How and Why People Twitter: The Role
that Micro-blogging Plays in Informal Communication
at Work
Dejin Zhao
Pennsylvania State University
316C IST Building
University Park, PA 16802
(001) 814-222-2889
dzhao@ist.psu.edu
Mary Beth Rosson
Pennsylvania State University
330D IST Building
University Park, PA 16802
(001) 814-863-2478
mrosson@ist.psu.edu

ABSTRACT
Micro-blogs, a relatively new phenomenon, provide a new com-
munication channel for people to broadcast information that they
likely would not share otherwise using existing channels (e.g.,
email, phone, IM, or weblogs). Micro-blogging has become popu-
lar quite quickly, raising its potential for serving as a new informal
communication medium at work, providing a variety of impacts
on collaborative work (e.g., enhancing information sharing, build-
ing common ground, and sustaining a feeling of connectedness
among colleagues). This exploratory research project is aimed at
gaining an in-depth understanding of how and why people use
Twitter – a popular micro-blogging tool - and exploring micro-
blog’s potential impacts on informal communication at work.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
J.4 SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
General Terms:
Human Factors
Keywords
Micro-blog, Twitter, Informal Communication
1. INTRODUCTION
Informal communication often consists of unplanned and brief
“catching-up” conversations among employees in organizations
(e.g., water-cooler conversations; [15]). Researchers have sug-
gested that informal communication at work may play important
roles for collaborative work and organizational innovation. It sup-
ports sharing of work-relevant information among employees; co-
ordination of group activities; creating potential collaboration
opportunities; and social functions such as transmission of office
culture and maintenance of common ground and a feeling of con-
nectedness between co-workers [14,15,19,29]. Through the emer-
gence and use of computer-mediated communication technologies
(CMC), communication patterns have shifted from primarily face-
to-face to significant use of online computer-mediated communi-
cation. However, even though CMC has expanded the possibilities
for staying in touch with collaborators and thereby increasing
productivity, workers continue to suffer from time-famine and
have little opportunity for informal exchange with each other,
especially with those outside their daily work activities [21].
Researchers studying informal communication have been seeking
ways to increase the chances of informal conversations at work.
For instance, media richness theory and social presence theory
suggest that social cues are beneficial in promoting spontaneous
conversations and that we should be able to design systems that
make better use of such cues [15,25]. Tool designs guided by the-
ory were helpful for increasing social presences among co-
workers [8,25], however, few empirical studies have yet shown
significant impacts of increased social cues in CMC systems on
leading to promote impromptu conversations and informal ex-
changes [24]. More recent efforts have shifted the emphasis to
social software in organizations, including corporate blogs
[7,11,12], social tagging [18,23], and social networking sites [5].
Micro-blogging, enabled by a variety of online social networking
tools (e.g., Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, and Facebook), refers to the
activity that users broadcast brief text updates about small little
things happening in their daily life and work activities, such as
what they are reading, thinking, and experiencing [17]. Micro-
blogging is used to achieve a wide variety of social purposes and
has been quickly gaining popularity as an option for online social
networking. In Twitter.com, people update their daily life activi-
ties with friends, families, and co-workers; share information,
news, and opinions with interested observers; and seek knowledge
and expertise in public tweets [13,17]. Emotionally, people seem
to use micro-blogging to achieve a level of cyberspace presence,
being “out there” and to feel another layer of connection with
friends and the world [17]. The increasingly popular use of micro-
blogging for lightweight communication in the world of social
computing makes it a candidate media for informal communica-
tion at work.
However, micro-blogs are still a relatively new phenomenon in
online social networking, and have received little scholarly atten-
tion as yet. In particular, there is no solid understanding of how
and why people micro-blog, and there is no research studying the
potential impacts of micro-blogging on informal communication
at work. The exploratory study reported in this paper takes a step
in this direction, seeking to build a rich understanding of why

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people use micro-blogs and exploring how the characteristics of
their micro-blogging behaviors enable informal communication.
2. BENEFITS OF INFORMAL
COMMUNICATION
As mentioned in the prior section, scholars studying informal
communication in work settings have emphasized that informal
exchanges in opportunistic conversations (e.g., water-cooler con-
versations) among employees in organizations play an important
role in organizations’ success and provide a variety of potential
benefits supporting for collaborative work [14,15,19,25]. We have
organized the benefits discussed for informal communication into
relational and personal beneficial consequences (Figure 1). The
relational consequences capture the effects that informal commu-
nication may have on two persons’ relationship and their future
interpersonal activities (e.g., collaborative work). This consists of
building person perceptions of each other, developing common
ground, and sustaining a feeling of connectedness with one an-
other. The personal consequences capture the benefits that infor-
mal communication’s may have for one’s personal interests and
goals (e.g., information and knowledge gained for one’s profes-
sion and other personal interests; serendipitous collaboration op-
portunities). In this section, we review relevant theories in inter-
personal communication and social-psychology to expand the
theoretical conceptions behind this simple framework.
2.1 Relational Benefits
2.1.1 Person perception
In brief, knowing what others have been doing and thinking and
what new things may have happened or are now happening to
them may help one to develop more accurate person perceptions
of others (e.g., knowing people’s competence, personality, behav-
ioral characteristics). Person perception is an important factor for
people making decisions in interactions with others, such as seek-
ing collaborators for joint projects [15]. Social cognition scholars
believe that reality is too complex to fully discern, and that we
understand the world according to simplified schemas or images
of reality [2]. Instead of weighing all the evidence when making a
decision, people tend to build a background perception on others
and rely on heuristics to save time and energy [6]. In these proc-
esses, vivid or highly memorable possibilities are more useful than
those that are harder to picture or difficult to remember [2].
Through opportunistic conversations in informal communication,
people often hear stories about each other’s experiences and
thoughts, which may produce a more memorable set of informa-
tion to use in constructing schemas about others. Keeping aware
of others’ personal life updates may help update people’s schemas
and build a background perception about a person.
2.1.2 Common ground
Common ground refers to mutual understanding among communi-
cators about a fact. Clark’s definition of common ground [3] sug-
gests that a proposition P is common ground only if all the people
conversing know P; and they all know that they all know P. (e.g., I
know that you know that I am not a native English speaker). Clark
suggested that common ground can be built through a grounding
process in conversations, and proposed that conversants seek to
minimize communication effort, which in turn motivates them to
develop common ground. The extent to which conversants have
developed common ground in previous interactions may affect the
efficiency of future communication. In this sense, informal catch-
ing-up conversations between colleagues may help to increase
awareness of updates about each other, so as to better create and
maintain common ground.
2.1.3 Connectedness
As previous literature has suggested, informal communication
may lead to feelings of intimacy and connectedness between col-
leagues [19]. This positive emotional feeling that one has for an-
other may be important for future interactions and collaboration
(e.g., seeking information or help someone at work). Interpersonal
attraction theory from social psychology may help to explain how
informal communication may produce such emotional effects
(e.g., intimacy and liking). Interpersonal attraction refers to all of
the forces that lead people to like each other, establish relation-
ships, and in some cases, fall in love. Several general principles
[2] have been discovered by researchers in this area; these include
physical proximity, familiarity (i.e., exposure to others’ personal
life happenings), and similarity (e.g., similar attitudes, experi-
ences, and other traits).
Informal communication may promote feelings of liking another
person based on these three principles. Though it may not increase
the physical proximity with others who are not in our daily work
or life activities, it may lead to virtual feelings of proximity (i.e.,
being there, still there [22]). Keeping in touch with colleagues
may increase the chances of sharing personal life updates, and
may raise the possibilities for discovering similar experiences and
attitudes (e.g., places both have visited, similar reactions to cur-
rent events).
2.2 Personal Benefits
Informal communication with people at work (both related and
unrelated to active projects) can lead to acquisition of valuable
information that is beneficial for one’s personal work goals. For
example, keeping in touch with co-workers from different busi-
ness units may help employees acquire new information and
knowledge about their professions, gain different perspectives for
their own jobs, and even discover new collaboration opportunities
[14,15,25].
Scholars studying social networks have suggested that a greater
proportion of novel information flows to individuals through weak
than through strong ties. This is not only because novel (and thus
potentially more valuable) information is more likely to be gained
from people outside our daily activities [9,10], but also that rapid
feelings of mutual trust - called ‘swift’ trust - are more likely to
form in weak tie interactions [16]. Weak ties are the most com-
mon social relationships that people have in their personal social
networks. Thus an increased level of informal communication
Informal
Communication
Beneficial consequences
Relational Benefits (person
perception, common ground,
and connectedness)
Personal Benefits (valuable
information to personal
interests/goals)

Figure 1. Proposed benefits of informal communication
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