Is it just me or has Twitter just leapt into the mainstream?
Everywhere you look, people are getting on Twitter. Jon Stewart is talking about Twitter, they’re talking about Twitter on Good Morning America, and politicians, athletes and celebrities are on Twitter. Even my father is curious about Twitter.
So what’s behind the fascination and enthusiastic embrace of Twitter?
Aside from the fact Twitter lets people exchange ideas, thoughts and content, Twitter has resonated because it’s easy. Weighing in at only 140 characters, Twitter is a snack food while blogging is a four-course meal. You can Twitter in seconds, and get instant-gratification while a blog post can take time and thought.
Given we live in a fast-moving world in which we’re all suffer from attention deficit disorder to one degree or another, Twitter fits into our collective psyche. With Twitter, you don’t have to think much about it, invest much time in it, or spend too much time learning how to use it.
What’s interesting about Twitter’s move into the mainstream is the reaction of the Twitterrati who have seen Twitter as a private club or quasi-closed community over the past two years. Case in point is Ross Mayfield, who wrote a post last week about “Mourning the loss of Twitter”, and how spam and fake accounts are ruining the Twitter experience.
To me, Mayfield is being overly-dramatic, and discounting the fact Twitter – the platform – will evolve as it becomes larger and turns itself into a business.
Twitter is changing as more people use it for different reasons. It’s no longer the toy for the leading edge and bleeding edge but that’s okay.
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4 Comments
I agree that Twitter is soon going to be mainstream. But there is one more aspect to the feeling 'Whether everybody is on Twitter'. When you start using a web service or any new product, you start searching for people using it or it sometimes look they found you. When I started using Twitter, I found a lot of people to follow, but none of them I personally knew. Still many of my friends have not joined Twitter.
John,
I agree that Twitter is far from being ubiquitous but it seems to be on its way to gaining widespread acceptance.
I entirely agree with you, Twitter is getting much more popular. However, it still has less that a fourth as many users as Facebook and it does not even begin to approach Google's popularity.
Thanks,
Nate
I think we are past whether Twitter is mainstream. Fact is, the deep displacement of highly educated people, the Obama campaign and relationships to media journalists, and evolution of the web, comes together at a watershed moment enabling Twitter to gain popularity quickly. Its our job, as early adopters, to be inventive, and "disciplined" in how to create economic value. We are all learning together…