I’m working on a new presentation about Twitter that’s going to be delivered in a couple of weeks. The first few slides are about what I’m calling the phases of Twitter’s evolution (based on my experience with it) – the types of discussion that seemed most relevant to understanding the platform at various junctures, and how it seems to have changed over time. So I thought I’d briefly summarize the main five, and a couple of thoughts on why both Twitter and (even more so) marketers should be pleased with the development.
1. Much aTweet about Nothing. This phase is epitomized by the brilliant “The Twouble with Twitter” video on YouTube. My favorite lines are when the Twitter skeptic says “but I don’t care what everyone is doing every second of the day”, and the advocate responds “No, neither do I! But we do want other people knowing what we’re doing, right?” To me, the video captures the early response of many people – what a remarkable waste of time this Twitter thing is.
2. Social media experts tweet about how great tweeting is. A cottage industry of “social media experts” quickly emerged on Twitter. I did, and continue to, find many of these people quite interesting – they were the ones that really got me intrigued – but it has always had a funny element to it. It often seemed to be a rather incestuous circle where a bunch of people who love twitter would tweet about how great twitter is, hoping to get re-tweeted. And of course, also hoping someone would pay them to come talk about it somewhere, because they weren’t making any money tweeting all day. It was during this time that the connection between social media and conversational media was cemented – it’s all about talking with people, collaborating, etc. But somewhere along the way, I believe many experts lost touch with what “normal” people are interested in (say, those with jobs that don’t allow them to tweet all day, or might be overwhelmed by 1,658 messages an hour).
3. Celebrities lead the twittering masses. Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN in the race for one million followers. Oprah joining Twitter (and the 21ST CENTURY), then having @The_Real_Shaq reminder her to turn her caps off. Most of it was meaningless (much like #1), but it brought an extraordinary amount of people to the platform. And many of these people seemed a lot more interested in listening than chatting.
4. Twitter gets serious (“The Revolution”). The Iran election was a major turning point for Twitter – the platform was being used for some serious stuff. Clay Shirky stated that “this is it. The big one. This is the first revolution that has been catapulted onto a global stage and transformed by social media”, and credited Twitter because it’s so open and participatory. But Jack Schafer (bravely) went on record and said “I’ve found a lot more noise than signal in understanding the Iranian upheaval (on Twitter), and pointed to the extraordinary spread of erroneous information. That’s because, well, Twitter is so open and participatory. So the best thing about Twitter is the worst thing about Twitter, depending on how you look at it. Forced to choose, right now I’d probably be 30% Clay, 70% Jack.
5. The Net Gen defines Twitter’s competitive position. Net Geners who send 500 text messages a day don’t see the value of Twitter (or more bluntly, are said to think “Twitter is bullshit”). They use Facebook for communicating with friends, and don’t see why they’d want to tweet down a rainbarrel to a few followers. But interestingly, in the same article it’s noted that they’re OK with following big stars. Coupled with numerous stories about how a small percentage of Twitter users generate the vast majority of content, people start to realize it looks a whole lot more like a “broadcast” media platform than a “conversational” one.
There’s some interesting interplay between the phases I’ve outlined – notably that it goes waste of time, important, waste of time, important, waste of time – so I don’t intend to say that each one replaced the previous. But put it all together, and I believe this development cycle is a very, very good thing for Twitter as a business.
For quite some time, many people have been saying the problem with Facebook as a marketing vehicle is that it’s too personal – people don’t want to be bothered while communicating with friends and family. But many of these same people are basically saying the problem with Twitter is that it’s not Facebook – which doesn’t make sense to me. Instead, I prefer The Sports Guy’s take on it:
Facebook is a social network. Twitter is a media/marketing vehicle disguised as a social network. Big difference. And if you don’t think it’s changing the way information is dispersed, for good and bad, you’re insane.
It is a big difference. And I think the big difference is that while many people use Facebook for their “strong ties”, Twitter plays in the “weak ties” space. I think this is a far more interesting place to play (with vague recollections of the importance of weak ties in the “Tipping Point” theories coming to mind), because people are naturally far more accepting to marketing here. Because as we’ve already seen, they’re not only following stars – they’re following brands. And many don’t want to talk, but they might listen. And that provides a lot of new options for marketing, where companies can reach customers (directly, with support of “viral” promotion through RT’s, etc.) for free (or very low cost). And it’s becoming far easier to figure out exactly who they are reaching, and what the impact is. Compare that to many traditional marketing approaches, and it’s easy to see the potential Twitter has right now.
The open question, however, is whether Twitter will even survive to fulfill that potential. While I might touch on that topic at a later date, my main message for most organizations right now is who cares? The general approach – companies bypassing traditional media outlets (and all the costs that go with them) to connect with customers for free – is interesting no matter what platform it might end up on. And a social media platform acting a lot more like a broadcast platform than a conversational one is something worth paying attention to, and perhaps celebrating – because most marketers have a general idea of how to play that game. They’re just getting a better field on which to do it. If Twitter screws it up and/or someone else takes over, but these norms persist, most marketers shouldn’t even break a sweat.
So that’s the basic idea for the opening so far. Feel free to let me know if you’ve got any ideas to make it better – or to even tell me that I’m dead wrong (here or @denisbhancock)!
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Based on everyone I know (clearly not a statistically significant nor a non-skewed sample), who quickly grow weary of Twitter and stop using it, I think that 4 will never really come and the progression will cycle back to 1.
You have completely missed the most significant phase of Twitter’s development. Twitter has become a powerful monetization tool for business and an important Internet marketing strategy. Big companies are using it to great advantage as are independent home business marketers.
Timothy – excellent point. In fact, that’s what the focus of the REST of my presentation is on (after this intro part is wrapped up).
thoughtbasket- while your sample size might be low, I think you’re speaking for a rather large group of people…
Nice read, Denis. There’s something definitely there and I do think we have yet to see much from Twitter (or, like you say, successors of Twitter), as it evolves into an ubiquous corporate and self-marketing machine.
I also do see layers of very different and distinct uses of Twitter (i.e., teens babbling about the Jonas bros., professionals discussing purchases, plain conversations, etc.) and having everyone on one platform generates great buzz – but lots of noise.
Whoever is able to help users drill through that noise will make Twitterland a better place for all.
I look forward to seeing the whole presentation, if possible!
Somewhere between 2 and 4, people begin to
1. Discover what a timely resource it is for research
2. Connect with a like-minded network
3. To network–off-line and through other channels
Thoughtbasket’s story is common. There’s definitely a ramping up phase while people absorb the concept of subscribing to a though pipeline of heros, champions and ultimately, self-selected communities of interest.
This is the only medium in which I travel in similar circles to the leading thinkers on topics that stimulate me. They might have TED talks or articles in the NYTimes, but on twitter, they have the same set of tools I do. And for many, apparently, it’s as welcome and refreshing a way to share ideas as any.
Dennis, this is a good start and as I’m sure you’ve already heard, everyone has a unique opinion. Therein lays the secret to the next phase of evolution. Everyone is using it for different purposes. That is the beauty of Twitter in my mind. Timothy is correct in his view. The stats you are seeing are outdated and meaningless because they don’t provide the depth of what is really happening. There are many many business sectors using twitter for numerous purposes. Lawyers, Accountants, Funeral Directors, Farmers and Small Retail/Foodservice businesses to name a few. Individually, they are small but as groups they are huge. The unique benefits each is gaining are equally huge but all very different (and mostly have little to do with marketing).
Furthermore, IBM now has patented the device generated tweet, a brilliant future application for twitter. Think of a TV remote tweeting the channel you are watching and the time. Imagine how that will change the TV user stats for advertising measurement. Or, take a look at the IBM tweeting house and imagine what can be done with that kind of data.
I personally think that if you really want to do this subject justice, go deep and get some of the more interesting and totally tangible applications that are really driving twitter adoption and dictating its future.
As you consider this, look at the business applications other than marketing that twitter is being used for today. Customer Service, Shareholder Communications, Medical Information Sharing, Farming tips, Early Warning Notices and so many more.
Everything evolves, and I think you’ve outlined your points really well. I was hesitant to get into twitter because of some of the things you’ve outlined. But since following select industry people I’ve really begun to get real value from it.
I was especially intrigued with your observation that people are more open to marketing and following brands on Twitter. I hadn’t thought of it that way, and I believe that observation to be true. People are tired of being told about products, but they are open to dialogue and providing feedback. Twitter is a great vehicle for it with it’s 140 words. No rambling, straight to the point.
Yes there is alot of chatter, but like all media, you have to turn on a filter and extract what you want from any channel. I don’t see why Twitter is really any different.
I guess this makes Twitter an important waste of time
Steve Dodd – I really like that point (the secret is everyone using it for different purposes). I remember noting some like that when talking to a company that was wondering whether it would annoy their customers if they were on there. Answer – if you would annoy them, they WILL ignore you (not follow you), which is part of the beauty of the thing. Different strokes for different folks.
Tangible applications – thanks for the heads up on the IBM thing, hadn’t seen that. Looking into that area shortly.
Rbkartwork – I like the “no rambling” point. I DO think that the filters need to get better – I certainly haven’t got the ones I use the point I’d like them to be at. Takes a LOT of time…
Patricio – couldn’t agree more with “Whoever is able to help users drill through that noise will make Twitterland a better place for all.” Very well put.
Barry – like your note on what happens “somewhere between 2 and 4″.Though I think it has to be tied into the filtering thing – my sense is that a lot of people discover how valuable it can be, start scaling up, and then get overwhelmed by it…
Dennis:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1745280/ibm_seeks_patent_for_twitter_facebook_remote_control/
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-09/03/video-andy-stanford-clark-talks-tweeting-homes.aspx
@denisbhancock -
Your article and all the comments from your readers are absolutely correct!
Twitter’s usefulness is boundless.
Most people get confused by the chatter, but then find that there are a lot of interesting conversations within the chaos.
Instead of focusing on increasing followers/following numbers, people should focus on the content of the conversations they’re listening in on.
The twitter search engine is a great tool to find twitter users to follow. Simply look for a topic by typing a word or phrase and the results usually show numerous people talking about it.
Third party applications use twitter’s open API to make money by answering/predicting end-user’s needs and to build contact lists for future sales.
Businesses are utilizing twitter as a customer/client open forum platform for crisis management, customer relations, sales promotions, and as a list builder.
Some businesses are even starting to use twitter for inner-office, vendor, and joint venturing/partnership/associates communication. (This has recently raised the question about insider-trading issues/complications.)
Personally, I use twitter to combine personal, business and social networking. (If it involves any conversation outside of my brain, I consider it to be networking.)
People like to be heard, have a voice. Twitter answers that need.
People like to get answers when they need them. Twitter answers that need.
People like to listen in on what other people are talking about. Twitter definitely answers that need.
I’m interested in reading your viewpoints regarding the next phase of twitter.
In the meantime… I’m sharing your article with my closest 1500 followers on twitter.
@gfb3
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