1. 7. Online gossip Lingua Inglese 2 LM

2.  sites of engagement and formats  synchronicity

3. CMC = computer mediated communication: CMC formats  microblogs – e.g. Twitter  chat  blogs  Facebook  forums What happens to gossip in these formats?

4.  posts in forums (reflection required) Swim inhaled one breath full and held it in for about 20 seconds. Swim was lying on my bed on Swims side, and as soon as Swim exhaled, Swim felt pressure all around, as if Swim was under a hundred of feet of water. Then, suddenly, Swim popped into ground-zero reality, the right side of Swims body opened up and Swim connected down through the bed, through the floor and foundation of the house into some immense planetary network, teaming with a multitude of various types of consciousness and intelligence …. (post continues)

5.  it's getting pretty cold out, i think it's probably time to crash, oh look, an apartment window someone left open just a crack, perfect! #snakeonthetown March 29, 2011 5:44:41 AM #snakeonthetownMarch 29, 2011 5:44:41 AM via web  getting on the ferry to Ellis Island, let's hope this goes better than that time on the plane. #snakeonthetown March 30, 2011 5:51:44 PM via web #snakeonthetownMarch 30, 2011 5:51:44 PM

6.  gossip is prevalent A:Goddaaaamn, its raining tmrw and Friday too! C:nooooo So annoying grrrr ……. C:MY GOD Stef is listing me EVERY SINGLE DETAIL she loves about this guy … sh’es like …. …….. C:OMG Did you see Carlos’ status? He and Lloyd dyed their hair blue, lol!  comment and running commentary  incomplete stories  hypotheses

7.  Levels of privacy  can identities remain anonymous?  is the interaction public (open forum) or private (private chat)  Levels of external control  does the forum have a moderator?

8. LEVEL OF SYNCHRONICITY  high synchronicityMSN and Facebook chat  low synchronicityforums, blogs, email Gossip occurs where synchronicity is high; prevalence of “running commentary” – narratives of instant reactions Gossip is different in forums, blogs, email, where synchronicity is low Asynchronous gossip is hard to analyse