Twitter and What I Found There

Because I have not declared my major, I have a somewhat large array of options to choose from while deciding on topics to research. For a while I have been quite set on public health or anthropology. However, recently I have not found much interest in them. Instead, I have been drawn to psychology. So, for this post, I decided to explore psychology on Twitter. 

Olney, Helen. No title 7/19/2007 via Flickr. Attribution License 

1. What kinds of things do people on Twitter seem to be talking about, debating, arguing about or otherwise engaging in meaningful exhanges of ideas about? Give us a descriptive and clear sense of the kinds of stories you're seeing in these Twitter feeds.

What I found from the feeds that I looked at was that there is less of a discussion and more of a dissemination of information. Each feed is filled with either short descriptions of a story with a link attached or short opinions of that psychologist's take on a story with a link attached. Many stories were pop culture related. They focused on dating advice, online quizzes, personality types and other concepts that the Twitter audience might find interesting. 

2. In your opinion, what are the two most interesting conversations or stories you found in the Twitter feeds? Hyperlink us to the two different Twitter feeds and explain why you found those conversations nteresting. Be specific and honest and be yourself. I don't want you to blah-blah-blah this. I want you to really engage.

I found Psychology Facts' and Vaughan Bell's feeds to be the most interesting. I liked the mass of information provided by Psychology Facts. It requires a small attention span, a little knowledge base, and a short amount of time. It caters to the culture of quick information in an entertaining way. Conversely, scrolling through Vaughan Bell's feed requires a bit more time and concentration. He gives a short opinion about a post or a reply to someone else's post with an attached link to an article or piece of research. I like this for the opposite reason that I like Psychology Facts - it is long. There is more information that you can pick and choose from when you have the time. 

3. Overall, what impression do you get of your discipline based on what you saw happening on Twitter? Were the people in these feeds talking in ways you expected or did not expect, about things you anticipated they'd be talking about or things you had no idea they'd be discussing? Explain in concise specific detail.

There is a huge focus on discovery in the field of psychology. The majority of the posts are sharing new studies, new information, new research. I actually expected this because this is one of the reasons I am interested in psychology. There is a constant possibility for discovery. It is interesting that there is little debate. It is mostly just sharing information.