Just like what Brad has mentioned in his previous post about Twitter being a Web 2.0 version of RSS feeds, most teenagers have a negative perceptions towards the world’s most popular micro-blogging platform. These teenagers make up only 8% of the entire population on Twitterverse despite their active presence on social websites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. For an in-depth view of why teenagers nowadays “shoo” away from the micro-blogging service, check it out here.
According to a recent study by Faculty Focus, the folks there have found out that nearly one-third (30.7 percent) of the 1,958 respondents (college faculty) say they use Twitter in some capacity. More than half, (56.4 percent) say they’ve never used Twitter. I was utterly shocked by the main reason why college faculty dislike Twitter. Here’s why – they don’t see the relevance to education and that they think micro-blogging might contribute to poor writing skills. Other factors include the inability to understand how to use Twitter (even though it’s much simpler than Facebook in terms of features) and that they don’t have time to use it.
What puzzles me is that I don’t see any connection between a micro-blogging service and poor writing skills. Yes, there are quite a handful of people on Twitter who tend to include abbreviations, acronyms, symbols, and other nonstandard language in order not to exceed the 140 characters limit. In my own opinion, I don’t think exposing to shorthand language will result in a dip in standard of writing skills. Even a study published in the March 2009 issue of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology confirms that too. There could be other reasons or factors that will contribute to poor writing when using Twitter.
“One of the more interesting findings from the survey is the high percentage of faculty who use Twitter, even if they’re still experimenting with the best ways to incorporate it into their courses,” says Mary Bart, content manager for Faculty Focus. “What also became quite apparent was how strongly Twitterers and non-Twitterers feel about the technology.”
Here are some other findings from the survey –
– 21.9 percent of respondents say they are “familiar” or “very familiar” with Twitter.
– Of those who use Twitter, 21 percent say they “frequently” use it to collaborate with colleagues; 15.6 percent do so “occasionally.”
– Of those who use Twitter, 7.2 percent “frequently” use it as a learning tool in the classroom; 9.4 percent do so “occasionally.”
– 71.8 percent of current Twitterers expect their usage to increase this school year.
– 20.6 percent of current non-Twitter users say there is a “50/50 chance” they will use Twitter as a learning tool in the classroom in the next two years.
– 12.9 percent of respondents say they tried Twitter, but stopped using it because it took too much time, they did not find it valuable, or a combination of reasons.