By Nathan Hangen, follow him @nhangen.
I’m still amazed by the people that think Twitter is nothing more than a fad that is soon to disappear. That’s what they said about MySpace, then Facebook too. Obviously, nothing lasts forever, but by the looks of it Twitter isn’t going anywhere in the near future.
Just take a look at who is using Twitter these days:
- Movie Stars
- Musicians
- Radio and TV Personalities
- Authors
- Marketers
- Athletes
- Etc
The list goes on and on. People are getting on Twitter at an amazing rate and although many don’t use it much, those that do spend more time on Twitter than on any other social network. Twitter integrates easily with blogs and website, but it is also easy to use via a variety of clients. I can Tweet from my iPhone, upload pictures on the go with Twitpic, and even send Tweets straight to my MySpace and Facebook accounts in seconds.
Twitter is fresh, but it’s also relevant. News spreads virally on Twitter faster than it can hit CNN. Professionals use it to spread the word about their latest products and services, while businesses use it to keep consumers up to date. The local 5 O’clock news uses it to get feedback on coverage, and small businesses use it to offer special discounts and coupons.
There is no limit to what Twitter can be used for, but it isn’t for a lack of trying. Every day programmers and designers are creating new applications to test Twitter uses and its limits. Every day there is a new way to use it. I’m in the business of staying up to date with Twitter and even I can’t keep up. It is growing at an exponential pace.
Business are making a living by offering Twitter services, clients, and software suites. Sure, it might be a little risky to stake the future of your business on an online service that isn’t profitable yet, but if I were a betting man I’d say that Twitter is the perfect vehicle to ride to internet stardom. Twitter’s rise is so huge, I liken it to a mini dot-com opportunity that you can ride into more profitable ventures. Twitter’s climate is the perfect breeding ground for startups, tech junkies, and software developers.
Yeah, I expect something to replace Twitter down the road, but I give it at least 2-3 years of solid growth before it levels off. That’s plenty of time for you to jump on the bandwagon and make something happen. Even if Twitter only lasts a year, you’ve got plenty of time to make some waves and build a following. Twitter connects people better than any other service can…people want that. 3 years ago I couldn’t imagine using something like Twitter to talk to the world, now I can’t imagine a world without it. Twitter is now the default agent for spreading news and information and it is a preferred way to connect with people all across the globe. You can try to convince yourself that Twitter won’t be around long, but soon you’ll have to find an excuse for why you were wrong. What’s the point in trying to fight the future of communication?
Remember that guy that you make fun of for talking about walking to school for 10 miles in the snow without shoes? That’s what the guy that thinks Twitter is already dead sounds like. Don’t knock it until you try it, that’s my recommendation.
[image credit: Matt Hamm]
@roweenaweb
Gosh I completely read the title of this post wrong and thought you meant it wasn’t going anywhere as it it’s not worthwhile!! Phew, glad I’m wrong. Great article!
@rahuljrark
Twitter is here to stay for a really long time. The speed with which we get and spread news is amazing. We can also connect with celebs which wasnt possible earlier. I love Twitter
@Lucid00
lol, I find it funny that you start your argument by stating that Twitter isn’t going anywhere because it has movie stars, musicians, radio and TV personalities, authors, marketers and athletes. All of which have been on MySpace, and MySpace is currently declining in use at a 50% rate.
I agree with the rest of your argument though (regarding businesses that run on Twitter), but your introduction to it wasn’t much of a strong statement.
@hiannie
JB Walker – You’re No One If You’re Not On Twitter Twitter verses are quite rubbish, but most of us are quite refine…….
@srpatterson
Access into the worlds of celebrities in business, sports, and entertainment is invaluable. Plus the possibility of interacting with those celebrities is a major benefit of Twitter.
@live2learn
I love Twitter because it is quick, and I can jump in whenever I have a moment. I sometimes look back at some of the tweets I have missed, but most of the time, I find so much info in current tweets that I don’t even bother. There is always someone interesting to interact with. I find inspiration, ideas, advice, humor and a gazillion resources every day! I love it!
@nhangen
@Rowan – haha, I didn’t even think of that when I wrote it, good catch and glad I’m on the right side
@Hugh – sure, Myspace is declining, but how many key niche/brand players really used it the way that they use Twitter? Musicians maybe, but not much more. People are still learning how to use Facebook correctly, and it seems to be doing well even with the competition of Twitter. The fact is, Twitter is removing the middleman.
@markshaw
Great article.. the reason why Twitter will be around for ages in my view, is that the value of Twitter is not in the website.. in fact the website is quite poor.. The real value is in the information that you can access. Real people, talking about real stuff right now and in real time… that is priceless…
Mark
@MaricrisG
Like any new gadget, you have to let it grow on you and find its’ potential and how it will WORK for you. Some people just don’t get Twitter but then again those who do finds joy in it!
@jaredotoole
Twitter is def. around to stay. There is so much force behind it. I mean it will fade out one day but thats how the world works. Things come and go. The point is twitter is to big to ignore from a marketing or business standpoint. Theres to much opportunity on it for your brand to shrug it off and say its to late. Thats just making excuses and you will be waiting a long time for it to die out.
@TMDesign
Good show on this post! I totally agree. Way too many people underestimate the power of Twitter (including myself only a few months ago). Don’t “bash” it until you try it!
Thanks for the article,
Matt
@tweeminence
Not only does twitter have star power, but, and I think this is much more important for long term survival, it also provides an instant news source.
In the past, if a major news story was breaking, I went to CNN.com and they usually had a quick article with limited details.
Now, I just go to Twitter, click on the story in trending topics, and I’ve got a ton of varying viewpoints, links to numerous articles, and details of the story instantly. Not even google gives you that.
@skyrank
Through its minimalist approach and extreme usability, Twitter is by far the most expansively useful social network.
@tim_gregory
“Access into the worlds of celebrities in business, sports, and entertainment is invaluable. Plus the possibility of interacting with those celebrities is a major benefit of Twitter.”
Sorry, but I find this comment ridiculous… Ashton, Puffy, even Guy Kawasaki don’t care what you have to saw… they’re just broadcasting to you via a new medium. Loads of celebs hire people to tweet for them anyway, so if you think you’ve found a magical key to the celeb kingdom, I’m afraid you’re wrong. I’ve blogged about whether Twitter is really a conversation or not over here – http://tim-gregory.com/2009/07/twitter-%E2%80%93-conversation-or-not/ drop me a comment if you have anything to add
@billwaters
Yes and No. I absolutely see the value in Twitter. Like most, it took me a while to appreciate how it could be used. In fact, I thought it was totally useless until I started following relevant people. Prior to that, the people I followed merely wanted to see themselves speak. I couldn’t agree more about the value now, and I instruct businesses how to use it effectively.
I am concerned about the viability of the service though. Without any clear business model, or any prospective model that can pay for the bandwidth, the servers and the management of the service, I have trouble believing it could last too long. I hope for our sake, and theirs, that they come up with something quick and that it works.
Myspace became an advertising screw up. Once Rupert got his traditional media hands on it, it was doomed. Facebook is about to experience the same pain. I’m already seeing my kids move to other venues. They’re usually a good indicator of the life expectancy of a network.
Now that Twitter has reached critical mass, the spammers are hard at it. They’re doing an ok job at shutting them down, but with little infrastructure, it’s going to be hard to keep up to it. I do wish them luck though!
@carocc
My view of Twitter is that it is a microcosm of the World Wide Web. More specifically Twitter can be viewed as World Wide Web was in 1995-1997 when Internet use really began to expand exponentially.
It seemed that everyday produced a new use for the World Wide Web and along the way many uses for the World Wide Web were not appealing or really “useful” for many of the people using the World Wide Web.
In fact, many people viewed some of the new uses as ether a complete waste of time or a totally inappropriate use for the Internet. For some people they were correct on both counts, but the World Wide Web continued to grow.
People learned ways to channel their use of the World Wide Web in ways where they could see what they wanted to see while avoiding what they did not want to see.
Such is the case with Twitter. Now when talking about using Twitter I like to tell people that in coming to Twitter they should have a mission objective and while they are using Twitter they should remember those “Fidelity” commercials on TV where the folks are reminded to stay on the “green line”. In both cases straying can diminish the benefits. With Twitter straying from the line opens a person to a “stream of consciousness” that can flood out everything that brought the person to Twitter in the first place.
@nhangen
Tim – When I refer to celebrity access (I’m certainly not a US Weekly reader or celebrity junkie), I’m mostly referring to the manner in which Twitter cuts out the middle man. Sure many celebs hire people to Tweet for them, but the point is that Twitter is connecting EVERYONE.
Bill – Spammers are certainly a problem…I wish I were a programmer so I could come up with something nifty to fix it.
Charles – Great points, although sometimes it is fun to just BS with people when you are bored or trying to kill time. Still, having a goal for any activity is important if you plan to use it to increase productivity.
Twitter isn’t going anywhere because the internet is full of morons who like to hear themselves talk and operate on the assumption that everyone else in the world gives a goddamn what they’re doing or thinking at any given moment.
^ Case in point.
As far as “look who’s using it” is concerned, who gives a shit? Western societies’ focus on celebrities is assbackwards to begin with– celebrities are some of the most worthless, unproductive, insincere people on the face of the planet and our constant obsession with them and their vapid, grotesque lifestyles is absurd.
With regard to the “instant access to news,” shit you read on twitter is not news, it’s rumor and hearsay at best. Mind you, more traditional news sources also spew garbage 24/7 as well so I suppose it’s possible that information you receive through twitter may be just as useful as something you may hear through more established media. Now you can get your panic-mongering, Michael-Jackson worshiping, irrelevant stories in a more diluted, more distorted and less-regulated setting. Fantastic.
As with most new forms of communication 99% of the information disseminated through social networking sites is utterly worthless and trivial. Since people have a fetish for delving into heaps of trivial and worthless information and then discussing it at length in order to fill their otherwise hollow lives and provide a sense of being involved in something I’m sure twitter will be with us for as long as the marketeers at whatever media conglomeration owns / will own it can keep it trendy!
@popboom
I think the point is– not– that movie stars are using Twitter! I think it is the reality show concept, real people are interesting. Movie stars have a job that they do real well, but if you follow their personal life you rob yourself of your own. Connecting with people on twitter is more interesting than finding out what Oprah had for lunch.
@onviolence
I think this article underestimates the severe difficulty twitter will have in the near future, for almost the same reasons myspace is suffering now. There is a mad rush for people to have as many friends as possible, people that they have no reason to be follow, just like myspace. And eventually, people will seek out more genuine communication. My basic question is whether a facebook-esque alternative to twitter (maybe facebook itself) will take it over.
Also, myspace’s coding is notoriously bad, and twitter infrastructure is just as sub-par.
@themomwrites
Hi,
I agree that Twitter has become the next best thing since sliced bread.. Am a really new user and am loving it.. it does get a little confusing.. and that is when i come here
Keep up the great work and the wonderful posts.. Thanks!