Seems like even Twitter, like it or not, is going through another stage of the social media cycle. The thing that I think most people really enjoy about Twitter is the feeling that it puts us all on an equal playing field, there's not supposed to be a "elite" class of Twitterers. When the experienced Twitterers claim some extra special status, that's when you see the maturation cycle of social media, so it's sort of moving towards a "I was into this band when they weren't even famous...." type of thing.
To the credit of Twitter, they've worked pretty diligently to maintain an attitude of anyone can enjoy Twitter, there are not supposed to be special status Twitterers. I think two things will determine if they can keep things that way:
1. Advertising and brand influence. When you bring these into the equation, like it or not numbers become important. Access to a large and influential audience via Twitter is on the verge of being quantified and assigned a value. I don't know if that's going to happen, but you can bet ad agencies and pr types are trying to figure it out.
2. "Elite" users continuing to keep an honest and down to earth presence on Twitter. I'm a n00b but my perception is that this is what we all love about our favorite tweets. The unofficial motto is "Don't try to be interesting, just be who you are and let Twitter reflect that." Experienced users set the tone for most of us who are new coming to the service, so if they're down to earth and are willing to share their experience without "I was there in the beginning before everyone else joined" than we'll continue to see informed new Twitterers who listen before they begin to take part in the social dialogue.
Joe
Andy Sternberg
· 10 months ago
Great points, Joe. I agree with your unofficial motto and as a long-time Twitter user, don't feel that by thinking it's inherently a good thing, one is necessarily defending Twitter. I'd love to see better use of what Twitter users "favorite," weighted, of course, depending on how many followers one has and frequency of being favorited.
Daniel Tunkelang
· 10 months ago
Reach and influence matter--and not just to people trying to sell products. Anyone trying to communicate would like to reach his or her target audience as effectively as possible. I don't see a problem with people wanting to measure how effectively they or others do so. Yes, some people are more influential than others, and Twitter, like any communication medium, can't help but reflect that, Conversely, it's valuable for users to be able to understand who is influential, to whom, and why. Respect isn't completely transitive, but it's certainly propagated socially.
What bothers me about the follower count mania is that people aren't trying to maximize real influence, but rather to score points in a game they've confused with gaining real influence. It's a lot like cheating on a standardized test. It might get you into a prestigious school, but it won't make you smarter, and it probably won't make you more successful in the long run. Besides, as soon as everyone learns how to cheat, the only winners will be those who profited from the cottage industry of cheating tools while it lasted.
In short, it doesn't bother me to see influencers and would-be jockey for position. It bothers me when they waste their efforts trying to get the high score in a stupid game--and when they spam the rest of the world while they're at it.
Daniel Tunkelang
· 10 months ago
Wow, Scoble really lost it, but I guess "status" is everything for some of these A-Listers. As a user, I do see a valid question in wondering how the suggestion mechanism is implemented--but not because follower counts have such a great value to be diminished. Follower counts are already a faux social currency: at their best, they reflect a user's celebrity or influence; at their worst, they reflect a user's determination to accumulate higher numbers for its own sake.
I proposed an influence measure - http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/01/13/a-twitter... - that I thought might be a first step towards discouraging this silliness because it at least discourages users following other users solely in the hope of increasing their follower counts through reciprocity. The world can take it or leave it. But I do hope we can stop competing over meaningless numbers. If we have to be competitive, at least let it be over some meaningful measure of influence.
brooksbayne
· 10 months ago
what keeps getting glossed over is the scripting that *is* occurring. with "services" like tweetergetter ppl are creating scores of bot accounts. this has been documented already in the comments of my blog.
why wouldn't the script include the "suggested users" feature as part of the bot account creation process? it seems like the easiest way for a scripted account to have some follows (for appearance sake, maybe).
hell, even ev said nefarious things *were* occurring.
Andy Sternberg
· 10 months ago
Brooks, this definitely seems to be the case. What really pointed to bot scripting was the exponential increase in followers to "suggested" account in recent weeks. These accounts were gaining 5-10% increase in followers day over day.
And this is the problem -- Twitter needs to figure out a way to run maintenance more regularly and perhaps more aggressively, which may require a revision in their terms.
The onslaught of spam bots on twitter has always seemed inevitable. The greatest concern is what could happen when the bots release their venom. Can Twitter possibly get ahead of the Hacker curve?
afallison
· 6 months ago
Twitter is so cool. I love the way disqus mixes the 2 so well Twitter is awesome. ;)moretwittertraffic.com
All Comments
To the credit of Twitter, they've worked pretty diligently to maintain an attitude of anyone can enjoy Twitter, there are not supposed to be special status Twitterers. I think two things will determine if they can keep things that way:
1. Advertising and brand influence. When you bring these into the equation, like it or not numbers become important. Access to a large and influential audience via Twitter is on the verge of being quantified and assigned a value. I don't know if that's going to happen, but you can bet ad agencies and pr types are trying to figure it out.
2. "Elite" users continuing to keep an honest and down to earth presence on Twitter. I'm a n00b but my perception is that this is what we all love about our favorite tweets. The unofficial motto is "Don't try to be interesting, just be who you are and let Twitter reflect that." Experienced users set the tone for most of us who are new coming to the service, so if they're down to earth and are willing to share their experience without "I was there in the beginning before everyone else joined" than we'll continue to see informed new Twitterers who listen before they begin to take part in the social dialogue.
Joe
What bothers me about the follower count mania is that people aren't trying to maximize real influence, but rather to score points in a game they've confused with gaining real influence. It's a lot like cheating on a standardized test. It might get you into a prestigious school, but it won't make you smarter, and it probably won't make you more successful in the long run. Besides, as soon as everyone learns how to cheat, the only winners will be those who profited from the cottage industry of cheating tools while it lasted.
In short, it doesn't bother me to see influencers and would-be jockey for position. It bothers me when they waste their efforts trying to get the high score in a stupid game--and when they spam the rest of the world while they're at it.
I proposed an influence measure - http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/01/13/a-twitter... - that I thought might be a first step towards discouraging this silliness because it at least discourages users following other users solely in the hope of increasing their follower counts through reciprocity. The world can take it or leave it. But I do hope we can stop competing over meaningless numbers. If we have to be competitive, at least let it be over some meaningful measure of influence.
why wouldn't the script include the "suggested users" feature as part of the bot account creation process? it seems like the easiest way for a scripted account to have some follows (for appearance sake, maybe).
hell, even ev said nefarious things *were* occurring.
And this is the problem -- Twitter needs to figure out a way to run maintenance more regularly and perhaps more aggressively, which may require a revision in their terms.
The onslaught of spam bots on twitter has always seemed inevitable. The greatest concern is what could happen when the bots release their venom. Can Twitter possibly get ahead of the Hacker curve?