All A-Twitter

Category: evokedset news, online PR
Posted by Nicky on 4th February 2009

With a veritable stampede of high-profile sign-ups in recent weeks,  it’s fair to say that microblogging platform Twitter is having something of a ‘moment’.   An estimated 2 million-plus ‘tweets’ are sent each day by over a million active users (which include mainstream media organisations), and we’re already counting down to the 2 billionth post.  Having been well-trained in the art of brevity of expression by our enthusiasm for text messaging, it seems we’re taking to 140-character-limited bon mots like ducks to water.  And the simile is fitting.  One of the best pieces of advice I’ve read is to think of Twitter as a river (and a fast-moving one at that).  Don’t try to keep up with everything - just dip in, take the temperature, enjoy yourself, and then get out.   

While we’re still in learning-and-evolution mode, one of the early lessons from Twitter is how the ascendancy of social networking culture seems to be bringing about a fundamental (because socially-enforced) shift in how certain groups communicate online.  The most significant trends that I see in my online activity are, firstly, the increasingly blurred line between the professional and the personal (this is particularly evident in Twitter due to its inherent transparency) and, secondly, ’hyperinteractivity’ - the ability to engage, critique, challenge, and support myriad individuals and communities in multiple ways and across a mind-boggling array of channels.   It’s an interesting development and, whatever services ultimately triumph, it’s clear that there is a healthy appetite out there for exploring and exploiting these platforms. 

I posted my first tweet almost two years ago but have been Twittering in earnest since the New Year.  You can follow me here: http://www.twitter.com/nickydavis.   

Look forward to seeing you in the Twitterverse but, in the meantime, here are some links to resources that I’ve found useful:

Twitterholic: http://twitterholic.com/
Twitter user rankings and statistics.  With over 100,000 followers, Stephen Fry is ranked 2nd globally but, beaten only by Barack Obama’s team-maintained account, he could accurately be called the top individual Twitterer in the world.

GigaTweet:  http://popacular.com/gigatweet/
A running tweet counter and trend analyser, for graph-lovers everywhere.

TweetDeck: http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta/
Currently in public beta, TweetDeck categorises your Twitter feeds, displays them in manageable columns, and provides a user-friendly dashboard to manage your Twitter activity.  It might sound like overkill for a new user, but it proves surprisingly valuable as your following/follower numbers start to climb.

Valebrity: http://www.valebrity.com
A portmanteau of ‘validated’ and ‘celebrity’, Valebrity is a reference site that separates the real celebrity Twitterers from the (surprisingly common) fakes.  As elsewhere on the web, trust is a real issue on Twitter and, according to WSJ, certifying identity could even be one of the business models that the founders of Twitter pursue in their quest to monetise the service.

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