It seems obvious when you think about it. I mean, come on, play by play scrolling commentary on each of our lives: “What are you doing?” becomes “What is he/she doing?”. It encourages voyeurism, and that said, there are those that go exhibitionist.
Tweets are the small micro-BLOG uploads a user sends to their Twitter page, only 140 characters long. Following someone is when a user elects to subscribe to another user’s Tweets. An email announcement is sent to the user when he/she acquires a new Follower. Each user’s page displays the Followers and those that user is Following. A user can elect not to be on the public timeline, meaning they are hidden from everyone but their Followers. For subscribing to these private “tweeple” a request must be sent. It’s silly, and it’s fun. It also has a lot of obvious exploits.
As a platform for self expression Twitter holds tremendous potential. Users can micro-BLOG about anything. But some few have become quite popular, with as many as 11,489 subscribers (darthvader - as of 12:35AM August 18th, 2008, EST). These are not all messages of wisdom and hope, or education and learning, most are silly little play by plays of that user’s life. “I’m doing my laundry.” or “Just ate pizza with my sis.” The vast majority of Tweets are inane, boring out of context. Now ask yourself why would people want to read these? I find myself reading them… Why?
From a marketing perspective the number of Followers is an additional piece of hard data. The number of Followers is a built in metric for analyzing the user’s page Following,. In addition to the usual web metrics, such as page visits, unique visitors, etc. , the Follower is a locked in subscriber to that user’s platform of self expression. Much higher chance the Follower’s eyeballs are on that user’s Tweets. I am surprised there isn’t a larger ad presence.
I could write a lot more on this subject. And later I likely will, but I want to publish it as is. I’ll leave you with one last bit:
Now back to the stalker…
Yeah, that creepy stranger that just added you last week. She has joined the ranks of your Followers. Her, the one you keep running into when you go to the coffee shop, that is that creepy new Follower, isn’t it? She must be on your schedule right? Or maybe its because she is reading your Tweets and unconsciously she craves coffee when you do. Her thumbnail is so small, you just don’t know. So you stop Tweeting about your coffee trips. You do Tweet about going to see the new Batman movie. Wasn’t that her about six people behind you in line? Are you paranoid? Is it all just coincidence? Maybe the new Follower isn’t even female…
Are you being Followed?
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Suggested Reading:
CommonCraft: Twitter in Plain English
We’re Obvious (the creators of Twitter)
Twitter: Open for Sexual Stalking
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