Fact: Twitter has Changed

I’ve been using Twitter for more than five years. It is amazing how much has changed… both in perception of thEdite service as well as usage of service. And while the fail whale is still a dreaded sight it has become ingrained into our vocabulary. Twitter has done an amazing job of not only changing the way we communicate, but also changed the way we relate to one another. Lets step back in time and take a look at what Twitter used to be to the few early adopters and what it has become today to the masses.

First, its not a stretch to say that in the early days of Twitter it was viewed as some “nerd/geek” thing that was pointless. The only people who spent time on Twitter probably had no friends of their own. Plus, the biggest statement about twitter users was that they were “over-sharers”. People who were so narcissistic that they believed other people actually wanted to know when they were brushing their teeth or what they were having for dinner or the fact that they “just woke up”.

Fast forward to today and we see that Twitter has morphed into an amazing avenue of content sharing. But the truly amazing thing is that its not just for content sharing but also for content consumption. People from all different demographics are sharing content, conversation, and consumption. These are people that users probably would have no way to connect with or discover without Twitter.

I remember when talking to people about Twitter and its usefulness, most people simply laughed and made some reference to the fact that Twitter was simply a tool to keep you from doing any work. It was a procrastination enhancer. This probably correlated to the first issue where people just thought others were “over-sharers” and that anyone who spent time on Twitter was just wasting their time following people’s daily tasks… watching paint dry.

Now when any major news or event happens around the world Twitter is one of the most reliable and fastest sources of information. People tune into news and individual twitter accounts to get the latest and even real-time reporting of events. When was the last time we heard about a plane crash, earthquake, tsunami, sports victory, or election debate where we didn’t hear something about Twitter saying this or that?

Even when Twitter was getting started back in 2006, Jack Dorsey (founder/creator) tweeted the first tweet, “just setting up my twttr”. It was setup to share short bursts of inconsequential bits of information. It was built around the 140 character limit in order to encourage a more condensed form of chit-chat.

That original limiting 140 characters has become the creative building block to shape headlines and even help popularize the shortening of URLs so that linking of content would take the least amount of space because space was so valued. The 140 characters enabled users voices to get right to the point and not deal with idle chit-chat.

In the early days of Twitter, there were times it would seem like a massive black hole sucking all content and thoughts. The impression was left not only on critics but even many users felt that when they tweeted on twitter it was like talking to the wall. Even though there were lots of people, at times it could seem like nobody was listening.

I can’t tell you how many people I meet today who say they first made a connection with a friend or business associate first on Twitter because of a discussion revolving around a topic both participants were engaged and spun the conversation out into real life. Twitter has because a resource for creating connections and facilitating conversations.

Twitter was viewed as an mob scene with everyone shouting at the same time. There were only individuals. There were no brands, there were no products, there were no organizations. Even Twitter itself spent countless hours (and years) trying to find its own brand and financial stability.

But now, Twitter has an ongoing engagement between companies and brands and their valued customer base. Twitter gave a voice to brands. Twitter because useful for driving traffic… because now people were listening. It isn’t just a shouting black hole. And those companies and brands who take customer service seriously, Twitter has been an amazing gift for them as they are able to connect with and assist their customer base.

How have you seen twitter change? Do you think Twitter has gone in a positive direction? Where do you want Twitter to go from here? Oh, and if you want…. you can follow me at @benjaminbradley

This was a guest post kindly written and shared by Benjamin Bradley if you wish to see the original post you can do so here. If you think you have an interesting Twitter post that you would like to share with the world drop us an email.