Twitter is used in a variety of ways including connecting with friends and family, emergency communications, sales and marketing, customer support, and branding. While only 7% of the US population uses Twitter, those who do are more likely to follow brands and post content daily. Twitter users also tend to be innovators who prefer the internet to television and are very engaged with blogging, commenting, and reviews. Ultimately, Twitter facilitates personal connections more so than discussing community or business topics.
22. Who Uses Twitter? Only 7 percent US population (17M) More than 3x more likely to follow brands 18% Tweet >1 per day Slightly more women than men (53%) Self-identify as innovators (19%) and early adopters (25%) Prefer Internet to TV
23. We’re Opinionated … and Literate 72 percent publish blog posts at least monthly 70 percent comment on blogs 61 percent write at least one product review monthly 61 percent comment on news sites
On March 23, 2009, CNN tweeted that a C-17 transport plane had crashed near Olney, Texas. Within 30 minutes, skeptical posts began entering the Twitter stream; the Air Force corrected the record in less than an hour. Then California – plane did crash. Then AirForce1 buzzing NYC – 2-for-3
For roaming street vendors, forging customer loyalty used to be an uphill struggle, hampered by frequent location changes and inclement weather. Twitter accounts provide these businesses with a sense of permanence, a site (albeit in cyberspace) to create customer relationships rather than being at the mercy of random passersby.The Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck opened in November 2008. By February 2009, it was drawing 300 to 800 people to its locations, where tacos cost $2.By January 2010, Kogi had four trucks and 52,000 Twitter followers; in 2009, Kogi grossed about $2 million from checks that averaged about $13 a person.Today: 75K followers. Still primarily a one-way account.
“Influence”?http://www.heidi-miller.com/2010/09/why-no-one-clicks-on-your-twitter-links.htmlThe clickthrough rates of the last week's Tweets. What I saw surprised me for one primary reason: the type of Tweet that consistently got the most clickthroughs, on a daily basis, was not original content spilling from my brain, helpful links to popular events or even single reTweets of valuable content. It was an automated Tweet… averages ten times the number of clickthroughs as any of my original content Tweets.Ten. Times. As in, my last few Slideshare posts have averages about 20 clickthroughs each, and the Paper.li Social Media Favorites Tweet averages about 220 clickthroughs.
Bridge – example of “engagement” – actively reaching out to PR community
In the beginning, there was the word and it was spoken. Each stage of mediated communication has meant a change in power relationship. First, alphabet empowered those who could read/write. Then printing press began chipping away at that power – monopoly. Then mass media consolidated it again. Now digital technologies are chipping away at those institutions.
Control Hertz anecdote – people who designed this could not have used it. Bingo! One-way communication not “engagement” even though I’m “interacting” with the web site. CONTROL!Personal – relationship of peers – flattens hierarchy – captures sense of interpersonal
Not social. Not personal as in deepest secrets. Personal as in person-to-person. Human. Stories, perhaps.
Brands know this – this is classic recommendation from a “friend”. Used to be strong ties .. Now? Can a one-way tie be strong, ie, influential?http://smg.media.mit.edu/classes/library/granovetter.weak.ties/granovetter.html
There’s that word again! This research came from a world where these life spheres were distinct. I’d argue that with 24x7 connectivity, the distinction between spheres is diminishing. Twitter is one technology that may be pushing this.http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.128.7760&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Twitter is an infrastructurefor communicating – reflects evolution from telegraph to telephone thru email and IM. Really big difference: Private messages made public. Ramifications of this change … are for a crystal ball.