Twitter: flash in the pan or internet phenomenon?
Mar 20
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 6 months (which may not have been a bad idea for some industries; cut overhead at least) you’ve heard of the new social networking website Twitter. Twitter simply asks the question “what are you doing?” and then chronologically tracks status updates.
Many are singing (or tweeting) praises for the simplicity and ease of using twitter to connect with friends, and the proof of the pudding is in the traffic. Twitter has grown to 8 million users in the U.S., doubling in size in the past 4 months!
Facebook evens seems to have taken a page from twitters book with a recent redesign to highlight what were formerly known as status updates. However, 94% of facebook users dislike the new design. Oops.
I’m not completely sold on Twitter just yet. Maybe I’m a cynic, but it seems like an old product in a shiny new wrapper. I could have updated my status on instant messenger, facebook, linkedin, or blogger and it would essentially accomplish the same thing. I could communicate with friends and generate followers just the same on any of these other time-tested services. As Twitter climbs the Top 100 sites I have to ask one question:
Does Twitter revolutionize social networking or it is just 15 minutes of fame in 140 character increments?
Mar 20 at 14:34
What, you mean you don’t understand the magic of the (completely arbitrary) 140 characters?
Actually, I think the success of twitter lies in the fact that it’s a network that allows you to connect to others without the requirement of a reciprocal relationship. In my opinion, that’s what makes twitter unique, not the character count limit that seems to draw more attention in the media.
Twitter is a great source for news discovery, and it’s less of a commitment b/c you don’t have to approve/follow/accept an invite from every person who wants to hear your tweets. For example, on Twitter, I might want to follow certain news sources, politicians, bloggers, etc because I’m interested in hearing what they have to share, but I wouldn’t necessarily want them in my facebook network because we don’t have a personal relationship. And if they don’t want to follow me on Twitter, I’m totally cool with that because I can still benefit from their tweets. And since we don’t have a personal relationship, it makes that 140 character limit very appealing.
Mar 20 at 14:35
PS, relevant article related to the character count: http://digitalroam.typepad.com/digital_roam/2009/03/after-twitter-where-next.html
Mar 20 at 15:06
True, true. I heard about the Hudson River plane crash getting spread on twitter before any news sources could cover it — very cool. And I understand that retweeting and using hash marks can connect people by common subject or group.
I guess there is just something unsettling to me about anyone having access to what I’m doing or thinking at any given time.
Mar 23 at 11:13
Isn’t is basically blogging, at its core? Some of the administrative functions are a little different, and the way you follow people is slightly different, but it seems basically the same to me conceptually. Like a lot of things, it seems to me one of the big keys to success is in the packaging of the technology, not the technology itself.
Mar 24 at 08:36
Oh no! James… don’t look at this article. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29796962/
Mar 27 at 13:56
I actually think some of the apps people have developed for twitter, and some of the creative uses of tweets, has surpassed Twitter itself. Twitter.com rarely works anymore. Ever since they started this mass PR campaign, it seems like the site sends you the fail whale about 40% of the time. Many of the 3rd party apps provide a better interface anyway.
I recently discovered this very cool use of tweets: http://twistori.com
Apr 15 at 13:59
Another Twitter publicity stunt: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090415/ap_en_mo/on_the_net_twitter_kutcher
Apr 30 at 10:38
Interesting statistic I just came across on Twitter. Over 60% of Twitter users quit after the first month:
http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/6-in-10-twitter-users-jump-ship-each-month-8928/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink