Livingston

Apr
30
2008

Who Cares About Twitter?

tweet Most people in the Web 2.0 tech community know what Twitter is. We love it so much that we use it for work and for fun, and consistently tout its advantages despite long periods of unplanned downtime and the overwhelming nature of 24×7 microblogging.

(Photo credit: Geek and Poke)

But, is Twitter really the wave of the future? Will the general public be quick to adopt this as a new tool to keep in touch, keep track of, share links, and converse with their networks of friends and family?

I’m in my 20’s, supposedly one of the main adopters of Twitter and like services. None of my friends have a clue what Twitter is, and many aren’t even on Facebook (or, if they are, they rarely log in and interact).

Will this continue to be another Web 2.0 service for the “tech elite”? What about the other Web 2.0 companies that are fighting for a piece of the pie? From Sandhill.com:

Something like Twitter is ground breaking in terms of breakout adoption, but what about the other 10,000 startups?

Twitter has received so much press and start-up hype because it’s largely used by a community of influencers, which is fueling its growth. According to top tech bloggers, media sites, PR firms, social media marketers, and more, it appears that Twitter IS the wave of the future. It’s proven to be changing the way we communicate with each other, gather information, and network. In terms of the larger picture of technology and innovation that’s set to change the world, is Twitter really that important?

For businesses, it may be that important. Companies have an even bigger stake in getting involved with Twitter. ComcastCares proves it’s a unique way to engage customers. Are they reaching a large majority of their customers this way though? Comcast is barely reaching 1,250 users on Twitter. How did they communicate before Twitter? Before blogs? What was their disaster plan?

It’s easy to get caught up in something when your entire community is engaged. But, consider life beyond the glowing reviews, fast-track adoption rates and VC funding. If the greater Web 2.0 and tech community suddenly moves away from Twitter, then how will that impact the service? While our community is certainly attached to Twitter, is the rest of the world? That remains to be seen, and so far the jury is out.

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by Larissa Fair | Internet Marketing, Social Networks |

15 Responses to “Who Cares About Twitter?”

  • Brad Levinson Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 9:51 am

    I’m starting to see more Twitter adopters from non-tech/PR/new media fields. Granted, these are generally the most tech-savvy people in their fields - like some doctors, nurses, “mommybloggers,” and so forth.

    The one obvious downside of Twitter is that it’s very insular — you make your own world with the people you follow. So, it’s easy to see how the people in your respective field use Twitter, but not so much with people outside of your circle.

  • Lewis Green Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 10:11 am

    Larissa,

    In its current state, I don’t think Twitter offers much beyond chat: some of it useful, most of it useless. Some (Mack Collier) see it differently and think it will become mainstream, without defining what mainstream looks like. My response to that is that being mainstream does not make it useful to businesses or nonprofits, which represent my day job.

    However, I do think that something Twitter-like is and must be in our future. Something that eliminates the noise and allows business to invite both customers and employees to join both external and internal conversations. It will be closed and at first by invite only; otherwise, it becomes a chat room (i.e., Twitter), and those of us in business can’t find enough value in that to spend time, energy and dollars on it.

    If we want to know what random thoughts people are sharing about us, Google Alerts are a much better tool. However, to repeat, for business we need something Twitter-like that offers all value, no BS.

    Good post Larissa.

  • Andre Blackman Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 10:12 am

    I think the more Twitter is profiled in instances where non-techie people read about it (e.g. the use in California fires, the student who twittered his way out of prison)the more folks will become aware. The “rest of the world” concept is pretty broad as well. Many people who use their Blackberry devices aren’t on social networks or have a clue what a blog is. Then you have folks who don’t want to deal with technology at all. So I don’t think this will be adopted into mainstream culture in the immediate future, at least until people start seeing its practical use.

    But as Stowe Boyd once mentioned, those of us adopting these technologies will help guide the way for the future of communicating and business. In other words…I care about Twitter! :)

  • Dennis D. McDonald Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 10:14 am

    Be patient. Eventually, as I posted yesterday in “What Happens When 20-Somethings Settle Down?” (http://www.ddmcd.com/somethings.html) you’ll see Tweets from young parents like this: “Know whose kid I saw smoking by the creek today while charging our solar car?””

  • Chris Parandian Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 11:10 am

    Great post Larissa…

    Twitter is very niche and the noise to signal ratio is quite high. That is Twitter’s challenge… I share Lewis’ opinion above regarding something “Twitter-like” and better is on the horizon.

    Best, CP

  • Larissa Fair Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 11:13 am

    @bradlevinson - definitely agree about the insular nature of Twitter

    @lewisgreen - We’ll see if Twitter leads the way to something bigger and better?

    @andreblackman - Glad we are both early adopters :)

    @dennismcdonald - ha, I liked your 20 something post. I fall somewhere in the middle of all that…

    @chrisparandian - thanks for stopping by. Hope to come by @mobilediner party tonight for a bit!

  • Andrew Badera Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    To quote myself from Scoble’s post on this same topic yesterday:

    http://scobleizer.com/2008/04/28/shhh-no-one-is-on-twitter/#comment-1982899

    It is, in fact, somewhat true that almost no one outside Silicon Valley really knows a thing about Twitter, or cares. Even among the hardcore geek/engineer circles in which I move, Twitter is still a mystery. We had Tech Valley’s first Code Camp last week, and only one or two of the presenters were on Twitter, and neither of those is a heavy user. I think we got one or two more on board in the meantime, but still, if Twitter hasn’t penetrated to the geeks on the East Coast who are respected in more than just one metro market, then it really hasn’t penetrated, has it? Then again, same thing could be said about Facebook four years back.

    I think Twitter is the biggest current challenge to Facebook, both in geek and marketing circles — and that’s really saying something. Yes, they’ve faced technical challenges, but usage is growing rapidly, name recognition is greatly increasing (thanks in no small part to your efforts, Scoble — I don’t cast everything you do Twitter-wise in a negative light, but I certainly examine all aspects and facets in their own right) and third parties are building entire ecosystems around the API.

    Facebook is overgrown, Twitter is minimalist. Twitter can put niche experts in touch with their audience, or community, in ways simply not possible before. That said, Twitter is still in its infancy. I predict great things to come.

  • Jonny Goldstein Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    It doesn’t matter if twitter’s community of users move on (except to the people who work at or own a piece of twitter).

    The important thing is the community itself. If it migrates to another tool, no big deal.

    I have to say that the vast majority of followers I’ve had lately are spammy. So the word is out that twitter is a good way to hawk your wares. Don’t know if that bodes well for growth of twitter.

    I do get a lot out of twitter myself–but it’s the people I’m connecting to that I enjoy.

  • Jeff Majka Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 4:29 pm

    Larissa, thanks for the thoughtful post! I see Twitter as interesting because that’s where my audience (PR/tech geeks) is. I joined Twitter because my friends, prospects, clients, mentors were there and that’s the group I work with, play with and want to learn from. If I were a construction superintendent working on a oil rig, I imagine there are other online communities I’d be participating in. Our PR tech geek crowd will move to some other better platform/technology to communicate and organize ourselves at some point and I’m sure that thing will have a lot of Twitter like features, but it won’t necessarily be Twitter itself. J

  • Dave Fleet Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 5:16 pm

    I would agree that right now Twitter is still very niche. Whether it stays as a niche tool remains to be seen. Remember - email was niche to start with (not that I think Twitter will ever rival email). I know that I get amazing value from it personally and professionally though.

    One thing to remember about Comcast’s account - you don’t need to follow someone to see when they mention you. You can track keywords. From what I’ve read they don’t just follow people - they track all mentions of Comcast anywhere on Twitter.

  • The PR Guy: Straight to the Point: Linky, Linky, Linky...Can't You See? Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] Larissa Fair, pours a little cold water on the Twitter parade with a subtly titled post, “Who Cares About Twitter?”Chris Brogan write yet another post with 17,000 comments. This time he vents about a PR idiot blind [...]

  • Richard Becker Says:

    April 30th, 2008 at 9:42 pm

    Larissa,

    Good post. I also enjoyed the comment by Jonny Goldstein. Tweeter is like one of those gathering places where the company outweighs the line outside the door. It will exist as long as the community that resides there keeps meeting there.

    Best,
    Rich

  • Chris Grayson - GigantiCo Says:

    May 1st, 2008 at 4:59 am

    Larissa,

    Today I was passed links to two different articles, yours and another taking a similar position over at All Things Digital.

    Last summer there was a lot of hype in the naval-gazing tech blogsphere about “Social Media Overload”. When I joined the conversation, I took the position that only people that worked in the business of social media and new media marketing would make such complaints, that the average person, even tech savvy, had never heard of Twitter, much less Pounce or Jaiku or any of the other operations further below the radar.

    I received a lot of criticism, and was roundly poo-poo. I posted my own contribution to that conversation on my blog in July:

    GigantiCo - Social Media Overload?

    Matt Dickman of Techno-Marketer honored it with a thoughtful reply.

    I now feel somewhat vindicated.

    Thank you for your post.

    Best regards,
    Chris

  • StickerGiant Says:

    May 1st, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    I think that for twitter to fail or be abandoned by the tech community it would take a major event. so many users are wrapped up in twitter and the community they have built. I would not count on twitter fading away.

  • Laurent Haug’s blog » 2008 » May Says:

    May 2nd, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] Comments WebUrs on Twitter and real lifelaurent on Twitter and real lifeWho Cares About Twitter? » The Buzz Bin on Twitter and real lifeDannie Jost on Twitter and real lifeAndre Ribeirinho on Twitter and real [...]

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