To tweet or not to tweet…

Posted on 05/05/201406/05/2014 by lucasdacosta

Avantages et désavantages de Twitter

Les étudiants de la première année du Master en histoire européenne contemporaine de l’Université du Luxembourg se sont penchés sur les pros & contras du réseau social Twitter. Ses vertus sont synthétiquement mises en avant, tout comme ses défauts.

Initialement, Twitter était perçu comme un Facebook limité au statut personnel, donnant la possibilité à chacun de ses utilisateurs de publier des instantanés de leur vie à chaque moment. Une habitude héritée de la vogue du blogging, apparue en 2004. Twitter a été défini dès le départ comme un outil de microblogging, plutôt taillé pour la communication instantanée. Instantanéité, temps réel, les deux mantras de Twitter qui bouleversent considérablement le monde de la communication.

Le dernier logo de Twitter lancé le 6 juin 2012

Selon Wikipedia, Twitter est un « outil de réseau social et microblogage qui permet à un utilisateur d’envoyer gratuitement de brefs messages, appelés tweets (« gazouillis ») sur Internet, par messagerie instantanée ou par SMS. Ces messages sont limités à cent quarante caractères ».

La recette de Twitter semble simple : une alchimie entre individus qui échangent en continu au fil des heures sur tous les sujets possibles et imaginables, sans hiérarchie, sans tabous, sans contrainte autre que la limite des cent quarante caractères que peut contenir un message. Twitter permet à tout le monde de réagir à propos de tout à tout moment.

Le premier tweet fut envoyé le 21 mars 2004 par Jack Dorsey, un des créateurs du site de microblogging. En février 2012, Twitter a franchi le cap des 500 millions d’utilisateurs. Le 7 novembre 2013, Twitter fait son entrée en bourse.

Un réseau social comme les autres ou un outil utile ?

Comme le font remarquer les étudiants du master, Twitter n’est pas la seule plateforme offrant l’interaction sociale sur le web. Dans un monde où les tendances changent rapidement, tout système risque de perdre sa popularité selon les évolutions techniques ou les effets de mode.

Twitter est actuellement très utilisé par les « célébrités », ce qui pousse leurs « fans » à s’y inscrire. Le réseau social est également très prisé chez les journalistes et les politiques. La réélection de Barack Obama à la Maison Blanche le 6 novembre 2012 est une étape supplémentaire franchie dans l’appropriation de Twitter par les politiques. En un tweet accompagné d’une photo de lui-même enlaçant sa femme, Michelle, avec un message laconique : « Four more Years », Obama a non seulement annoncé sa réélection de façon élégante, mais a en plus battu à l’époque le record du message le plus retweeté de l’histoire récente de Twitter ! Plus de 500.000 RT (retweets) en quelques heures.

Le tweet de Barack Obama lors de son élection le 6 novembre 2012

Le record a été battu lors de la cérémonie des Oscars en 2014 à travers d’un désormais connu « selfie » qui quant à lui fut retweeté plus de 3,3 millions de fois. En ce qui concerne le tweet d’Obama, les dirigeants politiques du monde entier avaient adressé leurs félicitations au président américain à partir de leur compte Twitter.

En France, l’affaire du célèbre tweet de Valérie Trierweiler fit couler beaucoup d’encre. Lors des élections législatives de juin 2012, Valérie Trierweiler, alors compagne de François Hollande, président de la République, envoya un message de soutien à l’adversaire de Ségolène Royale, ex-femme de François Hollande. Ce dernier avait pourtant manifesté son soutien à Ségolène Royale. Le tweet a fini par être supprimé, mais le mal était fait. Cela démontre la force de twitter et nous met en garde contre son côté irréversible. Par erreur, un simple tweet peut atteindre des millions d’internautes et provoquer quelques émois.

Le tweet de Valérie Trierweiler (ancienne compagne de François Hollande) qui causa beaucoup de malaise au sommet de l’Etat français

Les étudiants du Master en histoire européenne contemporaine mettent aussi en évidence le côté didactique de Twitter. Ils citent comme exemple le compte @RealTimeWW1 créé par leur collègues de l’an dernier et inspiré du compte @RealTimeWW2. Dans les deux cas, on y découvre les deux guerres mondiales en temps réel à travers des tweets basés sur des sources fiables. Il existe un grand nombre de comptes thématiques et à caractère didactique sur Twitter.

Néanmoins, Twitter peut aussi présenter quelques inconvénients. Nos données personnelles peuvent être saisies par des hackers et notre identité usurpée. Twitter peut également faciliter la circulation de virus. Pour les utilisateurs plus effrénés, Twitter peut devenir une addiction. Ce microblogging peut se révéler une source de distraction et avoir un impact négatif sur notre travail.

D’une manière générale, Twitter présente plus d’avantages que d’inconvénients. Tout dépend de l’usage que chacun lui prête. Toutefois, Twitter et autres réseaux sociaux ne devraient jamais se substituer à une vie sociale normale. Surtout, il convient de garder à l’esprit le fait qu’une fois émis, le message nous échappe, qu’il sera amplifié, parfois détourné et déformé, suscitant des réactions d’enthousiasme, de haine et de mépris.

Des Tweets qui auraient fait histoire

Et si Twitter était plus vieux qu’il ne l’est réellement ? Et s’il avait accompagné l’histoire tout au long des derniers siècles. Comment auraient tweeté nos ancêtres ? En faisaint appel à notre culture générale, imaginons quelques tweets qui sans doute auraient fait histoire:

@MartinLutherKIng : I have a #dream #civilrights

@JFK: Ich bin ein #Berliner

@NeilArmstrong: One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind #WalkingOnTheMoon

@LouisXIV: L’Etat c’est moi #RoiSoleil

@General_de_Gaulle: Paris ! Paris outragé ! Paris brisé ! Paris martyrisé ! Mais #Paris libérée !

@LouisXVI : C’est une révolte ? #PrisedelaBastille

@LaRochefoucauld: Non sire, ce n’est pas une révolte, c’est une révolution ! #PrisedelaBastille

@GeorgeW.Bush : Je sais que l’être humain et le poisson peuvent coexister pacifiquement #aphorismes

@GeorgeW.Bush : Je veux simplement que vous compreniez que lorsque nous parlons de guerre, nous parlons vraiment de paix #aphorismes

Review by Nuno LUCAS DA COSTA & Adrien CHETTER of the Master in European Contemporary History, 2nd & 1st year, summer term 2013/2014, University of Luxembourg

Tweeting during World War II

Posted on 15/04/201422/04/2014 by marc.steffen

This article is a composed work of all the ideas gathered in the course ‘WWI goes Twitter’ by the students of the Master in European Contemporary History at the University of Luxembourg about the Twitter account ‘@RealTimeWWII’.

Disclose history to a broader public. That’s what the Twitter account ‘@RealTimeWWII‘ is doing. Hundred thousands of followers confirm the success of the project. But hasn’t it really no limitations at all?

Collinson’s idea

The mastermind behind the Twitter account ‘@RealTimeWWII’ is the Oxford graduate Alwyn Collinson. Collinson’s idea is quite simple. He’s using the micro blog Twitter to tell in real time, ‘live-tweeting’, day by day the history of the Second World War. One goal of Alwyn Collinson is not to educate the followers of ‘@RealTimeWWII’, but to get people interested in history and to show the impact of the war on ordinary actors. By this new approach Collinson moves away from the traditional storytelling of the Second War World, the ‘mass history’, like he calls it.

The focus of his tweets is rather on diaries and letters from eyewitnesses, state documents or speeches held by politicians of the time, like Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill. Which represents often forgotten or even unknown facts about the war. The charm of ‘@RealTimeWWII’ is due to the variety of the topics, like mentioned before, but adding pictures of battlefields, personalities or important events. We should also mention that the tweets aren’t focused only on Europe, but show also what was going on elsewhere, like for example a tweet about Mahatma Gandhi on October 5^th 1941, who calls the Indian population for pacific resistance against the British government fighting for democracy in Europe but repressing India in the same time.

Although Alwyn Collinson’s idea isn’t truly a revolutionary one, like the account of ‘@TWHistory’ with the telling of the battle of Waterloo and the battle of Gettysburg. Nevertheless livetweeting of historical events gained a new dimension with ‘@RealTimeWWII’.

The popularity of ‘@RealTimeWWII’ in numbers

The first tweet was published the 1^st September 2011, but since the account is located in the time of the Second World War, it was published fictionally or should we say literally the 1^st September 1939. At the present day we are already in the year 1942.

Twitter Account ‘@RealTimeWWII’ (18.03.14)

Collinson’s plan is to publish two to six tweets a day and till the present day over 7300 tweets have already been published. Also the number of followers shows us the success of ‘@RealTimeWWII’. In the first month after the creation of the account, ‘@RealTimeWWII’ had already 10.000 followers, by the end of November 2011 140.000 and till the present day over 318.000 followers.

The hip around ‘@RealTimeWWII’ has not only took by success the social network Twitter, showed by the translated versions of this account by voluntaries in some languages like Turkish, French, Arabic and Mandarin. But also due to the Facebook page Real Time World War II. Even if the Facebook page has only a little over 9.800 Likes, ‘@RealTimeWWII’ is represented on the two biggest social networks of our time.

Facebook Page ‘Real Time World War II’ (18.03.14)

What’s hot, what’s not!

Like every website, blog or social network, ‘@RealTimeWWII’ has his ups and downs, his pros and cons. First of all we will start with the pros the account has to offer.

One of the biggest pros is of course the new approach of bringing the history of the Second World War to a huge crowd, academic and non-academic people, young and old followers. This by offering a multitude of subjects like economics, military and social, but also new views that are often forgotten over the time and moreover by the traditional historical narration.

Tweet using a picture

Due to their size, the tweets can be seen as news flashes. The traditional 140 characters for a tweet, can be supported by pictures, videos and links.

The fact that like every other ordinary tweet, the tweets of ‘@RealTimeWWII’ also offer the possibility to be retweeted, makes it possible to reach people who aren’t even following the actual account. By adding a picture or a link to the tweet, followers are even free to give further information about the latest tweet.

Furthermore the tweets reflect a neutral position of the storytelling. There is no aim to be partial for one side or the other. Only the information counts.

After now showing some pros, let us be critical and poke around in an open wound. ‘@RealTimeWWII’ is far from being perfect.

Let’s start with Alwyn Collinson. Apart from knowing that the creator and author Alwyn Collinson (@HistoryReal) is from Great Britain, there are no further information. Only a quick web search allows us to enrich our knowledge about Mr. Collinson. By our research we’ve found out that Mr. Collinson is a marketing manager of an Oxford journal and that he’s doing all the work by himself. Although Collinson writes his tweets a few days before posting them with SocialOomph, a webservice which posts the tweets you have submitted earlier, by the time and date you’ve entered. Nevertheless it still remains a huge work to do. Posting two to six tweets, or even more every day, is a hell of a job and we are not talking about a period of weeks but years. Will Mr. Collinson be able to stay sharp or will ‘@RealTimeWWII’ disappear before the end of the Second World War?

Another question is where does Alwyn Collinson get all the informations? The first tweets were based on books and Google researches. After a while some followers started to add further informations, like articles from magazines, links to websites and blogs, etc. to his tweets. But what about now? Well now, we can speak about every academics’ and historians’ nightmare, which is: there are no source indications.

Even if the aim is to tell a global story of the Second World War, the main focus still remains on Europe. Of course we are now in November 1941 during the Nazi regime’s ‘Operation Barbarossa’ in the USSR territory. Thus the United States isn’t playing a big role until now, but will he really manage to represent the whole world via his tweets?

Our conclusion: a new way to educate

The idea of using Twitter to tell a particular episode of history, in this case the Second World War, isn’t new but still catchy. ‘@RealTimeWWII’ is a quick way to get the informations, informations often forgotten or lost by a huge number of people. The way of telling the Second World War is fun but still educative, even if this wasn’t the main goal of the project. ‘@RealTimeWWII’ clearly shows how social networks can be used in a scientific way.

The restricted size of the tweets can be seen as nor a good, nor a bad thing. Every user has to decide, on his or her own, what should or shouldn’t be mentioned with the next tweet. The same can be highlighted, regarding the fact that there are no sources indications.

Despite a few cons, ‘@RealTimeWWII’ has a lot to offer, which the number of followers shows and stands for his popularity.

The Second World War will continue for four more years and ‘@RealTimeWWII’ probably too. Let us see how both will end!

Review by Patrick NUNES COELHO & Marc STEFFEN of the Master in European Contemporary History, 1^st year,
summer term 2013/2014, University of Luxembourg

Press release – On Twitter, history students bring the First World War back to life in real time one century later

Posted on 01/04/201418/02/2021 by benoitadmin

On the occasion of the First World War commemorations, Masters of Modern European History students at the University of Luxembourg are using Twitter to recount, day after day, the twists and turns of the conflict via the @RealTimeWW1 account.

A conflict in 140 characters; an entire peace treaty in two lines; history written in tweets… and at university, what’s more…This is the wild gamble attempted by the teaching staff on the Masters in Modern European History at the University of Luxembourg, to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. Each tweet is published one hundred years day for day — or even hour for hour — after the event it recounts. Almost 200 tweets have already been published and more than 1,500 others are in the pipeline, repainting the sweeping canvas of a destructive conflict that cost 9 million lives and left 8 million with terrible injuries!

Consequently, on 24^th January 2014, a tweet announced the warning from the French War Ministry of the risk of a conflict that could threaten stocks of food for the inhabitants or Paris. The next day, another tweet announced that the Paris city council had decided to purchase 400,000 euros worth of flour stocks. For Benoît Majerus, a researcher and lecturer in history, as well as the director of Masters studies, behind this initiative, the Twitter account @RealTimeWW1 makes it possible to follow “day after day, hour after hour, the sequence of minor or major events that make up an international conflict”… and which seem so similar to news that is currently reaching us from certain hot spots on the planet, such as the tweet on 11^th March announcing the vote by the Russian parliament of significant credits to arm the infantry and navy.

Four classes of students involved

The Masters in Modern European History is well placed to run this project: the lectures are given in three languages (French, English and German) to students of 8 different nationalities in a country (Luxembourg) which paid a heavy tribute to the conflict and is a particular embodiment of bridges between European countries. The four classes of students involved in the project are able to consult a large range of documents from the era, in many different languages: English, French, German, Luxembourgish, Spanish, Portuguese, Serbo-Croat, Romanian, Greek and Italian.

This project is part of the “digital humanities” movement, which involves human and social sciences filtered through the prism of information technology. Digital humanities draw on the use of digitised historical sources. As a result, all the tweets on @RealTimeWW1 are accompanied by a link to a document from the era that can be consulted on line. Similarly, using an everyday social network to revive major historical occurrences is an experiment ideally designed for the discipline of digital humanities. It also makes it possible to explore means of knowledge production and broadcasting specific to the 21^st century.

The social network Twitter has already been used for historic “live-tweets” of varying magnitude. The @RealTimeWWII account run by Allwin Collinson paved the way with more than 7,300 tweets published since 2012, recounting the Second World War 70 years afterwards. The University of Oxford also ran the @Arras95 account for one and a half months, covering the battle of Arras 95 years later (from 9^th April to 16^th May 1917/2012).

The first tweets from the @RealTimeWW1 account focused on the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), attempts by the peoples of Europe under the domination of the Ottoman Empire to emancipate themselves. These conflicts provoked the Balkan crisis of 1914 and are etched in history as the “prelude to the First World War”. After having covered the entire Great War, the account will stay live until 2018 to describe the first years of the post-war period.

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Find out more

Masters in Modern European History: a historical perspective is of paramount importance for tomorrow’s professionals working in the political, academic and business worlds in being able to tackle future socio-political matters. The Masters in Modern European History allows the students to develop the necessary expertise to explore modern European issues. With its many links to European and cultural institutions as well as multi-national companies located in Luxembourg, this course of study offers an enriching and stimulating environment. The Masters aims to develop a first-rate course of study in European history by offering lectures based on critical appreciation and theoretical thinking. The programme is focused on questions and issues that make up European history, such as the process of European integration and construction in all its political and socio-economic aspects, social and cultural construction of identities, intra- and extra-European migration, as well as European relations with other regions of the world.

The programme of studies places particular emphasis on training experts in Digital Humanities and Public History, combining historical theory and its practical application.

http://h-europe.uni.lu/ | @940europe

About the University of Luxembourg

The University of Luxembourg, founded in 2003, is a multilingual, international research university with 6200 students and staff from all over the globe. Its research focuses on international finance, ICT security, systems biomedicine, European law, business law and educational sciences.

Contact for media: Associate Professor Benoît Majerus, benoit.majerus@uni.lu, T. + 352 46 66 44 6744