9xb - Creating Online Success

IS TWITTER USEFUL?

Twitter was founded in 2006, making it just two years younger than Facebook. However, despite being half the age Twitter doesn't enjoy half the popularity - it has just over 2 million accounts compared to Facebook's 36 million in the US alone. Twitter may be a much-stripped-down service but that alone doesn't account for the fact that so far, people don't seem to have jumped onto the bandwagon.

The idea behind Twitter is that you make small updates on what you're doing, as often as you like. These updates are seen by your 'followers' and you see the updates of anyone you're 'following'. It's incredibly simple and I think this has been its downfall to a lot of potential users - I know several people who've taken one look and said "what's the point?" If you rarely use the status update on Facebook you're never going to use Twitter instead - most people simply don't care to know what anyone else is up to!

A particularly vicious circle is the low Twitter membership. I have a Twitter account but out of all my email contacts only 3 use the service. This means there are 3 people on Twitter I actually know - as a supposed 'social network' it really doesn't work for me.

Twitter does have a use however and some companies and individuals have cottoned on. They don't use the updates to tell people what they're doing - no one cares that you're watering the garden or feeding the cat - they tell people something useful. Matt Cutts for example, head of webspam at Google, uses Twitter to post interesting links and news about industry conferences. The BBC Twitters news headlines. If you think of Twitter as a cross between a personal and a professional network, keeping you in the loop, it suddenly becomes interesting.

On Twitter, it's perfectly alright to follow people you don't know. This means that despite not knowing anyone personally you can be a part of their network. If there's a big name in your industry - follow them! If you're the big name or you own a company, start posting useful information for your customers. Twitter may not be 'social' but it could be fantastic for information-sharing.

Today's Moral

More people need to use Twitter for it to really work but you can stay ahead of the game by joining now. It will never be as big as Facebook but has great potential for interaction between companies and customers, experts and those who idolise them.

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