Twitter turns three years old

Happy birthday dear Twitter you were all of three years old on March 21. Well, that is if one can believe an article on TechCrunch.  It certainly made me revisit the article I wrote on Twitter a while back.

How did this little social media site evolve over this period? In November 2007 I reflected on my Twitter participation since the beginning of that year. And it’s interesting to see what Twitter was then to what it has evolved into now.

Then, in February 2007 when I joined,  it was a social media tool that allowed people to chat to each other. It was another form of Instant Messaging but more along the lines of a communal IM. And the early adopters used it exactly as the Twitter guys envisioned. Answering the question ‘What are you doing?’

Since then it has morphed into something slightly different. And that’s how it should be. People will make use of something and mold it into what they require. In fact those products or offerings that don’t allow themselves to morph tend to fail.

The change that I have noticed the most is that Twitter users are holding their own conversations. Now that could be noticeable to me because I have such a disparate group that I’m following that there tend to be few conversations going on, or at least so it appears.

However, having said that, the way that arbitrary people follow me, it should seem the same way to a lot of other users. There can’t be too many conversations amongst us because we have so little in common. It reduces our participation into short bursts of arbitrary observations.

When I decided a month or so ago to really try out Twitter (and yes it’s my second attempt), I thought I would follow the social media experts. I wanted to hear what they were saying and commenting on.

It’s been quite disappointing. In a way I can only describe it as being  a sequence of monologues. The only social media person who appears to be talking to people rather than at, is Gary Vaynerchuk. I just get the feeling he is reaching outwards.

I also loved his video on monetising Twitter. He makes an excellent point that it will be search that will do it for Twitter. Now that there are so many Twitter users, the opinions and words put out into the Twitter universe will provide plenty harvesting and monetising opportunities.

Stephen Fry, the actor, is the other person whose twitters I enjoy. Somehow his short messages speak to people out there rather than just to Stephen Fry. So far I have yet to see this kind of conversation from other social media experts.

The difference I think is that the so called social media experts I’m following are on a mission to promote themselves. Whereas I always get the impression that Gary Vaynerchuk is just out to have some fun and to share life with others. As seems to be the case with Stephen Fry.

As for companies and organisations using Twitter effectively? At this stage I should think this is still in the trial and error stage. How do you send out your message if the delivery vehicle is constantly changing? How do you make it friendly enough so it’s not in your face sales talk? And there are many more questions.

But it’s early days. Maybe I’m just not seeing it right. Maybe I’m still not putting enough effort into the game. Twitter is not a tool where one can sit back and watch the landscape. I think participation is required. So go on, participate then. And while you are participating why don’t you sign up to my RSS feed or to receive these posts via e-mail.