Has Twitter Lost its Luster?
I’m getting tired of Twitter. There are some days when I don’t log on at all. When I do log in, I am wonder to myself; “Is anybody really listening?”
There are some people who are on Twitter constantly, all day long it seems. And it’s fun to see what they are talking about; just like I’m a fly on a wall. But I ask myself, “How do these people find the time to be on Twitter all day?”
I rarely have time to tweet anymore. Instead my time is spent running my business, interacting with clients, or providing services. Sure I could tweet on my cell phone, but as much of a multi-tasker as I already am; it’s difficult to carry on live conversations on Twitter while at the same time providing value to my clients.
I am beginning to think that those people who are on Twitter all day have nothing better to do!
And forget about tweeting, what about listening; paying attention, having a two way conversation? I’m tired of having to wade through gobblety gook to find some real value.
Here are some current postings on my Twitter wall. Look at them. What’s with the first one? What kind of communication is that? “#original #inspiration…bla bla bla. Doesn’t look like a conversation to me.. I don’t know what it is.
eleesha Eleesha
RT @noradnil: #Self-Expression ~ Eleesha.com sharing #original#inspiration & #affirmations to uplift & #inspire U →http://bit.ly/8WYdG0
humphryslocombe humphryslocombe
I’m drunk, and right now I’m so- in love with you…
Evidently I am not alone in my tiredness of Twitter. I recently read an article that validated my Twitter turnover.
According to a recent Pew Research Study, in spite of its worldwide popularity, Twitter has yet to become mainstream. In fact, only 8% of adult Americans use Twitter. And the kicker to the study was that only half of the people who use Twitter actually use it to listen. Thank you Pew Research!
Think about it. What is the first thing you do when you log into your computer every day? For me, it’s Facebook!
Facebook is the second most visited website in the world after Google, according to Alexa.com top website rankings. And the average amount of time that each person spends on Facebook is about 32 minutes per visit.
The user experience on Facebook is quite different from Twitter. When I log into Facebook in the morning, the first thing I do is read through my wall to catch up on what my friends and family are doing/saying. If I want to, I can read for hours. (Twitter limits your reading to about 200 posts.)
Also, because I have put my Facebook friends into groups like Family, Friends, Clients, etc., it’s easy to click on any group name and catch up on my community. While Twitter has the same grouping functionality called lists, the difference is the people who are in the lists. Most of my family does not use Twitter.
Furthermore, because Facebook is a closed environment (meaning friends have to be approved before they can follow us on Facebook), the communications from Facebook followers are more personal, which makes for a more valuable experience. I prefer to spend my time on Facebook.
So what does that mean for marketers? You tell me. Do you think Twitter is losing its luster? Has the novelty worn off for you too? I’m interested to hear your opinion.
January 16th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
I agree that Twitter tries one’s patience. After a couple of years with it, here’s my humble assessment: Twitter is the news, the place of initial posting; it’s the public service announcement or PSA that we used to have in traditional marketing. On Facebook and other vehicles you add the details and discuss.
Somehow, I really love Twitter, even though it still perplexes me. Certainly, it’s my reflexive choice when seeking inspiration.
January 17th, 2011 at 6:42 am
Even though Twitter was built for conversation, many folks really want to use it for broadcasting. When you start seeing hashtags everywhere, you can tell someone really would rather see their tweet on a trending topics list instead of just in your “mention” stream.
Twitter may only represent 8% of Americans, but that 8% includes some pretty strong influencers. The *really* powerful audience on any social networking platform is the group of folks who can manage to take their online engagement into the physical world.
Be careful with being too personal on Facebook, though. The privacy settings for new users (and for many veteran users during a previous reset) are flipped “off” by default. Unless you take the time to manage your settings, your status updates on Facebook are viewable and searchable by anybody outside of your network (especially Google).
January 17th, 2011 at 7:48 am
From my experience, while the going may be slow, Twitter can certainly be an effective marketing tool if done correctly. Most people just sign up for an account, blab about only themselves and then forget about it when nobody recognizes them. But that’s not exactly how Twitter works.
Twitter takes a lot of time and attention for it to be effective. Most of the time, people just don’t want to devote that must time to it. Which is unfortunate.
Personally I’ve gotten a lot of leads, friends and otherwise directly from Twitter. But this came from a lot of interaction, which means a lot of @’ing and a lot of retweeting.
I just wrote a similar blog post about this that will appear on Friday, so it was interesting that I saw this today.
Great post!
January 17th, 2011 at 8:33 am
Wendy..I don’t even really use twitter to be honest..it just millions of people trying to promote themselves..
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
January 17th, 2011 at 9:07 am
Wendy - thank you so much for writing this…I admit, I tweet, but sometimes it feels like a chore to keep up with it an be constantly present in the 200 tweets allowed. I also feel like - is anybody listening?
I agree - I like the feel of facebook better and it is the first place that I check in the morning, too. It feels more “real” to me.
I do not know the right or wrong answer or opinion….I just know what I prefer.
Thanks - Rachel
January 17th, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Thank you everyone for your comments. We will see how Twitter evolves, or how we do!
January 17th, 2011 at 10:11 pm
Why go to Twitter to connect with people you would unfriend on Facebook? You need to follow different people!
Use lists and search to find information and engagement beyond those that you do choose to follow. If you’re not sure who to follow, start at http://j.mp/FindInfluencers
January 17th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
You might want to take a look at the “strategic approach to using Twitter” infographic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27132029@N06/3022781883/
January 17th, 2011 at 10:21 pm
…and lastly, there is the curation approach: “Why I love Twitter. Economist speaks out:” http://j.mp/i1DRb6
January 18th, 2011 at 11:17 am
I only find Twitter convenient because when I post to Twitter the tweets automatically get posted to my Facebook wall. So you could conceivable just use Twitter to get all your exposure, but I much prefer FB because of the more in depth interaction, plus I’ve never taken the time to learn how all the Twitter features work. I am much more functional on Facebook.
January 18th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
While I follow my friends on Twitter, only a couple marketing type friends actually use it regularly. That said, I think it’s a bona fide new media outlet; a great way for organizations and celebrities to break news.
I use Facebook to follow friends because they use it. But I don’t like Facebook because I think it’s a privacy disaster.
January 19th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
I use Twitter all the time, but I have to agree, it sometimes feels like a waste of time. Maybe if we could just receive and send messages of value to US instead of being spammed. Maybe that’s it? There just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day for it.
Thanks for the post.
January 21st, 2011 at 8:00 am
[...] then saw a post on Monday by Startup Nation titled Has Twitter Lost Its Luster? And it got me thinking…Has it lost its luster? Did it even HAVE luster to begin [...]
January 22nd, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Excellent Article.
I once heard business guru Brian Tracy mention that there are two types of people when it comes to building a business: There are those who focus on activities and there are those who focus on results.
Those who focus on activities are usually taking action on things that are fun and easy to do. Those who focus on results are focusing on proven methods that actually bring in results.
Twitter is nothing more then a cute and fun activity that will simply kill your time.
I get sick to the stomach when I hear marketers talk about creating a “Twitter Strategy”- there is no such thing as a Marketing Strategy for Twitter. It’s like saying that you have a marketing strategy for internet chat rooms.
All the best
Hillel
January 23rd, 2011 at 10:06 am
Well, I never really understood the basic idea of twittering and I do not know anybody actually using it. This article gives me some feedback that maybe I was not totally mistaken.
Also, an interesting survey about the content of twitter messages from 2009:
Pointless babble — 40%
Conversational — 38%
Pass-along value — 9%
Self-promotion — 6%
Spam — 4%
News — 4%
http://www.pearanalytics.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Twitter-Study-August-2009.pdf