8/14/2019 Is Twitter Conversation or Broadcast by Brian Solis

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Is Twitter a Conversation or Broadcast Platform?By Brian Solis, blogger at PR 2.0 and principal of FutureWorks PR,Co- Author Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and Now Is Gone

Are we seeing the Twitterverse through rose colored glasses?

In January 2009 I pondered whether or not Twitter was a viable conversation platform.

After all, Twitter is one of the darlings of Social Media and it is conversations and the

democratization of content that fuel the rapid expansion and adoption of social tools and

services.

Just ask any social media "expert" and they'll tell you that you must absolutely establish

a Twitter account and commence the process of responding to everyone who Tweets

about your company, market, or competition. But the more I observe interaction on

social networks, and in the this case Twitter, I believe that sometimes it's effective to

also maintain a presence simply by reading, listening, and sharing relevant and timely

information without yet having to directly respond to each and every tweet - perhaps

replying to only the critical or influential individuals that may need immediate information

or direction to steer strategic activity.

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Before you react, continue reading. Observations are just that, but there are numbers

now surfacing that continue to reinforce my examination .

As Twitter continues to elicit discussions on its cultural and interpersonal impact, in-

depth analysis reveals that perhaps Twitter isn't currently a pervasive platform for

hosting conversations at all. And as Nielsen suggests , with only a 40% retention rate, it

may not be growing as fast as we believe either. As a comparison, during the important

stages of defining growth for MySpace and Facebook, retention averaged 70%.

Yet everywhere you turn, Twitter is regarded as the catalyst for people flocking to

engage in the proverbial "conversation" that is so vital to fostering vibrant online

communities between peers and also brands and consumers.

At a micro level, Twitter is indeed significant . The unique, loyal, and revolutionary culture

and behavior it's inducing may well ignite macro reverberations that ultimately effect

how we discover, share, and consumer information. In the long-term, it will at the very

least, influence human interaction, business services, information dissemination,

events, and also media in general.

Just in the past week, Twitter was Time Magazine's cover story " How Twitter Will

Change the Way We Live ." Sports Illustrated also documented how Twitter is " Rapidly

Changing the Face of Sports ."

This (r)evolution will take time to cross the bell curve of adoption however.

Comscore recently reported that in April, 32 million people around the world visited

Twitter.com, sending the micro-community surging past NYTimes.com , Digg, and

LinkedIn.

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Indeed, statistical exploration indicates Twitter is growing in prominence. But, perhaps

its importance, at this moment in time, is more closely aligned with a powerful, new, and

seemingly engaging one-way broadcasting ecosystem rather than a two-way dialogue

channel we initially suspected.

As observed in a recent Harvard Business Report , the top 10% of prolific Twitter users

accounted for over 90% of tweets. In correlation, the top 10% of users in other typical

social networks account for 30% of all content production. Harvard crystallizes the

gravity of this metric though a parallel comparison of Twitter and Wikipedia, "To put

Twitter in perspective, consider an unlikely analogue - Wikipedia. There, the top 15% of

the most prolific editors account for 90% of Wikipedia's edits."

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The Harvard study also noted that among Twitter users, the median number of lifetime

tweets per user is "one." This equates to over half of Twitter users tweeting less than

once every ~74 days.

According to an analysis of seven million Twitter accounts conducted by Purewire and

presented to TechCrunch, 80% of Twitter accounts have fewer than 10 followers and

30% have zero followers.

Purewire documented Twitter activity by number of followers, followings, and Tweets:

Followers

Accounts with 0 followers: 29.4%

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Accounts with 1 to 9 followers: 50.9%

Accounts with 10 or more followers: 19.7%

Followings

Accounts following 0 people: 24.4%

Accounts following 1 to 9 people: 43.4%

Accounts following 10 or more people: 32.2%

Tweets

Accounts with 0 Tweets: 37.1%

Accounts with 1 to 9 Tweets: 41.0%

Accounts with more 10 or more Tweets: 21.9%

As TechCrunch notes, 1/4 of all Twitter accounts are not following anybody and more

than 1/3 have not posted a single Tweet. Of active accounts, which PureWire defines as

those possessing more than 10 followers, 10 followings, and 10 tweets, 63.6% follower

more people than they have followers and only 2.8% maintain an equal number of

followers and followings.

This is not unlike content production and consumption behavioral patters across the

Social Web however. Looking at Forrester's 2008 Technographics data, a vast majority

of people are merely spectators with less than one quarter actively publishing any

content anywhere.

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Forrester also segments online engagement and participation by analyzing the actions

of individuals who populate the Social Web. They're labeled as Creators, Critics,

Collectors, Joiners, Spectators, Inactives.

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Right now, Twitter and its potential for progress is limited only by the information,

direction, and education provided by Twitter itself in order to demonstrate and teach

existing and new users how to truly use and take advantage of this new and dynamic

information ecosystem. While Twitter's API is empowering third-party developers to

create Twitterverse of exciting, useful, and entertaining applications that enhance the

Twitter experience, it can not outsource nor rely upon the community to teach the world

how to use Twitter. Providing recommendations on people to follow doesn't really help atall.

In the meantime, Twitter will continue to flourish as a rapid-fire broadcast network until

people learn how to communicate, understand how to participate and what to

contribute, and eventually ease into a collaborative, two-way meaningful dialogue that

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represents Twitter's greatest promise.

Source

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from IR

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- Twitter Flutters into Mainstream Culture: The New Competition for Attention Starts with

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Brian Solis is globally recognized for his views and insights on the convergence of PR,Traditional Media and Social Media. He actively contributes his thoughts and experiencesthrough speaking appearances, books, articles and essays as a way of helping the marketingindustry understand and embrace the new dynamics fueling new communications, marketing,and content creation. Solis has been actively writing about new PR since the mid 90s to discusshow the Web was redefining the communications industry – he coined PR 2.0 along the way.

Solis is Principal of FutureWorks , an award-winning PR agency in Silicon Valley. Solis blogs atPR2.0 , bub.blicio.us , and TechCrunch . Solis is co-founder of the Social Media Club and is afounding member of the Media 2.0 Workgroup.

PR 2.0 has earned a position of authority in the Technorati blog directory and currently residesin the top 1.5% of indexed blogs. BrianSolis.com is also ranked among the most influential blogsin the Ad Age Power 150 listing of leading marketing bloggers.

Working with Geoff Livingston, Solis was co-author of “ Now is Gone ,” a new book that helpsbusinesses learn how to engage in Social Media. He has also written several ebooks on thesubjects of Social Media, New PR, and Blogger Relations.

His new book, co-authored with Deirdre Breakenridge, “ Putting the Public back in PublicRelations ,” is now available from FT press.

Connect with Solis on:Twitter , FriendFeed , LinkedIn , Tumblr , Plaxo , Plurk , Identi.ca , or Facebook---Subscribe to the PR 2.0 RSS feedKindle users, subscribe here.---Now available:

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