I’m not a twit(erer).

Posted April 18th, 2007 at 6:09pm

Twitter is for the birds geeks.

First, I just want to say that I love that Twitter has created a new word/activity: twittering (the act of answering the question, “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less). Any time a business creates a new word and sends it out into the word to find eventual acceptance and usage is a beautiful thing to me. How far this will all get into the ‘real world’ has yet to be determined, but blogging caught on, right?

For myself, I don’t twitter - yet. That’s not to say that I *will*, but I don’t right now. However, the idea of ‘microblogging’ fascinates me. I am less interested in something like Twitter, and more interested in how this concept can be applied to existing business models and niches to improve community and overall stickiness.

For example, if you own a site for biking enthusiasts, wouldn’t this format be a great way to hook up with people or find a riding partner on short notice? (”Riding Old Man’s Pass at 1 pm - looking for a partner.” or “Amazing sunset here…”)

Or what about a site for moms? One of the hardest things about be a new mom is the feeling of isolation (ask me how I know :D), and this ’stream of consciousness’ type of blogging allows for mini cries for support to be sent out into the universe (and knowing moms, those yells will be answered!). I know moms could use a place where their contribution takes just mere moments.

Or how about a site for “twittering” by brides to be? (”I just got the call that my dress is ready!!!)

I know, I know - you are probably thinking, “But there are blogs and message boards for all that stuff!” True, but it’s not the same, and clearly the Twitter format of short messages sent throughout the day is working. The question really is if it can catch fire outside of the early adopters. Perhaps it’s best to watch competitors like Jaiku to gauge widespread interest. Isn’t this just a natural evolution? Building websites is harder than blogging, which is harder than microblogging…

So why are people interested in reading about what other people are doing with their dog at any given point in time? See, that’s the part that’s easy to miss. It’s not that I care about random dog interactions that are posted to Twitter throughout the day, but I DO care about my close friends online - and online is really the only way that I know some of them. Perhaps we are just looking for a way to better connect?

I suppose you could say that I can ‘opt in’ to the lives of those that I care about online. I get a view that I didn’t have before. It’s strange, because it’s almost like it let’s us get a little closer while not increasing our interaction level with those people. That’s a whole other post, I think.

Alright, back on track here… what’s REALLY interesting to me is the way that you can gather data and segment users. You can identify and follow trends within the group by tracking the frequency of phrases and ideas. You can identify who the early adopters are and who spreads ideas the fastest. If your group is based on something like bike riding, you can easily segment users based on bike make or preferred terrain by simply asking a few questions for a profile area (or maybe you already have that info - which is even better!). Just imagine all the information you can collect and mash together… To me, this is the coolest part. Curious about the talk about Starbucks on Twitter? Might Starbucks consider following trends and products on their own?

I’m not totally done with this microblogging stuff, but these are my initial thoughts. I think we’ll see more adaptations and certainly some more copycats in the not too distant future. For more sites like this, check out Dodgeball, Tumblr (what, no E?), and Jaiku.

So, are you twittering?

(BTW, this post took for-freakin-ever to write… I kept getting sucked in to learning more about this stuff! Must… blog… faster…)

Filed under I Have an Idea - Now What?, Taking Action, Show Me the Ad Money

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