One Book, One Twitter: The Lab Notes

(I'm calling these "lab notes" because One Book, One Twitter is One Big Experiment. I hope you'll all contribute to these notes.)

Last night a tweet came in over the #1b1t transom. The content of the tweet—that the writer had barely started reading American Gods before having to go to sleep—isn't what struck me. It's that the author is a woman in Malaysia wearing a hijab. I was recently asked by Neha Dara of the Hindustan Times how I would define #1b1t's success. I didn't, but should have replied: "By virtue of the fact you're interviewing me." My deepest desire was to give many people from around the world with nothing in common one thing in common, and that seems to be happening.

Now on to the nitty gritty.One of the first wrinkles we've faced concerns whether to break book discussions up by chapter, using separate hashtags. We have established an official system of hashmarks. It goes like this:

#1b1t: General Discussion

#1b1t_1c: Discussion of Chapter 1 (and prologue material)

#1b1t_2c: Discussion of Chapter 2

... and on until we hit Chapter 19.

Why do this? I immediately thought this was a good idea because it seemed yesterday our traffic would quickly overwhelm the #1b1t hash. As always, I put the decision out to the community. More worrisome was the issue of spoilers, in which some readers give away plot points to other readers. There seemed to be a rough consensus that chapter hashes were a good idea. The question was what hash to use.

My initial suggestion was #1b1t1c (a paraphrased acronym for One Book, One Twitter, Chapter One). Others suggested #1b1t #1c, or #1b1tAG1, etc. etc.

Quickly it became apparent we had to wrestle with some issues:

Namely, if we separate out the chapter hash from the main hash—as in #1b1t #1c (notice the space!) then anyone searching for #1b1t is able to see all the chatter, and can then do separate searches for the chapter chatter. In addition, this allows all conversation around the book to employ the #1b1t hash, allowing One Book, One Twitter to trend. An eloquent (and damn persuasive) defense of this logic was written up this morning by @shamsensei.

However, I ultimately went with the current system for two reasons:

1) I think the spoiler concern is substantial. People just jumping on #1b1t shouldn't be exposed to information about later chapters, thus ruining their reading experience. Gaiman offers a thrilling rollercoaster of a book, and we don't want to ruin any of those thrills.

2) I'm not sure we do want to go EPIC, as it's known on Twitter. If we get on trending topic leaderboards, we'll become a spam magnet.

Am I right about all this? Dunno. One thing I'm concerned about is going back at this point. To try to impose a new system on everyone when there's already been a day of uncertainty might kill the project altogether. That said, if it's evident that the current system isn't working, we'll start a new one. Or everyone will do it with or without me because, as I've noted a zillion times, the coolest thing about this is that no one is running the show. Rather, everyone is. Awesome.

Let the experiment continue.

Comments

[randall]

I think maybe also separate tags could be arranged for specific topics on an official level. Could help people in a lot of ways.

[latt3girl]

Just please keep tweeting the link to these rules at least once a day :)

[Idyllice]

I love the #1b1t_1c hashes. I have already saved them all the way up to chapter 4. I keep switching back and forth from chapter 1 to chapter 3. I'm tired of people who have read the book giving up hints as to the Gods and stuff. I'm an AG Virgin! I want to be suprised!

[Desertjul]

I was wishing for chapter tags last night as I was reading and Voila! You must be psychic.

[Thurisaz83]

right now it looks like everyone's on the new tags, so if it can stay that way (and the new rules keep getting retweeted as they are right now >.<) for the next 24 hours i think you'll have a set, working system. :) me, i'm going to bed...

question though: why did you guys give up on 1b1tAG1 in the end? i thought you were worried about subsequent years, which is why i suggested it in the first place. i'll use whatever works (and the crowd likes), but i'm just curious. :)

[Thurisaz83]

incidentally i'm loving the confusion and mess of being part of a project just starting up. i can read a book any day but it's not often i get to do it in an interactive manner, not to mention air my views on exactly what that manner is. :)

[Lnelson08]

I really like the chapter hashtags. You can advance as you read, and not worry as much about spoilers or not understanding what someone is talking about.

[Timemastertim]

Most of all, we should not forget that this is, as you say, "One Big Experiment". Expect a fair amount of trial & error (with healthy emphasis on the error part). Some stuff will work out fine, other stuff will fail utterly. We'll learn from both and have fun along the way - as long as we keep a relaxed attitude. Right? Just my € 0,02.

[RJFerret]

What was wrong with the calendar? Are we discarding that now? May I read at my pace instead of waiting?

I don't know who thought a second more complicated system was necessary, but it spoils the entire "one book ONE Twitter" premise having it be one book, over 20-something fragmented twitter conversations. There are now multiple systems in use and people being excluded. Why was a space-wasting underscore added?

The discussions we had this morning encompassed three chapters, there wasn't room for #1b1t #1b1t_1c #1b1t_2c #1b1t_3c in them.

Now to follow discussions people need to search 1b1t 1t1b 1b1t1c 1b1tAG1 1b1t_1c 1b1t2c 1b1tAG2 1b1t_2c all the way up through 20!?

> "the coolest thing about this is that no one is running the show. Rather, everyone is. Awesome. "

That is denial, I thought it preposterous when you said it yesterday and it's even less true today as exemplified by all the people following you (literally and metaphorically), "official" proclamations being delivered, all the retweets prescribing your whims, and people tweeting "join #1b1t and follow @1B1T2010 for information, etc."

I know you don't want to hear it, but there IS a leader.

PS: I was guessing you were throwing the wrench in the works as a social experiment, to see if the crowd would communicate together and develop it's own direction, or fragment. Inserting the underscore into the hashtag, doing nothing but taking up more space and make it harder on mobile typing seems to affirm that premise. I will be entertained to see what hashtag system you recommend next! ;-)

[RJFerret]

I just saw this smart suggestion, http://twitter.com/nashbrooks92/statuses/13506606187 which is a FAR better recommendation, especially if you get rid of the underscore and turn it around to be #1b1t1w, #1b1t2w, etc. Then you are only adding 8 hashtags to the existing sets, fragmenting the community less, it enhances/emphasizes the existing calendar and is briefer.

[Tygerbaby]

I'd have been more diplomatic about it, but I have to agree with RJFerret in general. Multiple hashtags are a lot of things, but cool isn't one of them. It just sucks the fun right out of the discussion to have to keep track of multiple threads. Personally, I have neither the time nor the inclination. I'm very disappointed if this is the way things are headed.

[MattMorris]

So far I'm having a very positive experience with One Book One Twitter. It has become the catalyst for me to read a book I'd never heard of, and ultimately that makes it a success to me.

Now - onto a slight technical issue.

Twitterific is my Twitter client of choice on my iPad. I use it to tweet, search and follow the #1b1t hashmark. In Twitterific (and in Tweetie, the app I use on my iPhone) the new chapter hashmarks are disabled by the use of the underscore ("_"). Only the characters that show up in hyperlink are those that come before the underscore - our original hash.

This isn't a huge problem when I follow/search the new chapter hashmarks (which is easy in both apps). Only the tweets containing the full mark - #1b1t_1c - show up in the feed.

The real issue comes when I go back to following the #1b1t feed. When I look at *that* thread on Twitterific I see not only the #1b1t tweets, but I also see the chapter specific tweets. This happens because, as I described above, it is only the initial portion of the mark that is registered as a tag.

So, I'm essentially unable to follow the original hashmark. If I do, I run the risk of seeing tweets about chapters I haven't read.

I hope I've made this clear. If not, feel free to reach out on Twitter.

Again - I think this is a great thing. I'm glad to be taking part.

Best,

Matt

[Magnushimself]

First of all, it is an awesome experiment I'm proud to be part of. However, some challenges and how they can be met (if not now, then next round):

1) People read at different speeds. I like to read a book in one or two goes. Every time I let the book down, I worry the people I read about will go ahead and die before I resume reading. However, other enjoy sipping. The reading schedule is a perfect compromize - well done!

2) Hash tags and Twitter clients. If the channels have the same opening phrase, some clients will read all "subpages" (if you search for #1b1t, you will get #1b1t, #1b1t_1c, #1b1t_c2 etc). To avoid this: #c1_1b1t, #c2_1b1t etc.

3) Dividing the book into 19 chapters leads to unneccessary fragmentation and blocks good discussion. If someone wants to discuss Shadow's character development in the first bulk, which c-number does this belong to? As others, I suggest the following: #w1_1b1t, #w2_1b1t.

4) The fourth rule of 1B1T: There is no fourth rule of 1B1T! Let reading and creativity reign! (Read: I hope, as we get into the book, that people will make fanpages for more in-depth discussions, fan-art etc etc etc)

@magnushimself

(posted at Facebook as well; not sure where people read - guess that's part of the fun ^^)

[MaryGaughan]

I'm really enjoying connecting with other readers on #1b1t and loving the book. I'm on my second time and really digging into the language and references.

The issue that bothers me is the RTs of @crowdsource and @1b1t2010. If all the #1b1t tweeps are following them, then it seems to me we don't need to RT. Otherwise, we are tweeting to our followers, who might not be involved (and who are probably not going to be enticed by our tagging system discussions) and clogging up the feeds. Hopefully this will settle down.

[JuwitaM]

I agree, the hashtags are fine. They help keep the spoilers away. And I also must agree with MaryGaughan, it's the RTs that are driving me nuts!!

Other than that, no complaints. Love the experiment, and am very proud to be part of this big worldwide effort. I just love saying that,'worldwide effort.'

Thanks to 1b1t, I am able to enjoy my second reading of the book, and the observations of others make my reading experience all the more richer.

Btw, you weren't talking about me up there, were you? Or is there someone else from Malaysia doing this? I would love to meet this person!

[ReedSanders]

In looking at usage, the chapter hashtags seem effectively dead for now, but the spoiler problem is minimal in a format like Twitter. This will likely be the case up until the very end of the book, when things might get a tad dicey. Folks are crowding into the "main tag," like party guests congregating into the kitchen. As it should be: we're virtual guests but still human.

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For me One Book One Twitter has worked well, it is a bit of a different approach but, it is working, you just gotta get used to it.
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I'm not sure we do want to go EPIC, as it's known on Twitter. If we get on trending topic leaderboards, we'll become a spam magnet.

Am I right about all this? Dunno. One thing I'm concerned about is going back at this point. To try to impose a new system on everyone when there's already been a day of uncertainty might kill the project altogether. That said, if it's evident that the current system isn't working, we'll start a new one. Or everyone will do it with or without me because, as I've noted a zillion times, the coolest thing about this is that no one is running the show. Rather, everyone is. Awesome.