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Posted Jan. 23, 2012

Was Twitter really invented by animals?

According to an Aberdeen lecturer who has spent a decade researching the social conventions of the animal kingdom, this may be so...

Dr David Lusseau from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen has found that the efficiency and immediacy of information sharing that is achieved by social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook reflect the way that animals gather information and communicate with eachother.

Dr Lusseau explains, "Social networks are the same across all species, and whilst details of their structure may differ, some properties remain the same whether we are looking at killer whales, spider monkeys or indeed humans."

He continues, “The major advantage of Twitter and Facebook is the speed at which they allow information to be shared between people on a worldwide scale. Importantly they have liberated the way we communicate with one another. Where once upon a time we would rely on newspapers or broadcast news to bring us the latest happenings from across the globe, we can now transmit this information to one another at the touch of a button.

“Information flow has been traditionally institutionalised to control it in one way or another. The liberalisation of information sharing that social media offers quickens the pace at which individuals can gather information.

“In this way the social networking technology most of us now employ on a daily basis helps us to behave at a global scale in the same way we do with people we see everyday. It’s allowing us to share information with one another in the way that animals across the kingdom have always communicated, the only difference being that we can do it on this on a global level. In many ways the evolution of social media is converging with the evolution of the way animals use social information.”

Dr Lusseau discussed his findings at a Cafe Scientifique event at the University of Aberdeen earlier this month. These events are monthly talks held at the University of Aberdeen and supported by a Science Engagement Grant from the Scottish Government.

Click here to find out more about these events.

 

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