Adventures in the Twittersphere

Since this week is all about Twitter, I thought the best way to get a better understanding of this new, and increasingly popular form of social media was to get involved. So, with some trepidation I signed up for an account.

But first, a bit of background...
Twitter has only been in existence since 2006, and in that time, has managed to attract 140 million users, who send over 1 billion tweets every 3 days (Hernandez, 2012). Not a bad effort! Twitter's impact and reach has also grown in that time, with it quickly becoming a resource for journalists and businesses, a way for celebrities to connect with their fans on a more 'personal' level, and an indispensable tool during times of crisis, such as the Japan earthquake and tsunami, and the recent Hurricane Sandy in the U.S.
Vanity Fair writer Vanessa Grigoriadis likens Twitter to the high school experience, labeling it "an enormous popularity contest" (Cross, 2011). My experience with Twitter has certainly led me to agree with that comment - I appear to be no more popular in the Twitterverse than I was at high school. But more on that later.

My understanding of the world of Twitter prior to this week was minimal - I was confounded by the hash tags, and couldn't really see the point of broadcasting to the world in 140 characters or less what I was doing. Who would care? Why would they want to know what was happening in the land of Nemshich? Still, I thought it would be a good experiment, and a great way to inform my blog. Stay tuned for next weeks instalment - that'll be a tweet on blogging. Heh heh.

 

Image Source: Site Reference, 2012 <http://site-reference.com/articles/twitter-lawsuit-targets-spammers/>

As a starting point, I thought I'd follow some more prominent tweeters, and connected to Huffington Post, Ashton Kutcher, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Ellen de Generes, plus a few local accounts that were related to my work in the non-profit education sector.

Within about ten minutes of signing up, I already had 2 followers. Both are still following me almost one week on. I do not know these people. Intriguingly, one of them follows over 1,000 tweeters, yet has never posted a tweet herself. Can someone explain that to me because quite frankly I don't get it!
Over the course of the week, the vast majority of tweets were from Huffington Post. I saw nothing from Ashton Kutcher or Taylor Swift, maybe two or three from Lady Gaga, with maybe 10 or so from Ellen. Yet these people are listed amongst the top ten celebrity tweeters (Xinhua, 2012). What's the point of subscribing to these people if they're never on there? I'd heard Ashton Kutcher was a mad tweeter, yet there was nothing from him, not so much as a peep (pardon the pun).

 

I did get plenty of posts from my local connections, who included some local politicians and a local newspaper.
I even managed to retweet a couple of posts - hoping this might increase my exposure and allow me to pick up some more followers. I also tried hash tagging, with no success. Don't think I've quite figured that one out yet. I replied to a couple of posts - no response. But somehow, by midway through the week, I had 6 followers. Still didn't know any of them. Not even sure how they found me - if anyone could enlighten me, I'm most intrigued!

Now, almost one week on, I'm down to 5 followers, but I do know 2 of them, which is somehow comforting. I'm still trying to figure out the point of Twitter, and how to make the most of it, something which will obviously take more than a mere 5 days. I can see how it can be utilised for businesses and celebrities, and the like, but for an individual like little old me - well, what is it other than a popularity contest?
But it's been an adventure, and a learning experience, and hopefully one day soon, I'll get the hang of it.

References:
Cross, M, 2011, Bloggerati, Twitterati: how blogs and Twitter are transforming popular culture
Praeger, California

Hernandez, B.A., 2012, Twitter Rewind: big highlights from 2012 to 2006, Mashable, accessed 4 December 2012, http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/history-of-twitter-timeline/#4712116-Japanese-Earthquake-and-Tsunami

Site Reference, 2012, Twitter suit targets spammers: what it means for your sites, Site Reference, accessed 9 December 2012, http://site-reference.com/articles/twitter-lawsuit-targets-spammers/

Xinhua, 2012, Top ten celebrities on Twitter in 2010, Xinhua English.news.cn, accessed 4 December 2012, <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/photo/2010-12/19/c_13655604.htm>