dont play with hashtags or just post whatevers on [their]

mind. Most of them are white, but some of them are adults too so they always posting news links.

I feel like my non-black friends on there are really serious sometimes and dont know how to just

mess. I feel like when Im on Twitter Im hanging out with my friends, but I dont think my white

friends do that. It feels like they always have a reason theyre on there, does that make sense? Like

theyre always trying to accomplish something or get somethingdone. They dont chill enough.

Participant Q, a 22-year-old African American female,further articulated this dissimilarity:

I feel like black folks are more real on Twitter, maybe? But in a different way. Like theyre talking about

whats going on in life, and white folks are usually trying to post deep thoughts or news they think is

important. I dont like it when people try to act all smart on Twitter.

Minority students interviewed also appeared more likely to be part of dense networks of Twitter users who

know each other offline than white students. For example, one minority student described meeting new people and

asking them if they were on Twitter and exchanging user names instead of phone numbers.


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Perhaps the most illuminating difference in usage pertained to hashtags, which all African American

participants reported using to some extent. A variety of examples illustrated a collective cultivation of creative input,

which produced trending topics intended to both amuse and bemuse. In nearly a half dozen cases, groups of friends

attempted to create topics that might appear briefly on Twitter trending topics. Participant L, a 22-year-old African

American womans example lends context to this collaborative contest:

I know its kind of weird, but I see the black community here as like a family and we all kind of

each lunch together and well all go in on a certain trending topic or well make our own. Wel l

just come up with a trending topic and start tweeting. Like theres a song called Shake Life, and

about two or three weeks ago we were sitting there and we made #UTKshakelife and we talked

about the party life at UT. And then other schools started making their own, like #MTSUshakelife.

I eat at the UC about three days a week and those three days we talk about Twitter. But theyre

always funny. Ive never participated in a serious trending topic. Its all goofy.

R3: How do African Americans, age 18-29, respond to efforts by journalists to use Twitter to share information

and engage with their audiences?

While the majority of participants did not mention news as their primary use for Twitter, several individuals did

suggest that they do get news from the service and that journalists who engage with audiences and share stories via

Twitter could see their audience and credibility get a boost. For example, participant D (first), a 21-year-old African

American female, said:

It would be a little more effective (if journalists engaged with people more on Twitter instead of

just publishing links to articles) and built relationships, instead of that person just throwing out

articles.

She added:

Justin Bieber is a topic every day, so people keep up with them, and Ive learned that people use it for thenews, like local news. People retweet the traffic in the morning. I think its going to become bigger.

Participant C (second), a 22-year-old African American male, said:

I know some people who havent picked up a newspaper in years, so I think if they [journalists] were to

get on Twitter, it would help keep news alive. Journalism is kind of dying. If people did that more often,

people would feel like people had a closer relationship with the person that is delivering the news.


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Others noted that they sometimes use hashtags to find news and information relevant to them that may not

be as likely to be available through mainstream sources:

Theres a #universityname diversity tag that people post to every once in a while when something

bad happens on campus that is race related. So I read that. I like hashtags in general because they

let me follow certain discussions Im interested, and I see them pop up in a friends posts and they

are interesting at times.

Survey data

The results revealed high Twitter use among the sample surveyed. The mean number of people the

respondents followed was 271.9, while the mean number of followers was reported to be 219.8. Respondents

reported spending almost 90 minutes per day on Twitter. This apparently has had an effect on their news

consumption. When asked about how they consume news compared to their pre-Twitter days on a scale of 1-5

(ranging from "much less" at the lower end of the scale and "much more" at the higher end, with 3 being "about the

same"), the mean score for news consumption was 3.53. In subsequent followup questions respondents were asked

to separate that news use by local and national, and they reported that most of the increase was for national news

(M=3.77) compared to local news (M=1.59).Finally, in response to a question about news link sharing on a scale of

1-5, with 1 being never and 5 being very often, the mean response to this question was 3.47.

In order to answer one of our underlying research questions, we conducted an independent samples t-test

for the four motivations (connectivity, information, expression, and entertainment) between two demographic

groups: Caucasians and African Americans. The results are in in Table 2. There was no significant difference

between the groups in their mean scores for use of Twitter when it came to connectivity and entertainment

motivations. But we found significant differences with use for information (M = 4.01 for African Americans, M =

3.24 for Caucasians, F = 4.61, p < .05) and use for expression (M = 4.24 for African Americans, M = 3.61 for

Caucasians, F = 4.25, p < .05). Thus while the social and entertainment motivations for Twitter use were not

different between the groups, we did find that African Americans felt the medium was more suited for information

acquisition and for expression.

Discussion

While its important to reiterate that results of this study cant be generalized to all young minority Twitter


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users, the addition of in-depth interviews to the methodology allows for a deeper exploration into the motivations

and gratifications for using this social network than just a survey would allow, and offers a number of insights for

journalists and news organizations seeking to attract more diverse audiences and sources by tapping into a social

network that has proved to be especially popular among minorities.

The amount of time study participants dedicated to Twitter, nearly 90 minutes per day, reveals the current

power of this social network among its devotees. Although as previously noted, only about 13 percent of American

Internet users are on Twitter, study participants indicate that those who have enthusiastically adopted it use it

regularly throughout the day as they go about doing other things, often having ongoing conversations with their

followers.

The primary use of Twitter by study participants was to connect with others and to build and maintain

relationships. While this use of Twitter may seem less relevant at the outset to journalists, participants expressed

openness to news mixed in with their interactions with friends, and also noted that they expected more engagement

and a conversational tone in this space. The data suggests that a number of participants, African Americans in

particular, have moved from Facebook to Twitter because it allows them to converse with their friends online in a

space that, at least for now, is not dominated by their family members and authority figures in the way Facebook is.

Celebrities, athletes, music, movies, and television programs were popular entertainment-related topics of

discussion on Twitter, respondents said, with Twitter serving as the proverbial virtual water cooler where they could

discuss what they were listening to or watching with their friends. For example, one participant, a 20-year-old black

female, noted that after she and several female friends Tweeted about how they were watching Craigslist Killer, a

movie on Lifetime, they got several of their male followers to turn on the show, and soon a wide-ranging discussion

was ongoing on Twitter during the rest of the show, especially during the commercials.

News organizations have now largely ceded their role as the primary gatekeepers for celebrity news,

especially as more famous people take to Twitter and other networks to communicate directly with their followers.

However, this appetite for not only entertainment information but also interaction around it could be an opportunity

for enterprising news organizations that could help to initiate conversations around popular local shows or events,

such as concerts or festivals. Twitter discussion can also be useful for features reporters to get a wider breadth of

perspectives by tapping the chatter around local personalities and popular events. Of course, some journalists,


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TABLES

Table 1

Factor loadings based on Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation for 12 items involving Twitter use

motivation. Values below .60 were discarded. (N = 110)

Connectivity Information Expression Entertainment

Find out what is going on in the world .83

Get information I need .87

Access info that mainstream media doesnt cover .81

Amuse myself .82

Pass the time / Something to do .83

Get to know other people .70

Meet new people with similar interests .84

Communicate with others .63

Express myself .85Share my opinion on issues or news .87

Have a voice in issues of public importance .75

Table 2

Results for t-test comparisons of Caucasians vs. African Americans across use motivation factors. (N = 110)

Mean SD F p

Connectivity

Caucasians 4.06 .94 .02 .90

African Americans 3.92 .99

Information

Caucasians 3.23 .97

African Americans 4.02 .67 4.61 .03*

Expression

Caucasians 3.61 .98

African Americans 4.24 .57 4.25 .04*

Entertainment

Caucasians 3.77 .99

African Americans 4.15 .91 .86 .36


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APPENDIX A

Participant School

City university: CC

State university: SUPrivate university: PU

Sex Race

African American: AA

White: WMixed race: M

Age

A CU M AA 27

B CU M AA 19

C CU M AA 22

D CU F AA 21

E CU F AA 2O

F SU M AA 26

G SU F AA 22

H SU M W 20

I SU M W 22

J SU F M 22

K SU F W 20

L SU F AA 22

M SU F M 22

N PU M AA 22

O PU F W 20

P PU M AA 24

Q PU F AA 22

R PU M AA 22

S PU F AA 21

APPENDIX B: SURVEY QUESTIONS


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[BASIC USAGE DETAILS]

1. How long have you been using Twitter [Scale often, sometimes, etc.]2. How often do you post on Twitter? : Often, Sometimes, Seldom, Rarely.3. I use Twitter Mostly at night/mostly during the day/throughout the day and night4. I use Twitter Mostly on weekdays/weekends/no difference.5. How long do you spend using Twitter on an average day? [same scale]6. Approximately how many followers do you have?7. Approximately many people do you follow?8. Do you use Twitter primarily on: personal computer, personal computer with wireless access, mobile

device such as a phone, personal digital music player (such as an iPod, or iPad).9. How often do you read others posts on Twitter? Often/sometimes/never for #9 17? How often to you

reply to others on Twitter?10. How often do others reply to you?11. How often do you follow someone back who begins following you?12. How often do you retweet others posts on Twitter?13. How often are your own posts retweeted?14. How often do you engage in conversation with others on Twitter?15. How often do you use hashtags?16. How often do you use hashtags that you notice are trending on Twitter?17. How often do you come up with your own hashtags, either by yourself or in a small group of friends?

Scale, again:

Very often

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

[DEMOGRAPHICS]

1. What is your gender? Male Female2. Age?3. What is your race? White, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Native American, some other race4. Number of years of college completed.5. Household Income: 100K plus, 50K-99K, 20-49K, Less than $20K6. Parents household income?7. What is the annual cost of your tuition/room and board? a) Under 10,000, b) 10,00020,000, c) Above

20,000, d) Not sure.8. What is the primary source of your tuition/room and board funding? b) I pay for it myself using student

loans, b) I pay for it myself without using student loans, c) I pay for it using scholarship funding, d) Myparents or relatives pay for it.

9. Parental education

10. [Uses & Gratifications]I use Twitter to:

1. Find out what is going on in the world (Information)2. Get information I need (Information)3. Access news and information that the mainstream news media like newspapers or broadcast news does not

cover. (Information)


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4. Find out what is going on in my local community (information)5. Get to know other people (Community)6. Meet new people with similar interests (Community)7. Amuse myself (Entertainment)8. Get latest gossip about celebrities or sports stars (entertainment)9. Discuss current events (Connectivity)10. Communicate with others (Connectivity)11. Talk to others I know (Connectivity)12. Express myself (creative production/identity)13. Share my opinion on issues or news (creative production/identiy)14. Have a voice in issues of public importance15. Networking or learning about my current/future career16. To pass the time/something to do (Entertainment)17. To promote myself or my work18. To share important information with others (creative production)19. To flirt20. To joke around (entertainment)21. To share videos, blog posts, or other kinds of media Ive created (creative production)

I use Hashtags to [Thought we could break this out]

1.

Discuss current events2. To pass the time/something to do3. To express myself4. For fun5. To connect with others with similar interests6. To see how people will respond7. To stay up on latest trends

Following:

1. Approximately how many people that you follow on Twitter do you know in real life? [Im thinking broadpercentage scales here]

2. Approximately how many people that you follow on Twitter are celebrities?3. Approximately how many journalists or news organizations do you follow on Twitter?4. Approximately how many people do you follow because they Tweet about something related to your

current or future profession?5. Approximately how many people do you follow because they Tweet about something related to your

interests or passions, for example basketball, dance, or similar?[NEWS & INFORMATION]

1. How likely are you to follow news organizations sources? on Twitter? [Scale]2. How likely are you to follow individual reporters or editors who work at a news organization on Twitter?

[Scale]3. How likely are you to reply to a Tweet by a news organization on Twitter?4. How likely are you to reply to an individual reporter or editor on Twitter?5. News and information I read on Twitter is more/less relevant to me than what I might find in a newspaper

or on a local television program. [We could separate out the different media here I guess e.g. TV vs.newspaper? Or?]

6. Do you think you get [read/watch] more/less/about the same amount news since before you started usingTwitter?

7. Do you think you are more likely/less likely/the same to read stories or watch videos from local/nationalnews sources since before you started using Twitter? [Could separate this out by media and by localnational.]

8. How likely are you to discuss local issues (stories, events, news) on Twitter? [Never/rarely/etc.]9. How often do you share a link to an article from a news organization, such as a newspaper, on Twitter?

[Never, rarely, etc.]


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underserved but ready to engage: minority communities’ use of twitter and opportunities for news...

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