Twitter has become an invaluable tool for bloggers, news agencies, Internet marketers, and friends who want a greater connection with the world. This Twitter study is intended to see just how far Twitter can reach, and to find how useful Twitter can be for spreading a message quickly and broadly. Before you go any further, please Pass The Tweet #PTT now!
Pass The Tweet!
(be sure to enter “#ptt” in your tweet)
The Twitter Study
The intent of this Twitter study is to determine the potential reach of Twitter micro-blogging and to find just how fast a Twitter message known as a “Tweet” can reach around the world. Let’s just pretend that this is a huge news story that we want everybody to hear. I believe that many Twitter users will be shocked to see just how quickly a message can spread. Please note that I am not a “Power Tweeter”, and I have begun this study with a relatively new Twitter account with only 78 followers, and a blog that was launched in December 2008. It is intended to find the usability and reach of Twitter for an average user, and not just the Power-Blogger or the greatly influencial … just us average people. My “Pass The Tweet” project could be “The Tweet Heard Around the World” or it can just be a couple of Tweets among friends. Tweeters will decide.
I will post progress here on this blog, and I also welcome you to give your comments and include your location.
I have chosen a Twitter hashtag of #ptt to track the progress of this study. In order to see the reach of the Twitter hashtag, you may check it at Twitter.com or Hashtags.org. I have also decided to embed a map from Amung.us to give a visual aid to the #ptt Twitter study.
What is Twitter?
Since I am sure there is somebody out there hiding under a rock asking “What is Twitter”, I will briefly explain. Twitter is a service that allows you to follow short 140 character news feeds of people you find interesting, and for people who find you interesting to follow your feeds. It is called micro-blogging, and it has caught on in a huge way. Twitter is being used by many television news agencies, bloggers, newspapers, and friends just wanting to have a greater connection with the world. Twitter may be used from a Web interface on their Website, Twitter.com, from your cell phone, from desktop software, or from many Twitter tools found easily on the Internet.
Twitter is Simple
Twitter owes a lot of its success to its simple call to action. Twitter, although a method of social networking, is perhaps the most simple to implement of all social networks. Signing up for a Twitter account should take most users under a minute. In addition to a very easy to master Website interface, there have been many tools developed by others to make Twitter even more simple for users to keep their Twitter status current. Whether from their desk or from their phone while stuck in traffic, Twitter users love the simple means to keep everybody up to date, quickly. Twitter is quicker than blogging, and because of a 140 character limit, users are less likely to encounter writer’s block than traditional blogging. Thus, we call it micro-blogging.
Twitter News Media
I found it very interesting when my local CBS affiliate in Topeka, Kansas did a story on the amazing reach of Twitter. They ran a story on a recent Tweet-up, where Twitter users around Topeka came together to meet in person and network with other Twitter users. It was a great success, and many were in attendance. It was such a success that it was only a day or two later when the Topeka ABC affiliate began promoting the use of Twitter to follow news and weather stories, which the CBS affiliate had been doing for some time. I believe that it was perhaps only when they saw a local Twitter reach that the power of the micro-blog really made sense to them.
