Twitter is for Microblogging
Microblogging site Twitter exploded onto the scene –- at least within the techgeek set — in late 2006 and early 2007. It looked like it might flame out as just another fad due to recurring outages and the white-hot love it got from the techgeek elite. Twitter has been able to transcend fad and become the primary driver for the still-emerging trend of microblogging. Twitter is growing in popularity as users figure out how to express their most compelling thoughts in 140 characters or less.
Facebook “status updates” are very similar to Twitter Tweets and provided early training for the early-adopter crowd on how to microblog. Facebook status update functionality is limited and can be frustrating for heavy users. This is driving those users to Twitter where there is more functionality, like embedding links and more importantly, responding to tweets by others. (Because Twitter can be synchronized with Facebook status updates in near real time –- tweets show up in a user’s Facebook status updates –- Tweets are exposed to the user’s Facebook network as well as all the people following that user on Twitter.) The ability to respond to other users’ tweets either publicly or directly (much like instant messaging) is facilitating a dynamic conversation taking place on Twitter. So much so that bloggers like Robert Scoble, Michael Arrington and others are wondering aloud how to reconcile the rich conversations they are now having on Twitter with what used to happen within the comments of their blogs.
Twitter is a free Web application so getting started is easy — go to Twitter.com, sign up and start “tweeting.” Tweets can be anything from “stupid alarm clock didn’t go off. Now I’m late” and go on to update the tweeter’s day. Other tweets share breaking news or notify followers of a new blog post. Twitter is gaining considerable influence as a news source. Increasingly, we are seeing news/blog coverage originate from a tweet by an influential tweeter. Astute tweeters use are using this high engagement rate among tweeters as a biz dev tool, for recruiting, story placement, alpha testing a new product and the list goes on.
The Twitter rules are still being written and like blogging, the best way to get a feel for it is to start following tweeters. Watch and learn. There isn’t a lot of room on Twitter for shameless self promotion or for product touting. Like blogging, however, Twitter provides an outlet for updating people interested in you on what you’re up to. Because Twitter is populated by the early adopter crowd, it’s a great place to get feedback on new products or invite users to test a new product. Just as with any other news, to maximize traction, it is best to announce news via a highly influential tweeter.
I’m on Twitter at http://twitter.com/christianderson.
