Alphablogs

After not having posted here for quite a while, finally a sign that I’m still around here at Alphablogs!

Here’s an attempt at reflecting a Twitter conversation about social media etiquette, early adopters, morality, and all kinds of other interesting topics.  It was a worthwhile conversation, one we might continue, so I’d like to preserve it for posterity.  Putting the various strands together was an interesting exercise in itself, which is why it’s an attempt – I know I’ve missed a number of interesting contributions.

This first tweet by @shanegibson is, from what I can tell, what started it all …

Is there such thing as “Social Media Etiquette” or are most rules set up to fortify the position of those that already have arrived?

And because we early adaptors are so strange, you’ll have to start reading the conversation at the bottom!

moritherapy @raincoaster which brings me to another point: soc media allows for those wild ADD jump-abouts that i like to engage in. BAD in polite convo

moritherapy @lizstrauss i’m sure you’d have interesting things to say in this soc media etiquette convo w/ @hummingbird604 and @raincoaster

Tojosan @moritherapy stranger than what? I’ve been called strange before…as a matter of fact… )

moritherapy the “sweetness to strangers” thing is interesting. who is a stranger on twitter?

moritherapy sorry i missed all kindza yummy thoughts due to the thai emergency (looks like they’re going to sawasdee).

hummingbird604 @raincoaster How is it a contradiction?

moritherapy @hummingbird604 quick, what’s the best thai restaurant?

raincoaster@shanegibson Etiquette’s function is not to help people “connect and grow,” it is to provide norms so interaction can take place

raincoaster @hummingbird604 So stability is only situationally desirable? There’s a contradiction there. 42 minutes ago from web in reply to hummingbird604

hummingbird604 @raincoaster I wouldn’t classify it as a flamewar, is it? BTW – I have gotten no more new followers. You get more new followers than I do!

hummingbird604 @raincoaster Not in all cases and not at all times. I guess it would depend on the issue at hand.

raincoaster And on that anarchistic note, I’m off to make raincoaster soup. And I don’t care if it’s not normal.

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Is stability itself a desired outcome? about 1 hour ago from web

hummingbird604 @moritherapy Institutions defined as rules and norms are what makes our world more stable. Living in constant anarchy? Not very stable.

raincoaster FYI y’all, Twitter-based flamewars about etiquette are great for getting new followers.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster Although we did come to an agreement – early adopters set the rules and norms by arriving first to the party.

raincoaster @hummingbird604 No, you can see it. But it’s overlaid with sweetness like a tiger trap is overlaid with branches.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster But to see MY dark side, someone would need to be REALLY evil to either myself or my friends. Is that considered an “edge”

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Yes, it could well be the first disagreement. Except about men.

raincoaster @moritherapy The secret is, if you’re an early adopter you’re living in anarchy all the time…but you must constantly move on.

raincoaster @hummingbird604 You have an edge. Baldridge is like that perky girl played by Reese Witherspoon who has no dark side. I pity her.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster I don’t think I’m sweet in the Baldridge’s model. But I’m sweet in my own kind of way. Sometimes, disgustingly sweet

hummingbird604 @raincoaster I don’t think I’m sweet in the Baldridge’s model. But I’m sweet in my own kind of way. Sometimes, disgustingly sweet

moritherapy @raincoaster i’m a closet libertarian (or is that nostalgic anarchist?) and hope there won’t be too many norms. nor too many strict norms.

hummingbird604 @moritherapy I was being funny. Given how sweet I am, I was hoping everyone would see the contradiction in that

moritherapy @hummingbird604 YOU are saying sweetness is overrated? i’m speechless

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Sweetness in Baldridge’s case means you HAVE to respond to every stranger who speaks to you. It’s dangerous, inappropriate.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster And perhaps the very first time when we’ve disagreed on something!

hummingbird604 @raincoaster @GusF We should try Cipriano’s one evening

raincoaster @moritherapy See, reading guidelines before entering a social forum like Twitter isn’t really normal, is it?A reflection of the 1st adopters

raincoaster @moritherapy There are usually throwdowns when the initial elite begin to lose battles 4 defining the norms. It gets ugly, but is necessary

hummingbird604 @moritherapy And *that* exactly is what @raincoaster was referring to. Early adopters set specific rules/norms of behavior.

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Miss Manners rules. Letitia Baldridge is very sweet, not very correct. Original Emily Post is my fave, new Posts are v v bad

moritherapy @raincoaster haha, that’s for sure, that we weren’t screened for socialization. good thing

moritherapy remember the brouhaha last year about twitter etiquette? o’reilly. here at twitter wiki http://tinyurl.com/2fs8yg

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Also don’t forget, early adopters in tech were never screened for socialization. That’s why the internet’s still so strange.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster Now, on the miss manners books, I’m totally tempted to read them.

raincoaster @moritherapy Ann Landers don’t know shit about etiquette.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster And this last tweet (early adopters lead by default) is what I agreed upon

hummingbird604 Ok, so here’s the lowdown – made a normative statement of how I’d like the world to work instead of a positive statement of how it DOES work

hummingbird604 @raincoaster I *am* an academic. But I was looking for the latin root for morality (wikipedia entry much faster!)

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Again, I say early adopters lead by default. Noobs enter, take cues from what’s already happening, by definition between EAs

moritherapy @raincoaster i’d be interested in a conversation about etiquette, not a talk. unless you wanna be ann landers about 1 hour ago from web in reply to raincoaster

hummingbird604 @raincoaster But after re-reading, I am making a normative statement of how the world should work (or how i’d like it to work) instead of a

moritherapy @raincoaster would be interested in one of those papers on morality and etiquette

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Wikipedia? You disappoint me. I thought you were an academic. I’ll refer you to Miss Manners instead. Have all her books.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster I think the disagreement stemmed from what I implied as the norm (e.g. early adopters SHOULD lead) – a normative statement

ffer. Fingers crossed

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Your translation and equation contains a tautology. “Proper” does equal “good etiquette”.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster Ok. On THIS I can agree.

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Um, Raul, I KNOW what morality means. I wrote more than one paper on the difference between morality and etiquette.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster Although I would agree with you about not confusing ethics with good etiquette.

hummingbird604 @raincoaster (definition direct from wikipedia – but Twitter doesn’t have footnotes!)

hummingbird604 @raincoaster Morality comes from the latin moralitas, “manner, character, proper behavior”. We make “good etiquette” synonym with this.

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Early adopters lead the movement by default, not by awareness of moral burden. First people in a party set the tone.

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Because we’ve been trained to use those as synonyms for “Desirable” and “Undesirable”. Do not confuse morality and etiquette

hummingbird604 @raincoaster Etiquette is a social convention built around norms of interaction. But if it’s amoral, then why do people say “good” or “bad”?

hummingbird604 @raincoaster – um, I might have misunderstood. But I stand by what I said – early adopters have a responsibility to lead the movement.

raincoaster @hummingbird604 That is not a responsibility. It is a sociological truism, a fundamental form of human interaction. Etiquette is amoral.

hummingbird604@shanegibson And yeah there’s such a thing as social media etiquette about 3 hours ago from twhirl in reply to shanegibson

raincoaster @hummingbird604 Not what I said! Early adopters bring their own preferences and work out a balance between themselves which becomes the norm

hummingbird604@shanegibson I concur with @raincoaster – the early adopters have the responsibility to lead the movement, not to stake a position

Miss604 @hummingbird604 @shanegibson … etiquette + Creative Commons in my books

…

Addition by shanegibson, with this useful comment: “What’s interesting is how each of us only had seen parts of this dialogue based upon who we were following in twitter too!”

If I had the time, I’d love to follow this dialogue into all its nooks and crannies, in order to pick up all the voices …

Anyway, here are the stray tweets:

@10thToTheFraser   @shanegibson definitely is SM etiquette. most of it boils down to the golden rule: treat others as you want to be treated.

@davemacdonald   @shanegibson great question. secondlife is apparently facing this now. For social media I think there are more early adopters than ever.

@IanWatt   @shanegibson I would be happy to teach the Social Media Etiquette class

@raincoaster   @shanegibson Hey, that’s why there’s always a market for new forums: ppl not well socialized to existing norm niches need them. Eureka!

@raincoaster   @shanegibson Define “growth.” I agree norms are useful in establishing connection. Got some great quotes on that too long for Twitter, alas

@raincoaster   @shanegibson That is a specialized social network with institutional norms. They tend to be less widely adopted. Not “wrong” just niche

@raincoaster   @shanegibson Etiquette’s function is not to help people “connect and grow,” it is to provide norms so interaction can take place.

@shanegibson @hummingbird604 great idea. I’m fascinated by the contrast and similarity with offline social networks and “classes” of networkers

@shanegibson @hummingbird604 @raincoaster RT @ariherzog Echoing social media empowering and connecting, you’d like this of mine: http://bit.ly/1csa

@shanegibson @raincoaster @hummingbird604 social media and networking etiquette should empower people to connect and grow not constrain or stratify.

(Oh, and moar funny pictures here)