Theorizing Twitter Chat

Abstract

Drawing on sociological, psychological and pedagogic theories, this article offers a conceptualisation of Twitter and Twitter chats as a continuous multilogue within communities of practice and/or communities of interest (CoP and CoI).This article examines the collapsing and increasingly overlapping boundaries of formal and informal education and locates Twitter chats within this overlapping area. Furthermore, conceptualising Twitter interactions as multilogue conversations, the article offers an object relational conception of knowledge, knowledge generation, and learning and a dynamic interpretation of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and the notion of More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) to offer a theorisation and pedagogic perspective in relation to Twitter and Twitter chats.The article concludes by considering some of the implications of such a theorisation for individual and professional identity, learning and pedagogy.