There is limited space available to present yourself to others and create an identity on Twitter. Other social networking sites such as Facebook allow users to generate an identity through posts, pictures, interactions with others, likes, etc., while on Twitter there are few opportunities to portray yourself to others. The only information that is portrayed on Twitter profiles is the person’s name, picture, hometown, and an 140-character quote. It is extremely difficult to construct an identity through this limited amount of information.
In order to create an identity on Twitter, users must form it through cues. The main method of doing this is through tweets by sharing thoughts and opinions with others. Twitter is a social network that focuses more on text and comments rather than other aspects of networking. Each individual tweet portrays what a person is doing, thinking, or how they are feeling at the moment. For example, on November 21st I tweeted “Harry Potter made $125 million this weekend. I guess I should see it…” Although this tweet is short it sweet, it portrays that I am clearly not an avid Harry Potter fan, I keep up with the amount of money big movies make, and that I will probably be seeing the new Harry Potter move in the future. By looking at a given user’s tweets as a whole, an individual may be able to get a better feel for who the user is, what they are doing, and what they may do in the future.
Additionally, a user’s identity can be formed by looking at who they are following and who is following them. Much like with Facebook, a user can interact with those that they follow and who follow them by using “@” responses, which I mentioned in an earlier practicum post. Who a person interacts with and what they say to these individuals becomes extremely important in portraying certain characteristics of an individual’s personality. These small social interactions and conversations with others can be seen as major cues adding to a user’s identity.
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