Understanding the Twitterverse
June 8, 2009 :: Steve FisherI am not your power Twitterer. Although some people I know might call me a “twit” I don’t consider myself a “Twitter Addict”. I used to use TweetDeck but now use Seesmic Desktop because it fits my workflow (multiple account monitoring, groups) but not much else. I have a Blackberry which is not great for Twitter and I am not a big text messaging person. According to Web Worker Daily:
“A typical Twitter user contributes very rarely. Among Twitter users, the median number of lifetime tweets per user is one. This translates into over half of Twitter users tweeting less than once every 74 days.
At the same time there is a small contingent of users who are very active. Specifically, the top 10% of prolific Twitter users accounted for over 90% of tweets. On a typical online social network, the top 10% of users account for 30% of all production.”
Still, Twitter is becoming a very powerful tool for businesses of all sizes in the areas of product evangelism, customer service, community outreach and branding. This is why many companies have leveraged the Twitter API to create free and paid applications to bring aspects of Twitter into context or just make it more useful. However, over the last 18 months there have been so many tools, it really has created its own ecosystem and dare I say, like Google, soon to be its own economy.
Recently, Jesse Thomas of JESS3 and Brian Solis of PR 2.0 who brought us the Conversation Prism that started to give some organization and context to Social Media tools have done it again with the Twitterverse diagram seen below:
Credit: Jessie Thomas and Brian Solis
To see the full blown up version – go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/briansolis/3570379944/
Before this galaxy of applications came to be, Brian did a nice write up on the good products out there last fall. Many which you see on this diagram and they have some great descriptions.
They break the “Twitterverse” into 12 Areas:
Search – Search is the king here and is about putting conversations in a stream. My favorite tool? Twitter Search.
Relationship Management - This is how many people use Twitter along with communications management. People form and have great relationships across Twitter and it is the core of what Twitter has become. My favorite tools? Seesmic Desktop.
Communications Management – Twitter started out as a tool asking people what they are doing and it soon transformed into a communications platform we didn’t know we needed but can’t now live without. My favorite tool? CoTweet.
URL Shortners – These make Twitter more powerful because you can share that link in a tiny url. My favorite tool? Cli.gs – it tracks as well as shortens.
Mobile Applications – There are tons of mobile apps and most are about being a Twitter client. My favorite tool? Love Tweetie and will get it when I get a new iPhone.
Event Management – This is a category I didn’t know existed until this diagram. Looks very intriguing. My favorite tool? Haven’t really tried Twitzu but I am willing for our upcoming stuff.
Geolocation & Imaging – This is about telling people where you are or where you have been. Many are not comfortable with that and I can understand. However if you want to leverage Twitter for it, there are some great apps. My favorite tool? Brightkite. It has come far and the app on the iPhone is the bees knees.
Stream Management – This is about managing the streams on info and giving them some context. My favorite tool? It is a tie between Brightkite and Twhirl because it depends up on your use of the tools.
Trends & Analysis – This is about seeing what is coming from the Twitterverse along with your own behavior. My favorite tool? This is a tough one since you can use many of these to accomplish your goals. I like Tweetmeme because it is a great emerging trend tracker.
Marketing/Advertising – Not done a lot of testing here. My favorite tool? Jury still out on this one.
Influence & Resonance – Understand your impact and others on the Twitterverse. My favorite tool? Klout but I am open to new tools.
Contextual Network Analysis – See what is going on in your personal Twitterverse. My favorite tool? Twitterfriends.
What works for you?
Well that should do it for now. I would encourage people to try all or most of these tools and find the mix that is right for them. Tell me what has worked for you and what do you recommend? Leave a comment.
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