Hooked on 140 characters or less? If so, researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) want to speak to you.
Professor Helen Partridge, from QUT's Science and Engineering Faculty, is seeking people who regularly use twitter for social and everyday purposes, other than for work or study.
Professor Partridge began the study when she was working at Oxford University's Internet Institute as a visiting fellow last year and is seeking Australian Twitter users to contribute to the study.
Participants will be interviewed and have their tweets followed by the researchers for a week.
"Twitter is becoming so prolific," Professor Partridge said. "It recently celebrated its sixth birthday, and says users write 340 million tweets each day.
"In so many ways, Twitter has been incorporated into people's lives.
"We are looking at everyday use. We want to find out about people's experiences in the Twittersphere, how are they using it, when and why."
Professor Partridge said one the interesting observations from the study so far was how Twitter was being used as a way of making sense of the world and of feeling more connected to others.
She said she wanted to find out whether Twitter changed the way people stayed informed.
"It's such a co-creation space, where new information is built together by users," Professor Partridge said.
If you would like to take part in the study, please contact Kelly Johnson on 07 3138 2989 or k13.johnson@qut.edu.au
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Media contacts:
- Rachael Wilson, QUT media unit, 07 3138 9449 or media@qut.edu.au (Wed/Thu)
- Rose Trapnell, team leader, QUT media unit, 07 3138 2361 or rose.trapnell@qut.edu.au
