Why is Twitter so popular?

[marky p]

I just don't get it. Its founders are probably billionaires by now. What is so appealing about constantly updating people on what you are doing 24/7? I think that this confirms that Generation Me is self-absorbed and idiotic. Anyways, how is this site so popular and do you think it will die down eventually?

[aguaje9]

cuz people like acting like they have lives and are doing things that other people care about. or maybe they like stalking people. but it probably will die down just like myspace and blogs like xanga

[Francisco C]

Do you remember when myspace was very popular like 4 years ago and you thought that it was never gonna get old? But now its losing popularity due to its competitor which i think it's Facebook

Just wait and see what happens in the next year because i hear this question once a week and i give them this response every time

[Matt]

Whilst the individual users see it as a chance to mull over their life it tedious detail, the big appeal for many isn't what individuals are doing, but the powerful information that you can get when you aggregate all the activity.

Wherever you get a large group of people together who all have their own input, you're always going to be able to pull something useful from it (if you can make sense of all the data)!

Think of it like Digg, but people don't make an effort of submitting the stories. They're just circulated as an offshoot of people talking about their lives.

Twitter is now a major source of breaking news. Things often appear on twitter before the official new channels, and people are learning to use this as a source for stories.

The attacks in Mumbai last year were reported immediately by witnesses. People distributed emergency phone numbers, information on hospitals that needed blood donations, helped emergency services co-ordinate responses and found lost relatives through Twitter.

When the plane ditched in the Hudson river, the first news, photos and videos were posted on Twitter. Many of the pictures shown on the news were taken by bystanders.

http://search.twitter.com/

Just the search feature alone of twitter is a hugely powerful. It can also be used to find popular and highly discussed topics, study trends, social interactions, etc.

Check out these websites...
http://monitter.com/
http://twist.flaptor.com/
http://twitterfall.com/

(on Twitterfall, try searching for a current affairs topic or recent news story and just see at all the stuff people are saying about it)



A few months ago (before the swine flu scare took over the keyword), people were studying social networking sites like facebook and twitter to observe trends in the spread of seasonal flu.

Yes, it is actually possible to quite accurately observe the spread of a disease based on what people are talking about on Facebook and Twitter. Doesn't sound so silly really when you think about it does it? And once you can track something, you can predict where it will spread next and try to prevent it...

Google Trends first started the idea of getting useful information by studying trends in huge samples of people, and this has now become very popular.

Take a look at Facebook Lexicon...
http://www.facebook.com/lexicon/


I don't have a Twitter account, but I can see why people like it, how it can be an effective form of communications, and how it can be used for far bigger things than moaning about how terrible your life is!