There seems to be an unending debate about whether Twitter is a passing fad or is it really all that. Gurus, pundits, and other marketing professionals are all getting into the act. What is Twitter about? What was it created to do (i.e., what problem did it solve)? Is it really worth all the attention? Let’s get into it…
What is Twitter about and what was it created to do?
Twitter was created as a service to quickly and easily allow people to update friends and family about what they’re doing at a point in time. Simple! Th0se quick hitting messages are called Tweets. The universe of Twitter people is called Twitterverse.
The 140 characters gets a lot of attention. It came about because most text messages used to allow 140 characters in a single SMS type text message (that is now been upped to 160 characters).
According to Twitter’s FAQ page: Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called “tweets” of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.
In other words Twitter was created to let people stay in touch - in real time. And it does an outstanding job. It is amazing to see what people write on their Tweets. Some people really get their hackles up about the way some people use it. Why would anyone want to know what everyone is doing every 3 minutes?
You choose to Follow people. Those are who you are Following. The people who are following you are called your Followers. You can add or unfollow people as you so choose.
Is it really worth all the attention?
Hmmm…th`at’s a good question. Personally I think Twitter is one of those tools — and that is what it is, a tool — that is out there for anyone to be used as the user sees fit. Of course many people are looking to and have produced tons of opinion on how Twitter can be used to make money…a.k.a. monitize it. That’s great and I should probably pay attention to some of those folks…because I think Twitter is the new AOL. Remember that service?
Back in the early to mid- 199o’s America Online (AOL) was a budding service with “only” 200,000 - 300,000 users - in 1992 that was a big number. You paid between $4.95 - $9.95 a month. With that fee you also got a set number of minutes over which you paid a per minute fee - exactly as your cell phone provider does today.
Well some people (me included) got hooked and racked up ginormous monthly bills in the HUNDREDS of dollars each month - $300 and more. That money rate began to grow with the population until AOL made what turned out to be a landmark pricing decision — $19.95 (then more) per month for unlimited minutes. Old line purests berated AOL for opening up the service to people who will never use it the way we knew it was designed to be…It didn’t matter.
AOL continued to grow to 10 million, 12 million members in no time. The original use of the tool was morphing into something new. Some liked it, some didn’t. Some just used it as a tool to chat, some figured out how to make money with it.
Personally I think this is the same sort of trend with Twitter. It has experienced explosive growth over the past year and there is no sign that it will stop. New addon tools are being added all the time and many people are trying to “improve upon perfection” with their own version of the home page skin so to speak…that tells me it here to stay.
Twitter Offshoots & Gadgets
Some of the addon and independent tools that I’ve checked out and/or currently use today are included in this short list. There are tons more and even some Directory of Twitter Adons:
- TweetDeck.com - A new cool looking Java based interface that replaces the generic website.
- TwitterGadget.com - A different web based user interface for the Twitter Home page
- TweetLater.com - A service that allow you to actually schedule when your Tweets are posted
- TweetMyBlog.com - A service that has many functions related to combining the ability to automatically post Tweets on Blogs and vice versa. They also have other products to help you with your Tweeting and Blogging.
- TwitterHandbook.com - The most widely known and used handbook for using Twitter and it’s various capabilities.
The Bottom Line
Personally, I think Twitter is a good tool. It will grow and it will be bought by someone who sees it’s potential for lots of things and it will become what it’s going to become. I use Twitter for talking to friends, but I also use it to grow my network, and to market things - including this blog. Regardless of how you feel about Twitter, it is still free and there is seemingly no end to the creativity of people and their ability to find new and different uses for this incredibly popular.
I say go for it…Figure out how YOU want to use Twitter as it is today and map out your strategy accordingly!!
Enough for now…Tell me what you think!!
Not Withstanding The Foregoing,
Ross
P.S. - I guess I should put my Twitter ID on the page!!
