Twitter isn’t that different from Facebook
I got in this conversation with my husband this morning about Twitter.
He, like many of my friends, doesn’t perceive Twitter as something that is as pervasive as Facebook or YouTube. It is also thought that Twitter is more of an emerging tool compared to others.
The question is: “Is there a different, natural progression of how Twitter will grow as a social networks, (where when social products become more mainstream, corporations start joining the crowd)?
I thought this was an interesting question because it affirms that those who use social networking tools tend not to use all that are available. Certain groups of people will associate themselves with one social networking tool and not others. Those “others” are seen as less pervasive, less popular and in some cases, less successful models of social networking and crowd-sourcing.
I do have some thoughts on what groups of people tend to use which social networking tools. Think of it as cliques in a high school. Different people hang out in different cliques, while there are some folks who are cool with everyone all around (and use all social networking tools.)
For now I’ll just comment on Twitter and mention others in a different post.
Twitter users are in a group that I like to think of as “Fledglings.”
You tend to see a lot of start-ups, bloggers and small businesses on Twitter a lot. In other words, those who tend to be more mobile heavy. These are people who embrace new media technologies and don’t stop to ask what is it but figure out what they want to use it for.
I have been there as part of my personal Twitter community…it is a nice way to “escape” from your one person office and stay connected to the world at large and keep up on the news. And, those in Africa with limited access to robust tools have made Twitter their communication vehicle as well.
