Yes, Twitter is revolutionary--just not in the way you think

I thought Twitter hype had reached a fever pitch with the big Oprah appearance. Boy, was I ever wrong.

If it isn't Time magazine's "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live" cover story, it's the widely-circulated Comedy Central clips of co-founder Biz Stone's April appearance on "The Colbert Report," or it's chairman Jack Dorsey, in New York for this week's Internet Week festivities, showing up in society-blog photos from the sidelines of a Diane von Furstenberg fashion show. (OMG!) When I was joking about Twitter's executives reaching pop-idol ubiquity, I didn't think it'd be this soon that they'd start to seem like a slightly older, slightly less puppy-faced set of Jonas Brothers. Twitter and its creators are unavoidable.

But there's something nobody's really saying about Twitter throughout all this: Not everyone is going to use this service. Far from it, in fact. Its mainstream impact could very well have nothing to do with TweetDeck, hashtags, or even the name "Twitter" itself.

The Business Insider did a nice by-the-numbers of exactly what Twitter's explosion amounts to: 60 percent of users quit after a month, ten percent account for 90 percent of all "tweets," et cetera. All these numbers point to one fact: Twitter is high-maintenance. Even if you're only using it to read the latest updates from a few publications and some of your favorite bands, you're still reading about them in short bites that flow in a relatively inefficient manner. Parsing the noise takes effort; participating in it takes even more.

Compare that to Facebook: you can create a static profile, check in every few days, get an e-mail alert when a former high school classmate has added you as a friend, and you're all set. There are loads of apps on the social network if you feel like playing a round of poker or pretending to turn your friends into vampires, but at its most basic level, it doesn't require much effort to stay active on Facebook. Not so with Twitter.

The company's executives seem to acknowledge that in order to reach those who won't get involved otherwise, Twitter has to think outside the 140-character box (er, stream) and get the news industry involved. These people who don't actively participate in Twitter--you know, the 60 percent who drop out after a month--are going to know Twitter as something that enhances the news they already read and watch.

"One thing that's missing from it is the editorial. I think a cohesive narrative around all these reports is missing," said Jack Dorsey at Internet Week's I Want Media panel on Wednesday, just a few hours before he was looking worthy of any gossip magazine's annual eligible bachelors list at that Diane von Furstenberg show. "Bringing journalistic integrity to this mass of messages happening in real time is still very important."

In other words, Twitter's executives realize that the product in and of itself doesn't suffice universally for a legitimate, lasting mainstream reach--namely, an impact on people who aren't going to use Twitter otherwise. There are already dozens of developer applications making it possible to customize and enhance the service. The company is now working actively with media outlets on what it calls the "creative API", integrations of Twitter into content like Current TV's news programming and MTV's forthcoming "It's On With Alexa Chung." That's the beginning of what Dorsey was alluding to on Wednesday.

As more media deals roll in, the question to explore is whether this will, paradoxically, dilute Twitter's reach (and potential for profits) as a company. Once something becomes a standard rather than a brand, it gets tougher for a single company to make money off it. Think about instant messaging: Millions of us use AIM, but AOL isn't getting any ad revenue from those of us who are using it on universal IM clients like Pidgin or Adium.

The Twitter guys have built a great product, and to their credit, I don't think any of them have ever gone on the record saying that they hope to turn all six or seven billion or however many people there are on the planet into active users. It's not that this "Twitter is revolutionary" talk isn't true. Twitter is revolutionary in the sense that it turned the world on to a whole new form of information consumption--real-time, public conversations, aggregated and searchable. But just like blogging or instant messaging, this is going to get bigger than a single brand or company.

Jack Dorsey said in the same event at Internet Week New York that "Twitter's a success for us when people stop talking about it." He's right. But that implies a few things: one, that the hype and wildfire adoption will die down; two, that Twitter will fade into the background as the mainstream starts to recognize it as something they see on TV news broadcasts rather than a nifty, trendy tool for informing the world what you're doing; and three, that as other innovative companies catch on, the "real-time streaming conversations" phenomenon will expand beyond this one microblogging service. Twitter's legacy may very well have the word "Twitter" left out of it.

For the 140-zillionth time, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

[Markus644]

Couldn't agree more. All the hypesters are touting twitter as a revolutionary communications change. It does provide a new way to consume and distribute information (whether it's revolutionary is open to debate), but communication is only impactful if it motivates people to take an action, something twitter isn't doing particularly well. In a few, select cases it is being used to motivate action (Blue State Digital is a great example). But, IMHO, the vast majority of content on twitter is trivial or vertical marketing.

Some argue that it enables customer service, but so does a telephone - that's not revolutionary. Some argue that you can build brand with it, but I have yet to see a case study on how 140-character strings have measurably & demonstrably solidifed anyone's brand.

In the end, twitter can be an important part of an electronic communications strategy for any entity. But it's not a revolution in and of itself.

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Count me as a twitter hater. Some people need a large following for any self-worth.

[dccyra]

I prefer to use a different 140-character social media site called Plurk. Their timeline setup is much more visually appealing than the "newsfeed" sort of setup that Twitter has. I never really interacted with Twitter much though because by the time I picked up a Twitter account, everybody I knew on it had already started to move over to Plurk. It's kind of like when you're going to meet your friends at a bar and as you're walking up everybody's leaving for the next.

I think in a business sense there is value, but, like Markus said above, it hasn't been proven yet. Things like "the first ## of people to respond to this will get a special discount code good for this weekend" could definitely work and build brand loyalty. It will keep your customers engaged in watching your feed because they never know when their next chance at snagging a discount will show up. I've had that a few times where a local radio station has offered up free tickets to shows for the first people to respond to a Facebook message.

[MrZook]

Hmm. Just about any change they make to Twitter will just make it more like something else that is already out there. I like Facebook for the ability to post a status update, link, photo, or video, all from the same box. And I can modify what my "news feed" shows me.

Revolutionary: (adjective) radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure, principles, etc.

Twitter this ain't.

[madmongol]

I agree that Twitter changes the type of communication individuals can have in that it introduces a new and effective twist to existing communication. Real time discussion in such a participative way is fairly new in that builds upon new capabilities on the internet creating new paradigms. Do not forget how much real time events such as the attacks in Mumbai or the safe water landing emerged and spread quickly via Twitter rivaling many other traditional media. It's easy to dismiss what Twitter has done and most certainly there is room for improvement (i.e. Plurk, FriendFeed, and others). Also the ability not guarantee to create a more authentic and real time participative experience with others does not remove other avenues but instead creates and complements existing methods. Zappos, Comcast, and Threadless are examples of companies that use Twitter in different ways to extend their community presence and participation. Admittedly numbers are a bit vague or perhaps not acceptable to traditional means, but that is the great thing about choice. If you there is no need to be connected to your community via Twitter then do not participate. However, keep in mind that in a challenging economy such as ours, every opportunity is critical and essential. Ultimately I relish seeing where the next level goes based on what Twitter has introduced to the world. Great article!

[itsaspork]

I get tremendous value from Twitter on my iPhone - I never visit it on a computer. it's an essentially mobile tool that places you right next to the people you follow wherever they are.
Twitter is also a headline medium quickly replacing TV news, telling you in a quick bite what to pay attention to.
It's also a way for news and opinion bloggers to quickly inform their followers what's going on and what they're thinking. Seth Finkelstein made the point in the GuardianUK that this is the Chattering Classes talking amongst themselves.
Maybe. But the followers of old-school memes like #liesboystell shows that it's also a popular communications platform, like everything the Internet enables, adding ever-more presence to the Web.

[Jimmy371]

UTTER BS. Twitter is nothing more than texting, except you get overloaded with all these messages. I don't text. I don't get news pop-ups. I don't follow anyone or anything. I don't tell the world what every thought in my head is or what I am doing. Twitter is just another push technology. I use RSS when I want to find out the latest and greatest. By definition, my info is sorted according to company and category. I don't have to go wading.

I'm sure everyone will be yelling at me that I don't "get it". What I do get is that Twitter is just like the emperor with no clothes, and no one wants to admit it and they're just following the hip crowd that's oohing and aahing at nothing.

[Harrison912]

I use Twitter as well as other social sites to raise awareness for my safety and security web site and its products. It's an effecient way to get the news out regarding a sale or important safety issue so I think it has it's place. Other business owners have found it usefull in staying in touch with their customers as well. Thanks, Caroline, for sharing your perspective.

[PlumbBobMR]

Caroline: I remember standing in my stock broker's office the day the Netscape IPO went off. He asked me if I would buy the stock, and I said no, I didn't understand the business model. Twitter reminds me of that. In both cases I see (or saw) potential, but I really don't know what the final outcome will be. Judging from what I'm reading, and the comments I've seen, neither does anybody else.

Best Wishes,
Scott Charles
PlumbBob Research

[giventofly1]

Entry message
I don't know if I'm being dense or pointing out the blindingly obvious but it seems to me that there is something missing form the gateway to social networking for the newcomer, especially Twitter. Which is this call it a greeting. I think it should run something like this and should be placed before the words What are you doing? :-

Welcome to the New Electronic Worldwide Society N.E.W.S.
Join the crowd, search for friends. Filter what you want to hear. Keep an open mind and an open heart, we are all human, well hopefully.
In this place people of the world come to talk share and go forward. The world is changing.... What are you doing?

[rtango]

I think the real strength of twitter is simply that it makes group communication quick and simple from anywhere.

Sure, there's a lot of noise, but the 140 character limit makes it simple to pick out valuable streams at a glance and ignore those that don't. As a professional chocolatier, I use Twitter to exchange tips with others in the field, get updates from vendors, and keep up with developing news in the chocolate and cacao industry worldwide. In return, I try to provide information that others will be interested in: tasting notes and technical tips. The best part is that I can read and post from anywhere and it takes almost no time to do so. (A good thing, since I'd rather spend my time making chocolate).

I've lately been exchanging thoughts about this stuff with Tom Raffio, CEO of Northeast Delta Dental in NH (http://tomraffio.wordpress.com), as a lot of the local businesses have been struggling with the Twitter / social media thing. If they're lucky, maybe they'll figure out that the whole social media wave is something to take part in rather than something to make use of. We'll see.