There has been a paradigm shift in internet messaging. Why is Twitter such a hot topic and why is it constantly being searched? Well, in case you didn’t already know, Twitter is the latest in social network messaging and micro-blogging since Instant Messenger. Another evolving and sought after capability of Twitter is its marketing potential which is not possible with Messenger.
The internet heavyweights each created a version of instant messaging. The most popular instant messengers are AOL and AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. Each of these has evolved over the years offering new versions for greater user appeal and interaction. The main purpose and use for the IM (Immediate Message) was to create a real time form of communication between internet users. The IM invention was massive because it allowed you to enter chat rooms and have contact with people almost anywhere in the world. Perhaps this could have been a new way to market yourself…but what about products and services?
In the marketing world, was instant messaging effective? Marketing on instant messenger quickly received a bad stigma and its marketing door had closed due to pesky phishing scams and black hat hackers that linked users to websites that would have the user unknowingly download malicious viruses or view spam sites that would sell items that were somewhat sketchy. Also, since the focus of instant messenger was not so much for finding products but more for regular communication, it was hard to target a consumer who was not searching for a product or service at that given time.
Enter … Twitter, but Twitter has not entirely taken over instant messaging. IM has taken its pure form of being real time communication used between co-workers and friends to send short impersonal messages making it a highly efficient and useful tool that is even capable of sending files over the internet. Twitter is a form of instant communication, but more often groups are using Twitter for marketing. Users are marketing everything from themselves, to products and services, causes, and interests. This constant and sometimes subconscious marketing has allowed Twitter to evolve into a search query site where someone is probably twittering about a question you want to ask or a product or service you are looking for, even locally. The variation in its constant “tweets” has made it an open playing field for powerful and innovative internet marketing.
The messaging on Twitter known as tweets or updates allows you to enter a short message not exceeding 140 characters and could include a link to a relevant destination for your followers to click on. As you grow in the number of followers you will have more visibility of your tweets and increased potential of someone clicking on your link making this a highly effective technique for internet marketing.
So far, Twitter has not introduced restrictions for posting constant tweets or even spam-tweets making them abundant on Twitter. The site has probably not taken the steps to restrict spam tweets because the user can choose whose tweets they want to follow and it would probably affect a large percentage of current users who are using Twitter as an internet marketing strategy. We are a generation of internet users finding everything we need online including friends, advice, information, products and services. This is why internet marketing is growing and proving its value. Twitter is part of the growing trend.
After Twitter, what comes next? Imagine a world where you do not need editorial in any breaking news about anyone and where anybody who has a cell phone or a PDA can be a journalist. That is what Twitter has done. You literally have your own broadcasting channel to the world. Moreover, have you noticed that the younger the generation, the more technologically advanced they progress? Just ask my best friend’s two year old that surfs through the internet on her iPhone for YouTube Videos of the Wiggles. His generation will demand and develop social media to a level that we might not be able to fathom yet. Twitter is still in its beginning stages and I predict it will continue to release newer and better versions by giving its users what they want. The key is to find the main functionality and to build on its capabilities. The introduction of so many Twitter tools which allow you to customize Twitter in any way possible is a testament to the flexibility (open source) and potential of Twitter. When the topic is Twitter, the sky is the limit.
What do you think will come next after Twitter? How has our world changed with micro-blogging?
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One Comment
Before twitter their is no concept of quickly share messages with people. After twitter the work seems to be fast and you can quickly exchange messages with friends and people. Twitter is really great going social networking website.