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I have been wanting to write a post like this for awhile. Over the past couple of months I have been giving seminars in and out of Indianapolis over the topic of Social Media. Guess which question comes up when talking about the tools you can use online?
What is Twitter? Why and how do you use it?
It never fails. No matter where I am at or what I am talking about… there is always a question about Twitter. Do you know what I say? It is different every time. I always try to give the universal definition of Twitter:
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Or a personal definition from a blog like MovinMeat:
Twitter is a fun and occasionally useful social networking app. You’re basically supposed to give frequent updates on what you are doing and pithy observations on life, in short 140-character clips, or “tweets.” It’s sort of like text-messaging the entire world, as they are public feeds.
Through reading multiple blogs, articles, and opinions on the definition of Twitter… I have come to the understanding that the lack of an identifying value statement is keeping Twitter from hitting the mainstream marketing. I’m talking from 2 million to 50 million users.
Small businesses and big corporations alike have huge problems if their value statement does not line up to the ideas of the people behind the brand. I believe that Twitter is going to have a problem hitting the mainstream market if they cannot push a message out to the users. A message that contains a universal value statement that helps the “viral marketing” aspect push the online tool.
Give me something sticky. Give me something I can yell at the top of my lungs. Help me become an evangelist.
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Comments
02.09.09
On the contrary, Twitter is a very sticky service. I think the definitions you wrote are actually strikingly similar, but are just laid out in different syntax. People have their own definitions of Twitter which makes it so powerful - people use it in the way that suits them. Similarly, I challenge you to find a universal definition of blog. After the basics, it's just what it means to the individual.
02.24.09
Rebecca, I think Kyle's point is that Twitter's value statement, whatever it is, is not sticky enough for mass market appeal. Twitter is a bit too obtuse for the general public at this point. You're a blogger, and as such your web sensibilities are significantly more heightened than the mainstream user to which the article is referring, and, as such, whether or not it's sticky to you isn't as relevant. Not to say your opinion doesn't count, just that whatever you're finding of value in Twitter is not being perceived by the less savvy users who need much more blatant hooks to be interested in this service.
I think one point of resistance is that Twitter requires the user to put in effort to get something out of it. You can't just join and immediately get benefit. Even if you don't tweet at all and follow a ton of people, the non-threaded messaging, the strange @ and d conventions, not to mention #tags and other abbreviations, are not readily apparent to the newbie, requiring an investment of time to understand the system. I do not mean to be cynical in saying this, but the general populist user is not interested in doing much work online. They want things to be easy and simple, and pushed to them. Twitter requires more than that at this stage, not much, but still enough to make the general user quickly lose interest in the service and not even get the point.
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