Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Saur February 14, 2020

The Role of Information Experience on IT Professionals’ Twitter Use

  • Bazilah A. Talip EMAIL logo , Bhuva Narayan , Jason Watson and Sylvia Edwards
From the journal Libri

Abstract

Twitter acts as an information gateway as it provides a place where professionals network and share their knowledge. Twitter has increasingly influenced the way people use and share information. However, limited research demonstrates IT professionals’ information experience on Twitter impacts the way they use it for professional purposes. The study aimed to understand how such information experiences impact on the way IT professionals use Twitter for professional purposes. Eleven IT professionals were recruited for this study to understand the participants’ information experience through their own individual perspective, with the data analysed using constructive grounded theory. This study revealed that IT professionals’ information experience plays a vital role in creating professional networking and knowledge sharing in online spaces. These lived experiences influence the way IT professionals use Twitter for professional purposes. Thus, the findings of this study contribute to theoretical perspectives in the understanding of information experience perspectives within Twitter, along with a foundational understanding of the ways in which microblogging is used for professional purposes. The findings can help organisations understand and provide for this emerging channel of professional information sharing for its staff and stakeholders.

References

Boyd, D., S. Golder, and G. Lotan. 2010. “Tweet, Tweet, Retweet: Conversational Aspects of Retweeting on Twitter.” In Papers Presented at the Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Koloa, Kauai, Hawaii.10.1109/HICSS.2010.412Search in Google Scholar

Boyd, D. M., and N. B. Ellison. 2007. “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13 (1): 210–30.10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.xSearch in Google Scholar

Bruce, C., K. Davis, H. Hughes, H. Partridge, and I. Stoodley. 2014. “Information Experience: Contemporary Perspectives.” In Information Experience: Approaches to Theory and Practice, edited by C. Bruce, K. Davis, H. Hughes, H. Partridge, and I. Stoodley, 3–16. UK: Emerald.10.1108/S1876-056220140000010001Search in Google Scholar

Bruns, A. 2011. “Social Media Vital to Modern Emergency Response.” Accessed December 30, 2019. http://www.news.qut.edu.au/cgibin/WebObjects/News.woa/wa/goNewsPage?newsEventID=34597.Search in Google Scholar

Bunce, S., H. Partridge, and K. Davis. 2012. “Exploring Information Experience Using Social Media during the 2011 Queensland Floods: A Pilot Study.” Australian Library Journal 61 (1): 34–45.10.1080/00049670.2012.10722300Search in Google Scholar

Burnett, G., P. T. Jaeger, and K. M. Thompson. 2008. “Normative Behavior and Information: The Social Aspects of Information Access.” Library and Information Science Research 30 (1): 56–66.10.1016/j.lisr.2007.07.003Search in Google Scholar

Burns, V. F., A. Blumenthal, and K. C. Sitter. 2018. “How Twitter is Changing the Meaning of Scholarly Impact and Engagement: Implications for Qualitative Social Work Research.” Qualitative Social Work 1–14.10.1177/1473325018811479Search in Google Scholar

Chae, S. W., Y. W. Seo, and K. C. Lee. 2011. An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of IT Professionals’ Emotional Dissonance on Creativity Revelation Processes and Individual Creativity. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.10.1007/978-3-642-27210-3_21Search in Google Scholar

Charmaz, K. 2006. Constructing Grounded Theory. London: Sage Publications, Inc.10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosg070Search in Google Scholar

Cohen, D. 2017. “LinkedIn Users: Professional Networking Is important, but … 38 Percent of LinkedIn Users Surveyed Said They Find It Difficult to Stay in Touch with Their Networks.” Accessed December 30, 2019. https://www.adweek.com/digital/linkedin-professional-networking-survey/.Search in Google Scholar

Counts, S., and K. E. Fisher. 2010. “Mobile Social Networking as Information Ground: A Case Study.” Library & Information Science Research 32: 98–115.10.1016/j.lisr.2009.10.003Search in Google Scholar

Ebner, M., C. Lienhardt, M. Rohs, and I. Meye. 2010. “Microblogs in Higher Education - A Chance to Facilitate Informal and Process-oriented Learning?” Computers & Education 55: 92–100.10.1016/j.compedu.2009.12.006Search in Google Scholar

Erdelez, S. 1999. “Information Encountering: It’s More Than Just Bumping Into Information.” Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science 25 (3): 25–29.10.1002/bult.118Search in Google Scholar

Erdelez, S. 2000. “Towards Understanding Information Encountering on the Web.” Proceedings of the ASIS Annual Meeting 37: 363–71.Search in Google Scholar

Erdelez, S. 2004. “Investigation of Information Encountering in the Controlled Research Environment.” Information Processing and Management 40 (6): 1013–25.10.1016/j.ipm.2004.02.002Search in Google Scholar

Ference, K. 2012. “Hackathons are Nonsense.” Accessed December 30, 2019. http://blog.beeline.com/software-development/hackathons-are-nonsense/%0A%0A.Search in Google Scholar

Fisher, K. E., J. Durrance, and M. B. Hinton. 2004. “Information Grounds and the Use of Need-based Services by Immigrants in Queens, New York: A Context-based, Outcome Evaluation Approach.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 55 (8): 754–66.10.1002/asi.20019Search in Google Scholar

Fisher, K. E., and C. M. Naumer. 2006. Information Grounds: Theoretical Basis and Empirical Findings on Information Flow in Social Settings. Netherlands: Springer.Search in Google Scholar

Forlizzi, J., and K. Battarbee. 2004. “Understanding Experience in Interactive Systems.” In Paper Presented at the Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, and Techniques. Cambridge, MA, USA.10.1145/1013115.1013152Search in Google Scholar

Foster, A., and N. Ford. 2003. “Serendipity and Information Seeking: An Empirical Study.” Journal of Documentation 59 (3): 321–40.10.1108/00220410310472518Search in Google Scholar

Gerstein, J. 2011. “The Use of Twitter for Professional Growth and Development.” International Journal on E-Learning 10 (3): 273–76.Search in Google Scholar

Glaser, B. G. 1998. Doing Grounded Theory: Issues and Discussions. Mill Valley, Calif: Sociology Press.Search in Google Scholar

Gu, F., and G. Widen-Wulff. 2011. “Scholarly Communication and Possible Changes in the Context of Social Media: A Finnish Case Study.” The Electronic Library 29 (6): 762–76.10.1108/02640471111187999Search in Google Scholar

Hughes, D. J., M. Rowe, M. Batey, and A. Lee. 2012. “A Tale of Two Sites: Twitter Vs. Facebook and the Personality Predictors of Social Media Usage.” Computers in Human Behavior 28: 561–69.10.1016/j.chb.2011.11.001Search in Google Scholar

Jansen, B. J., M. Zhang, K. Sobel, and A. Chowdury. 2009. “Twitter Power: Tweets as Electronic Word of Mouth.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 60 (11): 2169–88.10.1002/asi.21149Search in Google Scholar

Jones, W., H. Bruce, and S. Dumais. 2001. “Keeping Found Things Found on the Web.” In International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management, Proceedings, 119–26.Search in Google Scholar

Kirk, J. 2002. “Theorising Information Use: Managers and Their Work.” Accessed December 30, 2019. http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/research/handle/2100/309.Search in Google Scholar

Kuhlthau, C. C. 1999. “The Role of Experience in the Information Search Process of an Early Career Information Worker: Perceptions of Uncertainty, Complexity, Construction, and Sources.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science 50 (5): 399–412.10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(1999)50:5<399::AID-ASI3>3.0.CO;2-LSearch in Google Scholar

Lakshminarayanan, B. 2010. Towards Developing an Integrated Model of Information Behaviour. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland University of Technology.Search in Google Scholar

Lupton, D. 2012. “A Sociologist’s Adventures in Social Media Land.” Accessed December 30, 2019. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2012/09/10/lupton-sociologist-adventures-social-media/.Search in Google Scholar

Marwick, A. E. 2013. “Ethnographic and Qualitative Research on Twitter.” In Twitter and Society, edited by K. Weller, A. Bruns, C. Puschmann, J. Burgess, and M. Mahrt, 109–22. New York: Peter Lang.Search in Google Scholar

Marwick, A. E., and D. Boyd. 2011. “I Tweet honestly, I Tweet Passionately: Twitter Users, Context Collapse, and the Imagined Audience.” New Media and Society 13 (1): 114–33.10.1177/1461444810365313Search in Google Scholar

Mewburn, I. 2012. “Who Is Igner?” http://thesiswhisperer.com/other-writing-byinger/.Search in Google Scholar

Nalumaga, R., and L. Seldén. 2014. “Information Experiences of Female Legislators: Examining Constituency Activities and Representation in the Ugandan Parliament.” In Information Experience: Approaches to Theory and Practice, edited by C. Bruce, H. Davis, H. Hughes, H. Partridge, and I. Stoodley, 221–38. UK: Emerald.10.1108/S1876-056220140000010011Search in Google Scholar

Narayan, B. 2013. “From Everyday Information Behaviours to Clickable Solidarity in a Place Called Social Media.” Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 5 (3): 32–53.Search in Google Scholar

Narayan, B., B. A. Talip, J. Watson, and S. Edwards. 2013. Social Media as Online Information Grounds: A Preliminary Conceptual Framework. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) (Vol. 8279 LNCS). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03599-4_15.10.1007/978-3-319-03599-4_15Search in Google Scholar

Pilerot, O., and L. Limberg. 2011. “Information Sharing as A Means to Reach Collective Understanding: A Study of Design Scholars’ Information Practices.” Journal of Documentation 67 (2): 312–33.10.1108/00220411111109494Search in Google Scholar

Power, A. 2015. “Twitter’s Potential to Enhance Professional Networking.” British Journal of Midwifery 23 (1): 65–67.10.12968/bjom.2015.23.1.65Search in Google Scholar

Reddy, V. 2014. “Information Experience in the Context of Information Seeking Methods by Prospective Students.” In Information Experience: Approaches to Theory and Practice, edited by C. Bruce, K. Davis, H. Hughes, H. Partridge, and I. Stoodley, 295–312. Emerald.10.1108/S1876-056220140000010015Search in Google Scholar

Richards, M. G., and J. M. Morse. 2006. User’s Guide to Qualitative Methods, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage.Search in Google Scholar

Samarawickrama, S., S. Karunasekera, A. Harwood, and R. Kotagiri. 2017. “Search Result Personalization in Twitter Using Neural Word Embeddings.” In Big Data Analytics and Knowledge Discovery: 19th International Conference, DaWaK 2017, Lyon, France, August 28-31, 2017, 244–58.Search in Google Scholar

Schultz-Jones, B. 2009. “Examining Information Behavior Through Social Networks: An Interdisciplinary Review.” Journal of Documentation 65 (4): 592–631.10.1108/00220410910970276Search in Google Scholar

Shaw, F., J. Burgess, K. Crawford, and A. Bruns. 2013. “Sharing news, Making Sense, Saying Thanks: Patterns of Talk on Twitter during the Queensland Floods.” Australian Journal of Communication 40 (1): 23–39.Search in Google Scholar

Sheehan, C. 2013. “How are Professors Embracing Social Media?” Accessed December 30, 2019. https://teachonline.asu.edu/2013/03/how-are-professors-embracing-social-media/.Search in Google Scholar

Shklovski, I., L. Palen, and J. Sutton. 2008. “Finding Community through Information and Communication Technology during Disaster Events.” In Paper presented at the Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW,San Diego, California, USA.10.1145/1460563.1460584Search in Google Scholar

Sonnenwald, D. H. 1999. “Evolving Perspectives of Human Information Behavior: Contexts, Situations, Social Networks and Information Horizons.” In Exploring the Contexts of Information Behaviour, edited by T. Wilson, and D. Allen, 179–90. London: Taylor Graham.Search in Google Scholar

Starbird, K., L. Palen, A. L. Hughes, and S. Vieweg. 2010. “Chatter on the Red: What Hazards Threat Reveals about the Social Life of Microblogged Information.” Paper Presented at the Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW.10.1145/1718918.1718965Search in Google Scholar

Stieglitz, S., and L. Dang-Xuan. 2016. “Emotions and Information Diffusion in Social Media - Sentiment of Microblogs and Sharing Behavior.” Journal of Management Information Systems 29 (4): 217–47.10.2753/MIS0742-1222290408Search in Google Scholar

Stoodley, I. 2009. IT Professionals’ Experience of Ethics and Its Implications for IT Education. Doctor of Philosophy. Australia: Queensland University of Technology Brisbane.Search in Google Scholar

Talip, B. A. 2015. “IT Professionals’ Information Behaviour on Twitter.” LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal 25 (2): 86–102.Search in Google Scholar

Van Den Hoonaard, W. C. 2008. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods Interand Intracoder Reliability. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.Search in Google Scholar

Webber, S. 2013. “Blended Information Behaviour in Second Life.” Journal of Information Science 39 (1): 85–100.10.1177/0165551512469777Search in Google Scholar

Williamson, K. 1998. “Discovered by Chance: The Role of Incidental Information Acquisition in an Ecological Model of Information Use.” Library and Information Science Research 20 (1): 23–40.10.1016/S0740-8188(98)90004-4Search in Google Scholar

Yates, C., and H. Partridge. 2015. “Citizens and Social Media in Times of Natural Disaster: Exploring Information Experience.” Information Research 20 (1).Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2016-06-09
Accepted: 2019-02-14
Published Online: 2020-02-14
Published in Print: 2020-03-26

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 25.4.2024 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/libri-2018-0096/html
Scroll to top button