User:Danielle stone/My sandbox

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging site. This online phenomenon allows people to share their thoughts with their peers/followers or general public by writing a tweet, or a short message. It was created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey.

=Technological Infrastructure=

Introduction
Tiers describe the different layers and levels of information used in displaying content or advertisements. There are three tiers: the presentation tier, the processing tier, and the data tier. Tiers are usually described as going from being closest to the user all the way to the farthest.

Discussion
Presentation Tier: The display and the user interface, or what the user interacts with. It is located on the browser. It allows for the display of information through the use of HTML. In order for there to be a webpage to display, the browser receives the page from the server which is considered a part of the processing tier. The presentation tier is the tier closest to the user.

Processing Tier: What the computer does. It processes what the user wants to see. It acts like a switchboard between the presentation tier and data tier, constantly moving information back and forth. The processing tier receives its information from the data tier and then processes and manipulates the data into a webpage which is sent to the presentation tier.

Data Tier: Stores information from the site. This is where all the back end data of the users is stored as in the case with Facebook. Information is retrieved from this tier in order to be displayed. This is the tier furthest from the user.

Introduction
A feature is the user interface and procedure of a function. In simple terms, it is what the user interacts with in order to make something happen. These are what we have to deemed to be the major functions of Twitter.

Tweeting
Tweeting allows individuals to say what's on their mind 24/7. Not only do they get to say what's on their mind, others can see what's on their mind as well. This feature occurs when one follows anothers twitter user, which gives them full access to each other's tweets. Once one logs on to Twitter, the user interface makes it easy to post a tweet. At the top of the page there is a box that says "What's Happening?" and that is where the tweet is created. When the user is satisfied with the tweet, the user clicks the "tweet" button and voila, the tweet is published to the world. The experienced tweeters use things called hash tags which is what one does whey they are referencing something. Some of the popular hash tags include #swag, #thatawkwardmomentwhen, #sororitygirlproblems, and #firstworldproblems. There are plenty of hash tags that people could reference but one must keep in mind that every tweet is limited to 140 characters per tweet. The algorithm or purpose for tweeting is to update statuses and to let the world know what is on one's mind.

Retweeting
Retweeting is like sharing, one often does this when they find something of someone else's that they wish to share with their friends and followers. It is not your original thoughts, but more so what you deem to be the best or worthy of reposting from another person's Twitter account. The retweet option is clearly visible on every tweet, it can be seen at the foot of the message along with several other options. There is a tab that leads to the retweeting homepage, and it can be found at the top of most pages along with the other major Twitter functions. On this page it keeps a log of every retweet that has to do specifically with you - the ones you have personally created, and the ones others have authored stemming from your twitter account. In this way it links tweets together where retweets are the items being linked. This is a common feature among most modern-day social networking sites.

Mashable.com - "HOW TO: Retweet on Twitter"

Following
Following on Twitter allows one to follow other people’s Twitter accounts. By following a person, you will be subscribing to their updates. You will be able to view the person's updates on your Timeline on your Twitter homepage. You can follow anyone you want from your friends to celebrities to food trucks to stores, and anyone can follow you. To follow someone is really simple. You just have to click the follow button. The follow button appears on the person’s profile page or next to their username when you click "Who to Follow" or when you search the person. When the follow button is clicked, it means the browser (client) sent a request to the server to allow the following to start. The server processes the request by retrieving information from the data tier. The server creates the page that will be displayed. The browser receives the page and displays it for you to see. Basically, once you press the follow button and return to your homepage, all the person’s updates will be there for you to see. On the top right sidebar of the Twitter homepage, it will let you know how many users you're following and how many users are following you.

Tweettop.com - All the top "Tweets", all the time!

Trending Topic
Trends on Twitter allow a user to see what everyone else in the Twitter-sphere is buzzing about. Trending topics are words, phrases, or a topic that is tweeted (and retweeted) about multiple times by multiple people on Twitter. Sometimes trending topics will be prefixed by a pound sign (#) or better known on Twitter as a "hashtag" and then followed by a word or short phrase with no spaces in between. Basically anything can be made into a trending topic, examples include #FML and #firstworldproblems. Things going on in pop culture often influence trending topics as well. During important sports games team names or players names may trend, during an award show winner's names may trend, during holidays a greeting may trend, celebrities like Justin Bieber are always trending, and top news headlines may be trending. Users can see the top trending topics globally, nationally, and even in a specific city. By typing in a trending topic into the search bar, a user can see all tweets that contain that specific topic. Organization and modeling of information is listed below.

Twitpic-ing
"Twitpic-ing" is Twitter's lingo for sharing pictures. Similar to "tweets", people who are following you will view your twitpics on their live feed. On your homepage, twitpic-ing can be done by clicking on the camera icon on your tweet box. There, you can select a file from your computer and also tweet a comment about the picture. Once the twitpic is posted, the picture also can be accessed again at your recent images in a sequenced gallery. Users can upload pictures from their mobile phones by using platforms such as yfrog, twitgoo, and instagram which link to twitter. Twitpic-ing as explained earlier acts essentially like a link, linking peoples profiles together through the use of pictures.

Direct Message
Messaging allows one to send direct messages to another person that is following you. It is a way to communicate between different people. Messaging is displayed on the top of the browser along with the other major functions on twitter. The user interface allows the user to click on the messaging tab and brings the user to another page where they can input a message of some sort to someone they wish to communicate with. They will then click a submit button to send the message. In algorithmic language, the browser or client realizes that the user have clicked on the messaging button and fetches the page where messaging is done by sending a request to the server. The server then grants the request and loads the page. After typing in the message and click submit, it realizes that the message is ready to be sent to whomever the user wishes to communicate to. In this way it acts basically like a link. It brings the user to another page in order to have contact and link with another person. This can either be done synchronously or asynchronously, but in most cases it is usually the latter. Messaging in itself is an attribute because it takes one directly to the messaging screen where one types in their specific message, which would be the value. Words or sentences for messaging would be the value pattern.

=Information Infrastructure=

Info Model



 * on the diagram: value patterns on the table includes VALUES and VALUE PATTERNS.

Introduction
An information model is the structure of information.

Types (as well as relationships between them)
 * Attributes
 * Values
 * Value Patterns


 * Item

Introduction
The information model can be broken down into types, attributes, values, and items. The broadest topic is a type, which is similar to that of a species of animal. The next level down is the items, which is analogous to a species of animal. Below that is the attributes which are like the general characteristics and finally values which are the specific characteristics. There are also relationships between types, meaning that types can be related to one another.

Profile
Profile (Types) --> specific user profile (Item) --> full name, user name, followers (attributes) -->text (letters), text (letters and numbers), numbers, text of follower user names (Values)

One thing that every twitter user has is a profile. Profiles allow other users to accept information all about the specific user. All of the specific user's activity is shown or linked somewhere on this page. Profiles can be customized and edited by the user at any time. The information type of profile shows other information that directly is related to the user. Some attributes of the profile are tweets, favorites, followers, following, lists, biography, user name, full name, and recent images.

Tweets
Tweets (Type) --> Specific Tweet (Item) --> User, text, profile picture, time/date, references (Attributes) --> User name (Value)

The most common info type on Twitter is the tweets because tweets are the main function of Twitter. Tweets are Twitter updates; they are filled with any kind of information that people want to share to the world. In the information model, Tweets would be the information type. It is the information type because it contains several attributes and values that pertain to a tweet. It is just the general idea of a tweet. If you were to pick out one specific tweet, it would be the information item because it has a specific value pattern that makes it different from other Tweets. Attributes for a tweet include the username, user’s profile picture, the time, any references, and the text. The values would be the specific details of the attributes such as text or pictures. Each value follows a value pattern; a value pattern is a guideline for how each value should be structured.

Messages
Varying messages (Types) --> Specific message (Item) --> Author/recipient(s), text, add-on(s) (Attributes) --> Specifics of message ex. Cole to Shane, Times New Roman font, Picture of Shane and I (Values)

An example of an information type that is commonly found on Twitter are messages. Messages allow direct conversations of either a synchronized or asynchronized nature to occur on a website where that is not the most commonly found form of communication. It is a way to talk to someone without having to worry about the possibility of an unwanted audience. In the structure of an information type, the varying messages qualify as the types, since there is bevy of possible subjects for each and every message. A specific message would then be the item. General attributes of a message include the author/recipient(s), the customization options of the text, and possible add-ons that you would want to include with your tweet. The values are the actual information you plug in to these categories. There is an easily seen relationship among all these things (value patterns).

Trends
Trends Table (Types) --> Trend (Item) --> Username, Tweet, Picture (Attributes) --> specific words said in tweet, attribute, or picture used (Values)

One example of an information type is a trend. A trend is basically a popular search that is posted on the home page. Trends are considered an info type because in a sense it acts like a table. It can also be explained hierarchically. In the trend space or box are a list of different trends for example (#yourethereason). This would be considered and info item because it has a unique set of values that are different from other specific trends. If clicked on, the attributes would be a person’s username, tweet and picture. Value patterns would be the text or images displayed. The values would be the specific things said, the specific username and the picture displayed in the tweet.

NPR - "How Twitter's Trending Algorithm Pick Its Topics"


 * Where Do Trends Come From?
 * Twitter's trending algorithm finds topics that many people suddenly tweet about at once, like new album releases, TV shows on air, celebrity deaths or political gaffes. The hot topics can also appear when many people rush to Twitter to talk about one thing, like an earthquake. But if a lot of people talk about rain, it probably won't make the list since it's a more common occurrence.


 * HP Labs study found that 31 percent of trending topics come from retweets; 72 percent of those originate from around 20 major news sources mostly based in the U.S., UK and Brazil. An outlet like CNN or the BBC might tweet about a breaking story, which gets heavily retweeted until it appears in the trending list where other people continue to talk about it.


 * Hashtags also frequently trend if they're new and haven't been through the algorithm before. Topics can start trending, fall off the list and later reappear when a different set of users discovers the topic later on. They usually only appear for around 40 minutes at a time, but the trending list is such a prime spot for marketers that a promoted space at the top runs $120,000 per day, according to Twitter's director of revenue.


 * — Sara Carothers


 * Source: HP Social Computing Lab

Who to Follow
Suggestions (Types) --> Person, Product, Business (Item) --> Tweets, Following, Followers, Listed, Recent images (Attributes) --> Specific tweets, People following, Individual pictures (Values)

Another example of an information type are the suggestions for who one should follow on Twitter. The items in the suggestions are the people and businesses and products that are being suggested. If you select one of the items, there are a bunch of attributes that correspond to that specific item, in this case a person. Some of those attributes can include recent tweets, who they're following, who's following them, and recent images. Further, if you select one of those attributes, there are values that correspond. For example, the values that correspond to the recent tweets are the specific, individual tweets.
 * See the image for an example of the user interface with each info model present and labeled.

Pictures
Recent Images (Types) --> Photo (Item) --> Views, Events, Location, Tags, Caption (Attributes) --> Number of views, Name of the place the photo was taken, Names of people in the photo, Trending topics related to the photo (Values)

Another information type on twitter is pictures. Users can upload pictures to accompany tweets. Once a user uploads a picture it is stored in an album called "Recent Images." In the information model Recent Images is the info type because it holds all of the pictures. The individual photos are considered the item and the attributes are everything that has to do with the background of the photo. This includes how many views the photo gets, and the specifics on where the picture was taken, who it was taken with, and what the photo has to pertain to. The values are the specific details of the attributes. The values and attributes of a photo can be seen by clicking on the picture, from which you will be redirected to a new page where you can see the photo with an accompanying tweet and information on the photo.

Introduction
Organizational structures are the archetypes for organizing not only information on the World wide Web, but for much of the world's common databases such as a library, book or file. There are four common types that are widely used in various situations. They are hierarchy, index, sequence, and links.

Introduction
A hierarchy is like a table of contents in the sense that it gives order to something. For example, if you consider a family tree, you have your parents which then splits to you and your siblings, then their grandchildren and so on and so forth. It breaks down the high ranked people, in this case the oldest, by subcategories.

Examples
Twitter Developers

The Twitter's Developers page is the one of the only pages on Twitter that includes a hierarchy, well that we could find. The drop down menu for the Documentation tab on the top bar is an example of a hierarchy because it has a bunch of subheading which are organized in a list, like a table of contents.
 * To see an example of this, see the image to the right!

Introduction
An index is an alphabetical or numerical list of terms.

Examples
Twitter has one many index in the help center called the Twitter Glossary. The Twitter Glossary is an alphabetical list of terms that explain certain features on the website and also slang/lingo that twitter users often use. Also, if you need more of an explanation than the definition, the Twitter Glossary has pages devoted to explain a term further.

Introduction
A sequence is basically a list that is not in alphabetical or numerical order. It can be related to a story plot; It is a chaining of events from start to finish, with only two connections or links.

Examples
Who to Follow

Who to follow is a sequence because it appears in order of importance, or in order of what the user should see. In this case, user profiles (or info types in information modeling language), interests and suggestions are being organized, based on what the user knows or is most similar to. It is an info type because each profile, suggestion, or interest can be broken down into attributes and values. It may not be very accurate, but for knowing little about you it can predict a lot.

Timeline

The Timeline on Twitter is an example of a sequence in itself. It is a chronological log of all your doings and all things related to you on Twitter. It helps you and others keep track of your activity on the website, and is just another way for you to keep in touch with all things Twitter-related. The Timeline enables you to keep a precise account of everything related to you specifically on Twitter, it is a dashboard of sorts and a handy way to insure an accurate report of your participation in the Twitter-sphere.

Introduction
A link takes you to another site or page. It acts as a connection from one piece of information to another.

Examples
Trending topics

Trending topics is an example of links. There is a hypertext that you can click on which will lead you to another page. Trending topics are the most popular topics being tweeted about worldwide. On the sidebar of your Twitter homepage, you will see some of the current trending topics. There are more that can be viewed by clicking the link "View All." Each trending topic is a hypertext which allows you to click on it and you will be directed to another page which shows all updates that include that trending topic. The info types that are being organized are the trending topics themselves. Each specific topic is an information item. The usability of this function is simple. It is easy to find since it is on the right sidebar of your Twitter homepage. The organizational structure works nicely for trending topics. If you're interested in what people had to say about a trending topic, all you would have to do is click on the link and it directs you to a page filled with updates relating to that topic.

Mentions

Twitter allows users to tag other people with twitter accounts by mentioning their name in their tweets. By simply typing an @ symbol followed by the username of the person whom you with to mention you can put a link to that persons profile in your tweet. Once the tweet is on someone's twitter feed users can click on the username of the mentioned user and immediately be directed to their profile.