Twitter continues to soar in terms of traffic and Comscore reports on some of the reasons Twitter is one of the most interesting applications to come around in a long time. I think the demographics analysis helps us understand why “Twitter is different”. For the first time in Social Media history the earliest adopters of the application are not the youngsters, but rather a very representative cross section of America. This is important because it’s an indication Twitter will have considerable staying power and also is appealing to a crowd that has the resources to make it more valuable than otherwise, and potentially more valuable than Myspace or Facebook, the clear 800 pound social media gorilla that remains the most significant player by far in the social media space. However at Twitter’s current rate of growth it will surpass Myspace by next year and Facebook within a few years, though it’s not clear from this the data that Twitter will continue at the current phenomenal growth rates.
From my own experiences I do think Twitter represents something really different and superior to the Facebook experience, and that is the real time large group interaction. On Facebook I usually don’t have enough friends online at the same time to interact, and more importantly I usually just want to say “hi”, trade a bit of news, and eavedrop on other conversations. This is easier on Twitter. Much like a large party filled with interesting people where you know “some” people and are learning to meet others, Twitter allows you to follow interesting threads and then hop over to some other one, in the meantime dropping notes or your own quips as you hop around. It matches will with the short attention spans that are natural to our human conditions but also allows detailed follows ups with experts or company representatives or close friends.
Watch Twitter – it is the most significant new online application in many years.
Joe Duck 
I have to tell you Joe, I am utterly underwhelmed by Twitter. Of course, a geriatric dinosaur like me probably would be, but I have joined Facebook and found it useful – reconnecting with friends and classmates from decades ago, sharing info. and resources on a variety of issues with them.
Twitter, however, seems nothing more than a glorified chat room. It has lots of content, but most of it strikes me as extraordinarily superficial and useless. I guess I am one of those technophobes who just doesn’t “get it”, but the allure of Twitter is lost on me.
Twitter, however, seems nothing more than a glorified chat room. It has lots of content, but most of it strikes me as extraordinarily superficial and useless
Exactly correct Paul, but I see those attributes as the aspects of Twitter that make it something of a watershed in Social Media.
Most of our existing media landscape is superficial and largely useless, but Twitter brings that to the entire community in a very accessible fashion.
As a (pseudo?) intellectual type guy I’d prefer to see blogging take root as the social media mechanism of choice where we all expressed our ideas in greater detail and with more eloquence than you are likely to find at Twitter, but that ain’t gonna happen. Twitter, like democracy, is not perfect but it’s the best we’ve got in terms of participatory online society. That is certainly interesting, and I think that may be revolutionary.
Whatever reservations I have about Twitter, I must say my exposure to blogging via Joe Duck & the Kim episode convinced me it is a fascinating and potentially very useful communication tool. Numerous times when endeavoring to solve a problem or retrieve some obscure factoid about something, I have found said solution/answer on a blog.
I’m with Paul – I just can’t get hooked on Twitter. I’m a Facebook fenatic and love how great it’s been to reconnect with people I’ve not been in touch with for more than 20 years. Sorry Twitter – Facebook is keeping my loyalty!
Sally I think some of this is just about personal style. I’d predict we’ll see three key applications emerge for most people who spend a lot of time online:
Google for search
Facebook for personal info sharing
Twitter for public info sharing
I think Twitter is (slowly) replacing all but personal emails as a way to send and get targeted info while keeping out the spam.