Everyone should know that we are now back in the era of Real-Time Web, this real-time Internet that is beginning to be mentioned on blogs everywhere worlwide ! Several factors may explain this situation. On the one hand, the development of the RSS which has allow the syndication of information, on the other hand the democratization of microblogging, largely due to the adoption of status by facebook users all over the planet, and finally proliferation of mobile interfaces that allowed everyone to access and produce information on the move. To make a fast shortcut, we could argue that Facebook and smart phones are the causes of Real-Time Web!
Just as Facebook, Twitter is one of the major players in this new digital eco-system. I do not want to bother you remaking a guidebook on this network which has created one of the largest hype on the web since MySpace and Facebook. However, it is clear that despite the hype, Twitter remains underutilized by the majority of Internet users. For proof, I fell this morning on the latest version of "The observatory of Social Networks" by Ifop agency, which is a serious french media studies and research agency, which featured a mini-mini, but really mini, focus on Twitter. I would pass on all the comments of the presentation to dwell on the graph below where if it is found that the majority of French Internet users are now aware of Twitter, only 7% of them have taken the plunge and are enrolled. In Usa, the adoption rate is the same except that 87% of Internet users aware of the service.
Frankly, this conversion rate is really low and I know many marketers which would be detonated by their bosses or their customers with numbers like that ! Therefore, we can really wonder if Twitter will one day reach a mainstream audience or if it will remain a tool for the elite self-proclaimed In the Know, composed of geeks, marketers, journalists and media stars?
The real question behind all this is what is the real utility of this service? Why people enroll on Twitter? And more importantly, why do not they enroll ? in my opinion, the vast majority of people does not see not the value of using Twitter because they think that in any case the important information will reach their ears, that Twitter is only one more social network and that they have no time to waste on this. So why would they subscribe when they are already on Facebook to discuss / communicate / stalk with their friends and review content? Why would they enroll while even if the interface is improved, it is still rather abstruse?
Once again we must seek the answer in the side of ego and ego enhancement. What people are looking to develop through Twitter, it's their influence and I believe that is far from the concerns of most users who are primarily passive consumers of information as evidenced every time in the Forrester studies on user behavior online.
At this level, we can notice that despite his apparent openness, the system is already locked by its founding asymmetry. Let me explain, on facebook, both friends must agree to be friends. On Twitter, it's not the case. People follow other people who follow them in return or not, and often not. You will agree that it may be quite frustrating for a newbie who arrived on the platform and would like his tweets go further than his 30 friends. We should of course not neglect the social dimension of the tool but is it as strong as on Facebook? Is it as strong as sending sms like thousands of teenagers worldwide each month? Not sure!
Thinking this way is a bit simplistic because Twitter is a great monitoring tool. And even if the interface is still messy for the average user who will have as much difficulty to sort the info as to select his sources, he nevertheless remains a powerful amplifier of ideas and content. In the present state of things, it's a safe bet that Twitter has reached a plateau in its growth and its adoption by mainstream audience is far from certain because, unlike Facebook, Twitter does not satisfy the basic voyeur instincts of users, even though there's now a preview module in the new interface!
Maybe I'm a Cassandra who will find his mother on Twitter in 3 years as I recently found her on Facebook! Without any doubts, this will be because of the Twitter Api is open, allowing some to enrich the experience while facilitating the use and adoption of the service. I hope ... Anyway, I go on Twitter and I inform you that we are approaching 30 billions tweets and it's a safe bet that the growing number of tweets will not stop in so good way!
Just as Facebook, Twitter is one of the major players in this new digital eco-system. I do not want to bother you remaking a guidebook on this network which has created one of the largest hype on the web since MySpace and Facebook. However, it is clear that despite the hype, Twitter remains underutilized by the majority of Internet users. For proof, I fell this morning on the latest version of "The observatory of Social Networks" by Ifop agency, which is a serious french media studies and research agency, which featured a mini-mini, but really mini, focus on Twitter. I would pass on all the comments of the presentation to dwell on the graph below where if it is found that the majority of French Internet users are now aware of Twitter, only 7% of them have taken the plunge and are enrolled. In Usa, the adoption rate is the same except that 87% of Internet users aware of the service.
Frankly, this conversion rate is really low and I know many marketers which would be detonated by their bosses or their customers with numbers like that ! Therefore, we can really wonder if Twitter will one day reach a mainstream audience or if it will remain a tool for the elite self-proclaimed In the Know, composed of geeks, marketers, journalists and media stars?
The real question behind all this is what is the real utility of this service? Why people enroll on Twitter? And more importantly, why do not they enroll ? in my opinion, the vast majority of people does not see not the value of using Twitter because they think that in any case the important information will reach their ears, that Twitter is only one more social network and that they have no time to waste on this. So why would they subscribe when they are already on Facebook to discuss / communicate / stalk with their friends and review content? Why would they enroll while even if the interface is improved, it is still rather abstruse?
Once again we must seek the answer in the side of ego and ego enhancement. What people are looking to develop through Twitter, it's their influence and I believe that is far from the concerns of most users who are primarily passive consumers of information as evidenced every time in the Forrester studies on user behavior online.
At this level, we can notice that despite his apparent openness, the system is already locked by its founding asymmetry. Let me explain, on facebook, both friends must agree to be friends. On Twitter, it's not the case. People follow other people who follow them in return or not, and often not. You will agree that it may be quite frustrating for a newbie who arrived on the platform and would like his tweets go further than his 30 friends. We should of course not neglect the social dimension of the tool but is it as strong as on Facebook? Is it as strong as sending sms like thousands of teenagers worldwide each month? Not sure!
Thinking this way is a bit simplistic because Twitter is a great monitoring tool. And even if the interface is still messy for the average user who will have as much difficulty to sort the info as to select his sources, he nevertheless remains a powerful amplifier of ideas and content. In the present state of things, it's a safe bet that Twitter has reached a plateau in its growth and its adoption by mainstream audience is far from certain because, unlike Facebook, Twitter does not satisfy the basic voyeur instincts of users, even though there's now a preview module in the new interface!
Maybe I'm a Cassandra who will find his mother on Twitter in 3 years as I recently found her on Facebook! Without any doubts, this will be because of the Twitter Api is open, allowing some to enrich the experience while facilitating the use and adoption of the service. I hope ... Anyway, I go on Twitter and I inform you that we are approaching 30 billions tweets and it's a safe bet that the growing number of tweets will not stop in so good way!
