Archive for the ‘Twitter news’ Category:
UK’s Oldest Twitter User
Ivybean104 is not your average Twitter user. She regularly tweets about her favorite TV shows and what she eats for dinner (chicken casserole if you’re interested). Ivy Bean has been bestowed as the UK’s oldest Twitter user at 104 years old.
Ivy has helped pave the way for Web 2.0 while living at Hillside Manor in Bradford. She first registered on Facebook two years ago and has grown her friends list to 4,800. Her example has led several of her friends to register for “computer-college” to learn the basics.
What’s interesting about the The Daily Telegraph story is that it seems like the Geek Squad helped register Ivy and issued a press release. Why else would Ivy’s first Tweet say, “I’m enjoying Twitter for the first time and having my photo taken” if they weren’t setting her up?
Ivy should be spending her day Tweeting her grandchildren and knitting fail whales, not being used for a photo op with the Geek Squad.
While I praise Ivy for learning how to use new technologies, I condemn the Geek Squad for exploiting Ivy Bean for press.
There are over 75 million Twitter users
FIGURES ON THE USE of Twitter from online analysis and performance monitoring company RJ Metrics show that the microblogging service has some 75 million users. However, they are not all active.
Today Roger Moore, founder and CEO of the firm, refreshed its analysis of Twitter takeup and usage, explaining that it had seen a boom in user numbers and was signing up some 6.2 million new users per month.
However, not all of these twitterers are contributing to the babble on the Internet, and in fact Moore found that roughly 25 per cent of accounts have no followers and about 40 per cent have never made a single tweet. Four-fifths of the user base have tweeted less than ten times, and just 17 per cent of Twitter users sent a message in the month of December.
Most of the non-tweeters appear to be new users, those who signed up after 2008, and Moore said that they are skewing the results. He explained that early adopters of the service were most likely to use it frequently, and more than made up for those who signed up and then realised that they actually couldn’t be arsed to do anything with it.
Summarising, Moore added, “When you look at new account registrations, no one can deny that Twitter is still growing like a rocketship (that’s good). However, upon closer inspection, the rate of new user signups has dropped meaningfully from its peak and many new users never do anything with their accounts (that’s bad). Furthermore, the percentage of accounts sending out tweets has steadily declined over the past six months (that’s worse).”
He added that with 75 million accounts, an active user base of around 20 per cent left roughly, “15 million highly active tweeters.”
How does Twitter not make money?
I confess I’ve not paid much attention to Twitter. As far as I’m concerned, the notion of mini-blogging dates back to the first day that Dave Winer started posting one-liners to Scripting News, which must have been well into the last century. Twitter’s only innovation has been to limit the post length to 140 characters and make it something you can do from a mobile phone or by instant messaging rather than merely from a browser. I’m sorry, but like fellow ZDNet bloggger Andrew Keen, I’m too long in the tooth to get excited about thumbing pithy remarks into the ether, let alone the prospect of having to read a constant stream of the same from friends and acquaintances.
My interest was piqued, however, by today’s TechCrunch report on Web services coming to Twitter. Apparently, a tweak to the Twitter API will make it possible to set up a Twitter account that allows an automated service to respond to queries such as “d weather 14202″ with an appropriate answer — in this example, the weather forecast for zipcode 14202. It’s pretty obvious that this has enormous potential, since similar services are already available via mobile phone networks, which any startup could now undercut by using the Twitter service, as TechCrunch’s writer explained:
“Currently, it costs a lot of money to launch a start-up in the SMS/mobile space — you have to license a shortcode monthly ($500-$1000/mo), pay a SMS gateway provider, and then pay anywhere from $0.03 – $0.05 per inbound or outbound text message. It adds up. But now, if a start-up chooses to use Twitter as a command line to their web service, it’s free (until Twitter starts charging for it).”
Twitter’s own 40404 SMS address is itself a shortcode, for which Twitter presumably pays up to a $1000 per month plus a few cents per message. The new API tweak allows Twitter to piggyback any number of separate direct response services within its own shortcode. That’s a potentially very valuable service offering.
But it also set me wondering about Twitter’s own business model, and how it has to be making a ton of money already (unless its founders really are clueless). Because none of those shortcode services are charitable concerns; they’re all money-making ventures. They’re premium-rate text destinations, for which users normally pay to receive a response. They make money because the service provider gets paid a cut of the charge your telco puts on your phone bill.
Six ways Twitter can make money
A web 2.0-sized boatload of buzz has surrounded Twitter, the addictive service that allows its users to answer one simple question: what are you doing? The service has made appearances in everything from your friend’s blog to the New York Times, and everyone seems jazzed about how fun tweeting is. While we’re all having a good time, however, its creators, Obvious, keep hinting at how many practical uses they have up their sleeve for Twitter. Even though they haven’t revealed any of their cards just yet, the rest of us are left wondering: how is such a seemingly frivolous service going to make money?
As a user who has taken the Twitter pill hook, line and sinker, I’ve been mulling this question for some time now. I came up with a few strategies, but then I figured: why not run them by the Twitter crew themselves? The least they could say was ‘no comment,’ but fortunately Evan Williams, one of Obvious and Twitter’s founders, responded with a few of his own. Read on for my attempts at making Twitter some money (I’m waiting for my job offer Ev), as well as some choice words and ideas of his own from Evan.
- Twitter Pro – This is one obvious move. Twitter Pro could be a paid service that offers more features, unlimited tweets vs. a ‘standard’ account that receive a daily/weekly limit. It could also include a mobile phone/Windows Mobile/BlackBerry client with more robust tweeting/following tools that use the web to transmit tweets, avoiding those nasty SMS charges. It could also allow tweeting pics and videos from around the web with a Tumblr-like K.I.S.S. philosophy.
- Merchandise – A while back (though I admittedly can’t find a link right now), Evan said merch was a big revenue generator for Blogger, and Twitter has worlds more buzz surrounding it right now. Heck, they even rolled out a small batch of shirts for SXSW, over which users seemed to be pretty excited. As ready as we may be to plunk down some cash for the privilege of using a t-shirt to tell people where we waste most of our time, Ev directly replied to this one: “RE: merchandise – It was, at one time, a noticeable part of Blogger’s revenue, but that’s when Blogger was just me, scraping by; my guess is it wouldn’t make a blip in Twitter’s costs today. Unless we figured out how to be a trendy new apparel brand.” Sorry everyone, but it sounds like apparel isn’t exactly on their list of features to roll out in the next update.
- Twitter for Business a l? Google Apps – Customized, secure software that businesses can run on their own intranet. BlackBerry and WinMo clients are a more apparent option here. Obviously, this could become tremendously useful if Twitter built in some hooks that work like Stikkit and Google Calendar, allowing employees to easily tweet appointments and tasks to a centralized PIM system, and automatically be subscribed to their team’s tweets without any extra effort on their part.
- Twitter Forums, ad-supported – Finally, an innovation brought to the aging discussion forum format. Sort of a Twitter approach to Yahoo! Answers, allowing users to post questions and follow threads they’re interested in, with the Twitter format forcing everyone to keep things simple and on-topic. Instead of ads, this could also possibly be just for Pro customers. One of the catches here is that Twitter users only see tweets from people they are following. When submitting a question to a Twitter Forum, you would be able to see all replies to the question, even the ones from users you’ve never met and aren’t following.
Evan didn’t let me have all the fun with brainstorming, however, and he offered two of his own ideas which I would assume are a good bet the company is working on, since he shared them with this lowly blogger:
Two more-straightforward ideas: 1) Ads on the site. We have a little AdSense on there now, but we haven’t really tried. As the traffic grows, some tasteful sponsorships might be sellable. 2) Charging companies who are using it for marketing or other commercial purposes. If an organization finds Twitter to be a valuable communication tool with their customers/constituents/etc — especially if we’re sending lots of SMS’s for them, which cost us money — it seems viable to make an offering around that.
So there you have it: six ways Twitter can make money, two of which are straight from the lion’s mouth. Judging from the sheer magnitude of buzz surrounding the recently-incorporated company, I wouldn’t be surprised if these six are but a drop in the bucket. There’s good news for those who fear change, however: no matter which way Twitter decides to start paying their exponentially growing bandwidth bills, Evan assured me that: “Our top concern when it comes to monetization will be to do so in a way that does not negatively impact users.” Good show guys; your users will appreciate being able to spend their time tweeting about how they’re spending their time, with the least amount of distraction.
Twitter Phishing Attack in Progress – Do Not Click Unknown Links
If you get a direct message on Twitter looking like this:
Lol. this you?? http://divinelink.net/?rid=http://twitter.verify.bzpharma.net/login
Do not click on the link!
The attack appears to be utilizing the SmartName domain parking service, which allows redirects to third-party sites. The DMs appear in the form of a legit URL, followed by something to the effect of ?rid=http://twitter.verify.bzpharma.net/login in the URL. Those URLs redirect to the latter URL, which is a phished site that looks like the Twitter login page.
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How Much Time Do You Spend on Twitter?
It’s time for another poll. This time I would like to know how much time do you spend on Twitter each day. Did you ever check how much time did you spend tweeting and reading tweets, checking all these links people post and reading your new follower’s profiles? Time goes by really fast when you do something fun.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
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7 Best Ways to Share Videos on Twitter
Just like there’s a big competition between photo sharing sites for Twitter, there’s also a good competition in video sharing. Even tho’ there’s yet to be a single video sharing site for Twitter that has managed to attract the same number of users as TwitPic, these sites are clearly gaining in popularity. Hopefully we will get Twitter video sharing services integrated in our favorite desktop clients soon. I’ll give you a quick list of 7 best ways to tweet video. Some of these even support photo and video sharing, allow webcam recordings, and track video mentions across Twitter.
- TwitVid.io is really simple to use. Log in with your Twitter credentials, choose a video file and post. Works pretty much the same as TwitPic.
- Twiddeo is a powerful but simple service that let’s you do one thing very well: Twitter updates with Video. Upload from the web, your cameraphone and record from your webcam.
- TwitC is a great tool for sharing photos, videos, and a myriad of different file types with Twitter, it’s a multipurpose hosting service for Twitter.
- TwitLENS is another tool that handles both video and photo sharing. What I like about it is that it supports Twitter OAuth for secure login.
- TweeTube allows you to share webcam videos, YouTube videos, photos and website URLs. The site looks neat.
- 12seconds helps you update your friends and family with short video clips that you record with your webcam, mobile phone, or upload. It uses Twitter OAuth for secure login too.
- TwitVid.com is almost the same as TwitVid.io.
Do we need this many video options for Twitter? Well, probably not, but the competition is always good. Which one do you prefer?
Related posts:
- Top 7 Photo Sharing Tools for Twitter
- A Better Way to Share Photos on Twitter
- Twitter Phishing Attack in Progress – Do Not Click Unknown Links
Real Twitter Insights Gained Through Personal Observation
Guest post by Ryan from AdMazing. Check out his blog, and follow him @admazing.
The Twitter invasion is here. True, Twitter has been here for a while now, but the hype is finally topping the scales. Everybody who’s anybody has entered the exciting world of microblogging and is expanding their network. Many are professing to be that expert or guru in order to increase their follower block. Outrageous “get rich quick” schemes are becoming commonplace. Spammers have found a new haven.
Or have they?
True, Twitter is a groundbreaking communication technology that is here to stay. But from personal observation, far too many tweeters are missing the point.
At the turn of the century, many people were so intrigued with the rise of the Internet that they granted it the status of mysterious, almost magical. The possibilities seemed limitless. Open up any kind of online store, become a millionaire. Easily.
And then…the bubble popped.
Don’t get me wrong–I believe Twitter definitely has the potential to grow with stability and avoid the bubble-popping madness that followed the rise of the Internet age. But for that to happen, Tweeters must recognize that Twitter has no inherent fairy dust. The same business rules apply that have always applied. Don’t just be there to be heard. Interact. Provide real value. Help others (and that entails more than simply mentioning it in your bio).
If you want your brand (either personal or corporate) to have a significant and growing presence on Twitter, send occassional direct messages that aren’t automated. Retweet interesting tweets. Thank others for their retweets. Be human, and don’t profess to be the all-knowing expert or guru that everyone else is professing to be. And for pete’s sake, don’t promise people you’ll help them earn $20,000 from one tweet or help them double their followers in an hour.
Speaking of increasing followers, don’t get caught up in the hype. Most of those 20,000 followers other people have are either spammers or “experts” seeking nothing more than to increase their own pool of followers. You want an audience, not followers. Quality will trump quantity every time. Look for those who have a few hundred followers or less. Those are the people who will actually read and appreciate your tweets and will be much more likely to retweet them.
Just like any successful business practice, a successful Twitter campaign is focused on relationships, reciprocity, and respect. The rules really haven’t changed.
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Optimize Your Twitter Bio to Get More Followers
What’s the first thing you look at when you check someones profile? Most of us read the bio first and that is one of the decisive factors when deciding whether to follow or not follow that person. If your bio is not filled out or is not very descriptive, you are missing out on potential followers. Unlike the 140-character limit for tweets, Twitter gives you 160 characters for your bio. Use them all! In this post I will focus only on the bio section of your Twitter profile.
Will having a bio and website link in your Twitter profile really make a difference in the number of followers you have? The answer is yes. I’ve found an interesting research post on whether having a Twitter bio will get you more followers. You can read it here. Statistics in this report show that Twitter profiles that contain a bio will attract eight times as many followers as one without a bio.
While writing a good bio in 160 characters can be quite a challenge, keep in mind that you don’t have to tell us everything about you. Focus on a few critical keywords that really describe you. These keywords will also be used when people run a search on Twitter. Think about it as SEO (search engine optimization) for Twitter. Just as you would when optimizing a website for search engines, when you write your Twitter bio think about what kind of followers you want to attract.
My recommendations when writing a Twitter bio:
Be you and be real, and tell us what you do and what you like. Do not rush, take time to create the best bio you can. Describe yourself, mention your hobbies or interests. And finally, think about your niche and what kind of followers you want to attract – so select your keywords wisely.
If you haven’t taken the time to write a proper Twitter bio, now is a good time to do so. And for the love of god, please do not tell us that you are an expert or guru. Really, just don’t.
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Top 6 Twitter Tips and Tutorials for Beginners
Twitter is getting so huge and gaining new users by the minute, so I thought I would make a list of the most read posts on my blog from the last few months. These could be very handy for new Twitter users and may as well help more seasoned tweeters too. Below you will find a recap of the most read and retweeted Twitter tips and tutorials of this blog for the quarter 3 of 2009.
- 20 Twitter Directories to Find More Friends and Followers – Join these and you are bound to get many followers.
- How to get the most out of Twitter search – Tips on using Twitter’s powerful search engine.
- 10 tips to get more Twitter followers – Find out how to get followers and not scare them away.
- Top 7 Photo Sharing Tools for Twitter – Find out where to share photos on Twitter.
- Optimize Your Twitter Bio to Get More Followers – Even the 160 characters short bio is important.
- General Twitter tips for starters – A must read for every beginner.
For more Twitter tips follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my RSS feed.
Related posts:
- A Better Way to Share Photos on Twitter
- 7 Best Ways to Share Videos on Twitter
- Top 7 Photo Sharing Tools for Twitter
