Are Celebrities Killing Twitter? @repecor of RebeccaCoriliss.com and HubSpot, posed this question on twitter today, with a link to an Advertising Age article: Twitter is Peaking: Get Ready to Follow Geeks Onward, by Steve Rubel.

The article I have problems with on many levels, but the question of how Twitter and Social Media are changing / might be changing.. in light of the explosive growth of Twitter, along with business swarming into social media more generally.. is something I’ve been thinking of a great deal lately.

So.. first off…

Are Celebrities Killing Twitter? 

Steve Rubel asserts… well a number of things. Basically.. there’s a kind of course that online communities follow.. where you have these early adopter folks.. geekdom in technology land, if you will.. whom bring the community to its tipping point.. that, once reached.. community becomes less fashionable, at least.. and so the geek hip move on.. 

But I think twitter is different: It’s different because how communities on twitter work is different.. Each of us follows, and is followed by, a different group of people..  a group we define.. so that the only way my experience of twitter is really changed, by the twitter explosion, is in the character of folks whom start following me.. whom I may or may not choose to follow back.. 

So I guess my point is.. My experience of twitter doesn’t necessarily degrade in anyway as a result of celebrities on Twitter.. or the only way it degrades is as a result of Twitter’s technological problems keeping up with the massive growth.. 

So it’s really a question of substance versus fashion…

I do confess that it’s a very surreal thing to find celebrities, and “old media” folk talking about twitter so much.. not quite “getting it,” and all the rest..  ..and there is something about “old media” talking about twitter that makes twitter seem less cool.. 

I joked on twitter, at some point, that maybe digital natives.. or social media natives.. need better immigration policies.. sorta suggesting that.. the rate of growth is such that the culture we’ve had can’t really assimilate the influx.. that this will likely change the culture. And this is the real thing of why the early adopter / “geek folks” would want to move on.

Still.. there’s something structurally different about twitter and social media then anything we’ve seen in the past.. and I feel a little like Allan Green Span, in the heat of the tech bubble saying “no, the productivity increases we see as a result of the technological revolution is not merely bubble talk.” He was right of course, but many people blame him for not removing the cool-aid..

The structure of social media is still one where, in rather Thomas Friedman esk language, flattens the playing field.. we see huge power diffusion.. the relationship between business and consumer is shifting.. Who knows what the future of journalism and the entertainment industries might look like? Ultimately.. I think we all think that a mass behavioral shift in peoples media consumption patterns.. is a good thing.. The question is just how will all of this play out. 

So will the Geeks leave Twitter?

I think.. the nature of the web 2.0 type technology is such that it’s very low hanging fruit to get started.. a do it in you’re basement while still having a day job kinda thing.. which creates a serious issue of asymmetric competition challenges for the MySpaces, FaceBooks, and Twitters of the world, whom want to maintain there dominance. And.. in a down economy.. more and more developers have more and more basement time.. All of which is good for the evolution of the space.. and difficult for the business of change management..  

In marketing.. there is this sorta metaphorical relationship between.. sex and relations.. with.. trying to get that quick one off sale.. versus building long term customer relationships..

And so it is that I think Mr. Marilyn Manson might have said it best when he said “I’m not in love, but I’m going to fuck you, till someone better comes along.”

 

Conclusion 

I don’t think Twitter is necessarily really peaking as we speak.. it’s just a new tipping point.. and the real question is how with the structure of the Twitter user experience relate to the tipping. There is a certain level where the “Web 2.0″ technologies aren’t really as Web 2.0 as is generally believed.. which creates an opening for next generation of web apps to come along.

So, we’ll see. 

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Media / Arts Business, business 2.0, social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.