Technology Enabled Learning & Teaching @ UNSW

the sum total of those tweets added up to something truly substantive, like a suspension bridge made of pebbles

The technology writer Clive Thompson calls this "ambient awareness": by following these quick, abbreviated status reports from members of your extended social network, you get a strangely satisfying glimpse of their daily routines. We don't think it at all moronic to start a phone call with a friend by asking how her day is going. Twitter gives you the same information without your even having to ask.