Twitter Chats as Third Places: Conceptualizing a Digital Gathering Site

Social media users can harness the interactivity and connectivity of social networking sites to create a sense of place in a digital environment. This article argues that regularly scheduled Twitter chats can function as digital third places, sites of online sociality that both mirror and deviate from physical gathering sites such as bars or clubs. Using Oldenburg’s eight characteristics of (built) third places, this study examines how people collectively identify with others and collaborate in digital gathering sites. Through an investigation of 1 month of multiple, recurring Twitter chats, including over 3,100 tweets, a textual analysis explores Oldenburg’s characteristics of built third places in the context of these digital interactions. The findings add nuance to the application of Oldenburg’s themes in a networked media context and suggest that social networking sites offer the potential for continued thinking about the role of third places in developing connectivity online. Moreover, the findings suggest further opportunities for the study of space—both physical and digital—and the study of time as integral components of digitally mediated interpersonal connection